Assyrian Church of the East meets in Austria

(ACOE) - The 4th Salzburg International Conference on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia has been held in Salzburg, Austria between 7-11 June 2013.

The conference, held at the Hotel St. Virgil, brought together about 40 renowned scholars of the history and tradition of the Church of the East; including noted scholars Dr Mark Dickens, Dr David Wilmshurst, Dr Erica Hunter, Dr J.C. Coakley and Professor Dietmar W. Winkler, amongst many others.

The Assyrian Church of the East was represented at the conference by His Grace Mar Awa Royel, Bishop of California and Secretary of the Holy Synod as well as the Rev’d Narsai Youkhanis of Sydney, Australia. Also in attendance were Mr David Tam (Director of the Jingjiao Fellowship of the Church of the East in Hong Kong) and the Rev’d Deacon Younan Michael of London, United Kingdom.

The sessions of the conference included ‘Geography and Mission of the Church of the East’, ‘Transliteration of the Jingjiao Texts’, ‘The Church of the East in the Far East’, ‘Sources in Sogdian’, ‘The Church of the East in Central Asia’, ‘Theology of the Church of the East’ and ‘Jingjiao, Buddhism and Taoism’.

On Saturday June 8, His Grace Mar Awa Royel delivered the keynote ‘Pro-Oriente Lecture’ on the topic ‘The Sacraments of the Church of the East’ as part of the conference programme.