The World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth -Syndesmos
NEWS RELEASE
The seminar ?Renewal of Preaching: Proclaiming Christ Today in the Western World? organised by Syndesmos and Dominican community of Froidmont, took place 20-24 Oct 2006 in Ferme de Froidmont, Rixensart (Belgium).
Around 35 Orthodox and Roman-Catholic participants from Albania, Belarus, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Palestine, Romania, Russia and Sweden took part in the event. The rich programme of the seminar consisted of the following points:
.. Presentations:
- ?Challenges of the secularised society for the Christian witness by Fr Michel Evdokimov and prof. Arnaud Join Lambert - ?Living amongst the workers and preaching the Gospel? by Dn Antonio Santi - ?Ways to witness and preach the Gospel to the contemporary world. Living the sacrament of brotherhood in the society? by Dn Antonio Santi - ?The role of liturgy in mission? by Fr Michel Evdokimov - ?Martyrdom in the 20st century? by Fr Marco Gnavi - ?The life in Christian community as a means of witnessing and preaching to the world (from the experience of Sant? Egidio Community)? by Fr Marco Gnavi .. Round table «What is salvation?» .. Panel discussion ?Responsibility and Christian witness in the city? with Fr Pierre-Yves Materne, Serge Maucq, Vital Rymasheuski.
Each presentation was followed by questions from the participants and discussions of various essential elements and conditions of Christian mission.
The discussions can be summarised by the following: .. Preaching is a natural result of a life in experience of Christ?s Resurrection. It is neither a proposal nor a request, but a command directed at each believer. .. The primary impetus to evangelise other person is the faith that the latter is loved and valued by God. The other person should be in the center of the Christian mission. .. Every activity of Christians and of churches is a witness of Christ, if they live at the utmost according the Christian calling; otherwise they give a false witness. .. While the liturgy preserved through the centuries remains a source of inspiration for Christians, there should be also ways for the creativity rooted in the church tradition, as for many new believers a ?ready made? way of praying is a serious obstacle for integration into the church. It is worth noting that in principle the eucharistic liturgy cannot be used as means of mission as it is an sacramental act of a community of the faithful. .. The XX century revealed thousands of martyrs from all Christian confessions who follow Christ in the silent but radical way. They give us an example of spiritual richness in material poverty, of spiritual freedom in extreme physical and moral constraint, of unity in Christ despite human divisions. .. Christian witness is needed in all spheres of life, also in the political field. Christian faith and community life nourishes the faithful involved in politics. One should always be aware of temptations by power and domination when doing political work.
On Sunday 22 October two eucharistic services were celebrated ? Orthodox liturgy in the morning and Catholic mass in the evening.
His eminence bishop of Achaia Athanasios
(Chatzopoulos), director of the Representative Office of the Church of Greece to the European Union, attended the seminar on 21 October.
Olga Oleinik
Syndesmos general secretariat PO Box 66051 15510 Holargos
GREECE Tel: +30 210 656 0991 Fax: +30 210 656 0992 syndesmos@syndesmos.org www.syndesmos.org