Ecumenical conference in Canada concludes

(mospat.ru) - The annual conference organized by the North American Academy of Ecumenists and the Canadian Ecumenical Center took place on September 24-26, 2010, in Montreal, Canada. This year the participants discussed the theme ‘New and Renewed Strategies for the Ecumenical Mission’. The discussion on this theme was planned to coincide with the Centenary of the World Missionary Conference which took place in Edinburg in 1910. The conference was attended by representatives of Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Protestant traditions in the USA and Canada.

Hegumen Philip Riabykh, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, took part in the conference on the invitation of its organizers. He read a paper on the Russian Orthodox Church and Inter-Christian Dialogue and answered questions from participants.

While in Montreal, Hegumen Philip was invited to speak on Quebec’s Christian radio ‘Ville Marie’. In an interview with a presenter of the Voice of Orthodoxy and Dialogue programs, he spoke about today’s life of the Russian Orthodox and its role in the life of post-Soviet society, its contacts with Christian confessions and participation in interreligious dialogue.

On September 26, Hegumen Philip assisted Bishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada (Russian Church Outside Russia) in celebrating the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas’s and after the liturgy delivered a sermon on the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, as well as the road of the cross that the Russian Church and the Russian people had to pass in the 20th century.