The 31st Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality
At the Monastery of Bose, Italy.
Fr Oswin attended this in the first week of September.
It has been several years since a brother has visited, but CR has been keen to renew links with Orthodox churches and also with the brothers and sisters (about 40) at Bose, a stunning contemporary monastery built around an old hamlet in the foothills of the Alps, not far from Turin.
There were participants from Russia, Egypt, Armenia, Albania, Romania, and Greece, and one from Ethiopia, as well as many from Italy and other Western nations.
Four Anglicans came:
as well as Fr Oswin,
Bishop Michael Lewis, retired Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, who co-chairs the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue,
Canon Daniel Burton, CR’s preacher on Festival Day this year,
and the veteran of these events, Canon Hugh Wybrew. At 90, he was not the oldest participant – one of the speakers, an eminent professor in the archaeology of Christian Egypt, is 93.
The topic under consideration was St Antony of Egypt, from the 4th century, sometimes called ‘the father of monks’ (and he lived to 105).
The organisers were very pleased with how many monks, men and women attended.
Fr Oswin writes:
“We looked at Antony’s theology and the pattern he set for the Christian path of prayer as trust in God –
in his own words through his letters,
in the famous biography written by St Athanasius shortly after his death,
and in the sayings of the desert fathers collected maybe 100 years later.
We saw pictures of the places he lived,
and how his image has been portrayed in icons over the centuries.
But above all, by meeting each other, we learned afresh how St Antony remains a figure of unity between East and West at the fountainhead of recorded monastic life.
I met old friends and made new ones.
And I hope God will bless the fruits of this gathering in deepening understanding between the churches.”
