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Rev. George Zavershinsky, DECR communications director, presented a paper at the round-table conference on St. Patrick, Ireland, Russia held at the Rudomino National Library of Foreign Literature on March 15, 2010 in anticipation of the Day of St. Patrick, the Christian enlightener of Ireland (4th-5th centuries).

Among the participants in the round table were Irish Ambassador to Russia Philip McDonagh, Rudomino Library director Ms. Genieva, representatives of the clergy, as well as scholars and artists. Among the speakers were also Rev. Eduard Shatov, a cleric of the Catholic church of St. Louis in Moscow and director of the family center of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, Mr. Jean-Francois Tiri, director of the Pokrovskie Vorota cultural center, Mr. Ye. Rashkovsky, director of the Rudomino Library’s center for religious studies, and Mr. Andrey Novikov, an icon-painter.

In his presentation on Patrick of Ireland – an Orthodox Saint, Rev. George Zavershinsky recounted the story of St. Patrick as an inheritor the spiritual richness of the Gallic monasteries on Lerin and at Marmoutier and a disciple of Sts John Cassian and Herman the Auxerrois, who in their turn had had St. Chrysostom as their teacher. This succession and St. Patrick’s life experience in Ireland brought forth good fruits in his missionary efforts and preaching. His Confession, one of his few surviving work, reveals his extraordinary frankness, openness and credulity, which would end even in self-humiliation and self-reproach.

It is characteristic of the Orthodox Church’s spirit, saints and ascetics to view the weakness of saints as a channel for God’s actions. This quality exposes St. Patrick as an Orthodox saint venerated and rewarded by the plenitude of the undivided Church. And through such saints as Patrick of Ireland, Father George said, the Christian Church to the world reveals its unity and integrity.