“Orthodox monasticism in Finland and the Baltic States” is the title of the international conference that opened at the monastery of Santa Maria at Grottaferrata (near Rome) on Thursday 22 September. The monastery is run by the Italian Congregation of Basilian Monks. The five-day conference, sponsored by the monastery itself and by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, is being attended by exponents of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, historians of religion, monks and nuns. Catholic speakers at the conference (due to end on Monday 26 September) include Cardinals Ignace Moussa I Daoud, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, and Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. The Orthodox participants include Bishop Athenagoras of Sinope, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Archbishops Leo (Finland), Stephanos (Estonia) and Teodosie (Orthodox patriarchate of Romania). The history of the Orthodox Church in Finland will be traced by archimandrite Sergej, abbot of the monastery of Nuovo Valamo, and that of monasticism by Mother Kristodouli of the convent of Lintuula. Other experts and monks will speak about Russian Orthodox spirituality, the Orthodox presence in Estonia and Karelia and the monastic tradition of Mount Athos.
