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Report for Activities of the Association ‘Dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians’ in 2004

by Christine Chaillot, Founder and Secretary

The second pilgrimage to the Coptic monasteries lasted from February 2nd through the 11th and it was successful. I remained one month in Egypt in order to complete information for my book on the Coptic Church. On May 16th, the slides of the pilgrimage were shown at Saint Sergius Institute, Paris, at which time I presented the Coptic Church.

During Holy Week, I went to several Coptic parish churches in Paris (Deuil-la-Barre, Colombes, Villejuif and Châtenay-Malabry) to follow the liturgical offices. Being present at actual services furthered my research in preparation for the treatment of the Coptic liturgical life in my forthcoming book. My research was greatly helped by French liturgical translations published by Father Moussa of Villejuif.

Mrs Victoria Sherry of the Orthodox Museum in Topeka near Kansas City (USA) contacted me for their exhibition ‘Ancient African Christianity : the Sacred Art of Ethiopia’ (May to October) because of my book on the Ethiopian Orthodox Churche (EOC).

In Paris in June: 10 in UNESCO : ‘Penser la Modernité et l’Islam. Regards Croisés’ ; 11-13 : ‘Les Enfants d’Abraham et l’Art de la Paix’, Conference at the American Cathedral. It is important to become informed on the inter-religious dialogue, in particular addressing the situation of the Christians in the Middle East.
The Association des Coptes d’Europe-France publishes La Revue Copte (15 avenue du Bel-Air, 75012 Paris ; email copteseuro@wanadoo.fr; www.copteseurope.info)

I took part in the 8th Congress of Coptic Studies in Paris (June 28-July 3) where I often talked with Dr Otto Meinardus who, for decades, has written many books (available at the bookstore of the American University in Cairo www.aucpress.com) and articles on the life and spirituality of the Copts and who has been a frequent source of inspiration for me; he passed away on September 18, 2005.

The new church of the Syrian Orthodox community in Montfermeil (Paris) was consecrated on Sunday, July 4th. This was a great day for all its parishioners, who have worked so hard for years, mostly with their own hands, towards the realization of this goal. This occasion was also an opportunity for meeting Syrian Orthodox who came from several different European countries. One must realize that it is appropriate to make a monetary donation to the Syrian Orthodox community for any new church. The church is situated at 58 av. Perdrigée; (proceed to RER E station Gagny, then by bus 604 to stop College Jean Jaures, which stands opposite the church). Patriarch Ignatius Zakka came from Damascus for the consecration. Father Boris Bobrinskoy sent a letter of congratulation in the name of our association, which was read in front of the assembly.

12 July: Patriarch Shenouda III consecrated the new Coptic church in Geneva in the morning ; in the afternoon, with faithful and friends, they all went to venerate the relics of Saint Maurice and of the Theban Legion (3rd century) from Egypt (today Luxor) who died as martyrs in Switzerland where their relics are kept in the Abbey of Saint-Maurice.

In celebration of the thirty years of the existence of the Eastern Orthodox Parish of Saint Catherine in Chambésy (Geneva), an Orthodox liturgy was celebrated iin the Basilica of Saint Maurice at 10:00 am on September 4th. The programme was as follows: 9:30 am exposition of the relics; 12:15 pm lunch at the Abbey ; 2:00 pm tour of the Abbey; 3:30 pm talk on iconography. At this pilgrimage some French friends of our Association were present.

From September 10th through the 12th, I went to the Orbis Aethiopicus Conference on Ethiopian Studies in the Museum Reiss-Engelhorn, in Mannheim (Germany) ; presentation of my book on the Ethiopian Church.

17-24 September : exhibition of Coptic icons in the Archaeological Museum in Dijon (France)

From September 20th through the 25th the 9th Symposium Syriacum was held, organized by the Universities of Kaslik and Saint Joseph in Beirut (Lebanon), on the theme of ‘Inter-cultural Dialogue’, as well as that of Christian Arabic Studies. My topic was ‘Quelques exemples de dialogue inter-culturel chez les Syriens orthodoxes en Europe occidentale’ (‘Some Examples of inter-cultural Dialogue of the Syrian Orthodox in Western Europe’).
The Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo (Syria), His Grace Yohanna Ibrahim, has published in his collection of books on the Syrian Orthodox, an Arabic translation of my book on that Church, which I presented during my stay in Lebanon and Syria (28 September in Beyrut at the parish of Bishop George Saliba in presence of the Eastern Orthodox journalist George Nassif and with interview made by the new satellite Syriac television with seat in Sweden ; 5 October in Damascus at the Swiss embassy ; 8 October at the Syrian Orthodox cathedral, with interview by the Syrian television). 

During this trip in Lebanon and Syria (15 September-10 October), I paid visits to the Greek Orthodox of the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Armenians and the Syrian Orthodox in the two countries. In Beirut the Eastern Orthodox invited me to speak of my work of dialogue at the Mouvement de Jeunesse Orthodoxe (MJO) and I met the monks at the Monastery of Deir al-Harf ; in Damascus I met Patriarch Ignatius ; and in Aleppo and Latakiye the two bishops. I also prepared interviews with some Armenians among them with Catholicos Aram in Antelias and with two Armenian bishops ; Armenian pilgrimage in Anjar ; I met Armenian vicars in Damascus and Aleppo and the Armenian priest in Kasseb (north Syria, at the Turkish border).

23 October : exhibition organized by Ethiopians in Den Haag, The Netherlands, and presentation of my book on the Ethiopian Church

The annual meeting of our association took place at the Theological Institute of Saint Sergius in Paris, 93 rue de Crimée (métro Laumière) on Sunday October 24th. The theme was borne out by a slide presentation on the main monasteries of two Oriental Orthodox Churches. For better presentation, it was decided to limit the programme to two talks this year. Joachim Persoon, who has recently presented a doctoral thesis on Ethiopian monasteries at SOAC, University of London, spoke about them. He has had the experience of visiting approximately one hundred monasteries within Ethiopia. Brother Roger, a Syrian Orthodox monk from Lebanon, spoke about the monasteries of his tradition. For your information, at our next meeting in autumn of 2005, there will be a presentation on Armenian and Coptic monasteries.

13 December : departure to Egypt

Let us note that the Assembly of the Orthodox Bishops in France (AEOF) has announced in a communiqué on 8 June 2004 that they will discuss ‘the dialogue of love and truth with the Oriental Orthodox Churches’.

The Assembly of the Orthodox Bishops in France (AEOF) has given its blessing to have again an Orthodox radio service on the Catholic Radio Notre-Dame in Paris (100.1, on Sunday at 5 pm.), http://ortradio.free.fr) organized by Bogdan Vlaicu. Every two Sunday at 8 am there is another Orthodox programme by Alexis Chrysostalis on ‘France Culture’ (www.franceculture.com).

The Armenian choir group AKN, under the direction of Aram Kerovpian, is making CDs and organizing concerts (www.akn-chant.org).