St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary - Events - Russian Symposium 2002

Metropolitan Philaret Gives Inaugural Address
Russian Symposium on Theological Traditions
October 2, 2002

St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary
575 Scarsdale Road, Crestwood, NY 10707-1677
Contact person: Fr Steven Belonick
tel 914-961-8313, ext. 328 / email belonick@svots.edu

Crestwood, NY – The Most Reverend PHILARET, Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk and Exarch of Belarus, presented the inaugural lecture for the three-day “Symposium on Russian Theological Traditions” being held on the seminary campus October 2-4, 2002: Orthodox Theology in the 21st Century. His Eminence opened his remarks with the Gospel text, the Kingdom of God has “come with power” (Mk 9:1), and he noted, “Theology must have a prophetic function in the Church. Therefore creative theology is one of the most important services of the Church to the world.”

In his introductory remarks, Dean John H. Erickson stated the purpose of the symposium: “New challenges face the Church and society in the post-communist period. During recent developments, the Russian Orthodox Church has not always been presented in a favorable light by the media… This is due to a ‘myopic’ failure to recognize the scope of the potential of Russian theology for the renewal of Church and society today. During the tragic history of the 20th century, Russian theology became fragmented…communication among schools of thought were minimal, sometimes even antagonistic. We would hope this symposium would contribute to the reintegration of the Russian theological heritage.”

His Eminence, who also is the Chair of the Synodal Theological Commission, focused on two tasks – the improvement of theological education and the creative development of theology and Church scholarship occurring within the Russian Orthodox Church. He explained the challenge Orthodox theology has met in this millennium: “It was able to overcome both the temptation of religious archaism and the temptation of modernism.” He also addressed the themes of ecclesiology, anthropology, and ethics. Finally, His Eminence predicted that this third millennium would be a “century of interreligious dialogue.” Therefore an Orthodox Christian witness would be of crucial significance – both for members of other religions and for the “awakening” of the Orthodox spiritual tradition.

His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN, President of St Vladimir's Seminary, joined honored guests at the lecture including His Eminence Archbishop Peter of New York and New Jersey, Very Rev. Robert Kondratick, Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, and Very Rev. Jaroslav Sudick, Chancellor of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey.

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