ecumenism
Frère Alois, successor of frère Roger at the head of the Taizé Ecumenical Community was received by Archimandrite Job, dean of the Saint-Serge Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris, on 15 March. Frere Alois began by recalling the close links of frère Roger and Taizé with the Orthodox Churches: especially the close relations forged with Metropolitan Nikodom of Leningrad and with the Orthodox theologian Olivier Clèment. During the meeting mention was also made of frère Roger’s meetings with Patriarch Athenagoras, who expressed the hope for an “Orthodox Taizé”. Frère Roger suggested to him that Taizé itself could serve that purpose and that’s how an Orthodox monk arrived in the community and remained there for five years. With regard to current relations, frère Alois spoke of his visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on 25 December and announced that in June he will pay a visit to Patriarch Alexis II in Moscow. Lastly, in preparation for the next Taizé youth meeting to be held at Zagreb at the end of the year, the Taizè Community has already contacted the Catholic archbishop and the Orthodox bishop of Novi-Sad, Ireneus.
