Orthodox Education Day - UK

peterfarrington

Dear brothers and sisters,

I have been working with Father Vahan Hovhanessian, the primate of the Armenian Orthodox Church in the UK, and we have organised an Orthodox Education Day for 9th October, 2010.

We have also formed a ministry called Orthodox Education, which has a new website here - http://www.orthodoxeducation.org.

Let me urge all those Orthodox within the London area to consider whether or not they should attend this interesting and exciting day of study. Those wishing to attend should send me an email with their name and address so that they can be registered. Send a registration request to: [email][email protected][/email]


Oriental Orthodox Education Day

The Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches (COOC) in the United Kingdom is happy to announce an all day seminar titled: How Our Fathers Read the Bible, on Saturday, the 9th of October, 2010.

The faithful of the Armenian, Coptic, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Malankara Indian and Syrian Orthodox Churches and the affiliated churches are cordially invited to attend the educational day which will take place at the Nevart Gulbenkian Hall of the St. Sarkis Armenian Orthodox Church in Kensington.

The Orthodox Education Day will start with an Armenian morning service  of prayer at 10:00am in St Sarkis Church followed by a continental breakfast at 10:15am.

The program, starting at 10:25am with welcoming remarks and announcement, will include the following speakers:

His Grace Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church:
“What the Orthodox Fathers say about the Bible”

His Grace Abba Seraphim of the British Orthodox Church:
"The Septuagint in the Oriental Orthodox Traditions"

The Very Revd Fr. Vahan Hovhanessian of the Armenian Orthodox Church:
“The Bible as the source of spirituality in the writing of the Armenian Church Fathers”

Revd Fr. Peter Farrington of the British Orthodox Church:
“The Bible as the source of Orthodox Christology.”

Each speaker will make a presentation of about 20 minutes, and then there will be a space of about 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

Lunch will be served at noon at the conclusion of the second talk.

Registration for attendees will be £5.00 and payable on the day, which will help defray the cost of lunch and handouts. Those planning to attend should send an email to Father Peter with their name and contact details.

For further information or to register in advance please e-mail: [email][email protected][/email]

peterfarrington

I believe that this event will be streamed over the internet, and that the video will be available afterwards.

I would ask anyone who goes to a Church within travelling distance to begin advertising this event. I will try to post a pdf poster here later, but if the details can be added to church bulletins and notice boards that would be great.

Father Peter

ilovesaintmark

I may just make a surprise and skip over the "pond" [the Atlantic Ocean] and go to England.

Zoxsasi

Oh Great! We'd love to see u!

peterfarrington

The first Orthodox Education Day is coming up soon. It's October 9th.

As far as I can see we have had NO Copts, other than British converts, register for the event. It would be very sad if all the effort was put in by bishops and clergy to arrange this date and no Copts turned up. It is being planned as the first in a series to help us become more knowledgeable about our Orthodox Faith, more aware of the other members of our Orthodox commumnion, and to allow us to invite non-Orthodox to come and learn about us.

There is a flyer here that can be copied and distributed to all Churches, and hopefully added to news bulletins.

http://www.orthodoxmedway.org/Orthodox_Education_Day.pdf

and there is a website which describes this activity..

http://www.orthodoxeducation.org

Do please consider how you can participate, and how you can encourage others to attend.

God bless you all

Father Peter

aidan

Father,

Sorry to use this forum but I haven't heard from you whether I'm coming or not.

Are wires crossed?

Aidan

peterfarrington

It would be good if anyone in a Church in London or the South of England was able to make sure that the first Orthodox Education Day on 9th October was added to the notices. Or even better that copies of the flyer I linked to were printed and made available.

God bless

Father Peter

mabsoota

if anyone from the south of england is here, could u send me a personal message with the name of yr church (i don't need yr name) so i see how many churches there are?
as the churches in uk grew from a few small centres that were not linked, they are all in different dioceses, which were not arranged geographically.

peterfarrington

No Copts at all, except for converts, appear to have registered for this Orthodox Education Day.

I do hope that it can be mentioned again in church notices again and people encouraged to attend.

Father Peter

ilovesaintmark

Father,

I believe contact needs to be made with the priests of the parish directly to promote and announce the issue.  Coptics tend to wait for their priests to give approval, which is different from their wandering into Protestant camps.  It is contradictory, but seems to be the trend.

peterfarrington

I think that many of the priests do know, and Bishop Angaelos and Metropolitan Seraphim are those organising it.

If people won't come when Orthodox clergy organise something then I don't know what else could be done to make it attractive to Copts?

mabsoota

i personally still think it's because not enough people know. if something is announced only once in church and it's a new thing, people tend to think 'i don't recognise this idea, maybe it's not for me'.
i am often surprised when i don't understand a notice given in arabic in church (this applies to several churches) and i ask someone to translate what was said and they say 'oh, i didn't catch it'.
in a previous church, things like Bible studies had to be announced several times for the community to take notice.
they know there is liturgy on sunday morning, they know there is tasbeha, they know there is a youth meeting one evening and deacons' lessons another, and if something else comes along, they don't really notice.
in the north african communities (from what i've seen in the uk), things work by word-of-mouth.
so once auntie selwa has been to the Bible study and it is very good, she tells uncle mina, then next time he goes too, along with some deacons he knows. then next time, auntie selwa, uncle mina, some deacons and some deacons' sisters go, then next time a few more people go, and so on.
people tend to rearrange work commitments only on the basis of personal recommendation, not because of a notice given in church.

if anyone disagrees with my analysis, please feel free to comment, but this is what i saw as a new insider over the last 2 years.
also i hope no-one is offended. i'm not saying word-of-mouth recommendation is inferior to the european announcement and immediate diary-checking method, it's just a different way of doing things.

ilovesaintmark

I pray that it is a fruitful endeavor this weekend.  The Holy Spirit will speak, most definitely, from the mouth of the fathers that day!

peterfarrington

I have just finished my presentation for tomorrow. I have tried to prepare it with much prayer and fasting, so I hope that it will be useful to some people. The presentations are not long because we want to make the event accessible to many people, and the level we are pitching it is at intelligent and interested layman/deacon standard.

If it is successful, God willing, then the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches plans to organise four more of such days for 2011.

I believe that we are also planning to organise an evening lecture each of the months we don't hold an Orthodox Education Day.

It seems to me that these difficult times require a spiritually educated and committed Church. I know that for myself I will also be blessed by godly and thoughtful company, and I am looking forward to hearing Abba Seraphim and Father Vahan speak. I hope that on future events we will have some of the other highly educated and capable bishops and clergy take part. Father Vahan has himself been the Dean of St Nersses' Seminary in NY, and Metropolitan Mar Thimotheos, of the Indian Orthodox Church, has also been a Seminary principal.

Father Peter

ilovesaintmark

Hey Father,

Is there going to be a webcast or internet access for those of us who cannot make it over the pond?

I have a feeling (actually I know it is) your presentation will be dynamite.  Would it be possible to get a copy of the presentation?

I can offer a suggestion for future speakers:  The Very Rev. Fr. Daniel Findikyan.  He is the current Dean of St. Nersess.  Hayr Soorp Vahan knows him.  He is a professor of liturgical studies and he is quite a good speaker.  He teaches adjunct at Notre Dame University in the United States.  He received considerable studies in Rome at the Pontifical Institute of Oriental Studies.  He will probably kill me for touting his abilities.  I will add that he has done the latest and authoritative translation of the Armenian Badarak (Liturgy) in English.  It has now become the used and standard translation in the North America.  Plus, he is a good father (priest).

peterfarrington

The event will be recorded, and Father Vahan has just emailed me and said that it will be streamed from...

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/oriental-orthodox-education-day

I hope the technology works OK.

Do pray for all those speaking and all those attending.

Father Peter

John_S2000

May the Lord bless the "Oriental Orthodox Education Day" with many spiritual fruits for the Glory of His Name and for the benefit of His Church.

I agree with mabsoota, it happens here too that unless they are regularly scheduled few people are aware of these beneficial events early enough to plan their attendance. An idea is to organize a newsletter and a reminder sent early ahead of the event with the programme details by e-mail/mail to subscribers. It would help spread more awareness and make interested candidates' planning easier.

I am receiving the stream here, though intermittent and slow as my bandwidth is not high.

Thank you Father Peter may God bless your ministry.
GBU

mabsoota

thanks for yr ideas john s.
sorry, there were some technical problems our end, so the streaming didn't go to plan.
i can write down some of my notes if there is not a more official report available, but basically we had an introduction to some of the church fathers and an introduction to theological study and discussed the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ.
it was really awesome and we also met people from many different churches.

i was particularly blessed meeting several new people who were all enthusiastic about sharing their faith and were a great encouragement.
the clergy were brilliant, and we were all invited by the armenians for an extra cup of tea at the end of the day, which was great as we didn't want any of the clergy to leave without blessing us further with their time!

we prayed, had fellowship, and learnt a lot.

so, i imagine some of u may feel sad u weren't there.
don't be sad!
just suggest this idea in your own churches and see what happens!
and then let us know  :)

ilovesaintmark

From the Colonies, I caught a portion of His Eminence, Metropolitan Seraphim and all ofHayr Soorp Vahan's lectures.  Prior to His Eminence there was no sound only visual.  I thought it was my computer and rebooted several times.  The afternoon sessions were offline completely.

I would hope that the next time the kinks can be worked out.  I would also suggest streaming over a different venue.  Maybe borrowing from an established server with one of the other parishes.  When one utilizes things like ustream there are some lude introductory advertisements which do not follow with the mood and theme of the spiritual sessions.

Sorry, Fr. Peter, I did not catch your introductory remarks, there was no sound.  If there was a concurrent Powerpoint presentation, it would be nice to browse.  Also Fr. Vahan had his papers up pretty much the whole time so it obstructed his face as he was lecturing.  A check on camera angle would be helpful.

What I did catch I liked a lot...a lot.  A great blessing for this endeavor and from this endeavor.

peterfarrington

Thanks for all the comments. It was good to see mabsoota and aidan again. I am sure we will iron out all the kinks by the time of the next Education Day, which will probably be in January.

I think that we will re-record the video for the three talks if necessary so that they can be available.

God bless

It was good to see 4 young Copts there.

Father Peter

ilovesaintmark

Any pictures?

peterfarrington

I hope to have some pictures and a report up as soon as possible.

My own talk, for what it is worth, is here...

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10090833

Abba Seraphim and Father Vahan both gave very good and insightful talks, and the fellowship was very warm. The food was good. The Armenian community were exceptionally hospitable.

Father Peter