« Annual conference of the Diocese of Sourozh "Thy Kingdom Come": The Church in the world, but not of the world" »

On May 26-28, 2023, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, an annual diocesan conference was held in the county of Hertfordshire, near London.  The topic of this year conference was "Thy Kingdom Come": The Church in the world, but not of the world".

The tradition of holding a diocesan conference, which is an annual congress of the clergy and laity of the Sourozh diocese, was founded in 1975 by ever-memorable Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom). After a long break, due to restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, the conference brought together about 100 participants representing clergy and laity from various parishes of the Sourozh diocese.

At the opening ceremony, on Friday evening, May 26th, a welcoming address by His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh to the participants of the conference was read out. Then, those present were able to watch the recording of Metropolitan Anthony's sermon on love, delivered by him at the Dormition Cathedral in London in the last years of his life.

On Saturday, May 27th, reports were made by a hierarch of the Coptic Church, Archbishop Angaelos - "The Church, in the world";  by nun Seraphima (Konstantinovsky) from the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex (Patriarchate of Constantinople) - "Sts Sophrony and Silouan the Athonites: Theologians of Knowledge for our times?"; by Director of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, Archpriest Dragos Herescu (Romanian Patriarchate) - "The Orthodox Church in the West - 'not of this world' twice removed"; by Archpriest Georgy Zavershinsky, cleric of the Sourozh diocese, Dean of the diocesan district of Scotland and Northern Ireland, - "To preach the Gospel in writing a novel”. After the speeches, round table discussions in small groups took place, where participants could discuss the presentations and ask questions of interest to them.

In the evening of the same day, an all-night vigil was celebrated, attended by all participants in the Conference. The divine service was led by the cleric of the Dormition Cathedral in London, Archpriest Maxim Nikolsky.

On May 28, Sunday morning, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by the clergy of the Diocese of Sourozh, present at the conference. The divine service was led by Archpriest Maxim Nikolsky. Liturgical hymns were performed by the joint choir of singers from parishes of the Diocese of Sourozh, conducted by Sarah Skinner.  After the service, a panikhida was served for the ever-memorable Metropolitan Anthony, founder of the Sourozh diocese; this year, on August 4th, we shall mark the 20th anniversary since his departure.

Then, Dr. Martin Dudley, a former Anglican priest, now a churchwarden of the Diocese of Sourozh' Birmingham parish of All Saints of Britain and Ireland, delivered a report on "God’s Special Care: Monarchy and the Orthodox Church".

At the end of the conference, I.A. Kirillova, the closest associate of Vladyka Anthony and his spiritual child, shared her memories about ever-memorable Vladyka and the conferences held in the past years; the round tables reports were heard, and results of the conference were summed up.

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