Orientale Lumen Conference update

BETHESDA, MD (OCA) - His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, will deliver an address titled "The Councils of the Church" as part of the Orientale Lumen XIV Conference at Saint Mark Church here on Tuesday, June 22, 2010.

The evening will open with the celebration of Vespers at 5:00 p.m. A dinner will follow. Metropolitan Jonah's lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. For additional information please call 301-229-6300.

The conference, which opens June 21 and runs through June 24, is one of three being held this year. A similar conference was held at Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ June 7-10, while the third will be held in Constantinople [Istanbul], Turkey July 5-8.

Sponsored by the Eastern Churches Journal, Eastern Christian Publications, the Orientale Lumen Foundation, the Center for Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the conferences are open to lay persons, religious and clergy, providing an opportunity for Eastern Orthodox, Roman and Eastern Catholics, and Oriental Orthodox to gather, discuss, and learn about their respective traditions.

Other speakers at the DC conference include Roman Catholic Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC; Archimandrite Robert Taft, Professor Emeritus of the Pontifical Oriental Institute; Father Peter Galazda, Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky Institute, Ottawa, ON; Father Thomas FitzGerald, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA; and Elias Damianakis, Greek Orthodox lecturer and iconographer, Tampa, FL.

His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople will open the conference in Turkey. Speakers include His Eminence, Metropolitan Kallistos [Ware] of Diokleia; Richard Schneider, professor at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary; Archimanrite Job Getcha, Institute of Orthodox Theology, Chambesy, Switzerland; Sister Vassa Larin of ROCOR, University of Vienna, Austria; and Bishop John Michael Botean, Romanian Greek Catholic Eparchy of Saint George, Canton, OH. Archbishop Cyril Vasil and Archimandrite Robert Taft will also address participants.

Additional information is available at www.olconference.com.