Audio recordings of St. Vladimir’s Seminary Symposium available on Ancient Faith Radio
Recent exchanges of views about Orthodox Christianity in North America, the role of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, events in the Antiochian Archdiocese, debates in the Romanian Episcopate, and pan-Orthodox sessions that deliberated on the “diaspora” — without American participation — emphasize how vital it is to reflect upon events that have shaped the current situation and to regularize Orthodox Christianity in North America.
To address this need, and in a summer which might be described as the most pivotal in American Orthodox history, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary hosted a conference June 18 to 20, 2009, the theme of which was “The Council and The Tomos: 20th Century Landmarks Towards a 21st Century Church,” that focused on three visions that have shaped Orthodox Christianity in America: the vision of Saint Tikhon; the vision of autocephaly; and a vision for the future, which will be offered by Metropolitan Jonah at the conclusion of the conference.
Speakers examined watersheds that have shaped the Orthodox Church in America—the All-Russian Council of 1917-1918 and the Tomos of Autocephaly granted in 1970.
The symposium on Church unity featured presentations by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America; His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and the OCA’s Romanian Episcopate; His Grace, Bishop Basil [Osborne] of Amphipolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of the Russian Tradition in Europe; Mr. Charles Ajalat, Chancellor of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America; and others.
A realtime webcast of the symposium was made available for those who could not travel to St. Vladimir’s Seminary.
In addition to the live video feed, Ancient Faith Radio, the seminary’s internet radio partner, provided audio recordings of the conference in podcast format. To listen to the conference speakers on Ancient Faith Radio, click here.
A transcript of Metropolitan Jonah’s symposium presentation may be read here.
In related news, an English translation of the Communiqué issued at the conclusion of the Fourth Preconciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference held June 6 to 12, 2009, in Chambésy, Switzerland has now been posted on the web site of the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. According to the Communiqué the theme of this conference was “the discussion of the subject of the canonical organization of the Orthodox Diaspora.” The Communiqué may be found in its Greek original, as well as in English, French, German and Russian translations, here.