Святейший Патриарх Алексий встретился с зарубежными участниками и гостями богословской конференции «Эсхатологическое учение Церкви»

‘I believe that time prompts the Church to give a conciliar answer to the problems that concern our believers’, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said at his meeting with theologians who have come from abroad to take part in a theological conference ‘Eschatological Teaching of the Church’. The meeting took place in ‘Danilovskaya’ hotel on 14 November 2005.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy thinks that the believers’ concern includes eschatological problems.

‘We are grateful to the Primates of the Local Churches who sent their representatives to the international theological conference in Russia’, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said.

Metropolitan Philaret of Minsk and Slutsk, chairman of the Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church noted the important contribution of all participants in the conference to the development of theological science.

Bishop Athanasius (Yevtic), a leading Serbian theologian thanked the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for an opportunity ‘to share his feelings and thoughts’ at this representative forum important for the scholarly and public circles.

A widely known Orthodox theologian, professor of philosophy of the Institute of political science and international studies in Athens Christos Yannaras noted that ‘Russia is the motherland of contemporary theology’ for him and for the scholars of his generation.

Present at the meeting were representatives of the Local Orthodox Church, university professors of theology from Greece, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the USA, Australia and other countries.

The theological conference of the Russian Orthodox Church is held every two years. It is the biggest international intellectual forum that assembles the best Orthodox theologians of the present time under the aegis of the Synodal Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church to think about current problems of church and public life and to develop Christian approach to the challenges of the contemporary world.

Round table on ‘Globalization and Eschatology’ will be chaired by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad towards the end of the conference.