With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae, the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas organized, in partnership with the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University and the Sophia Institute, the ninth edition of the Annual Symposium of Orthodox Spirituality. The theme of this year’s Symposium was “Youth Religious Education”. The Symposium was held on April 16, 2016 in New York, at Fordham School of Law.
Panel discussions were opened by His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae, who emphasized the importance and the actuality of the Symposium topic. Youth religious education must be a permanent concern of the Orthodox Church, because they represent not only the future, but also the present of the Church. His Eminence also gave thanks to all those who were involved in organizing the meeting.
Fr. Theodor Damian moderated the panel, which had as guest speakers famous personalities of the American theological and academic environments: Rev. Fr. John McGuckin (Columbia University, New York), Rev. Fr. Chad Hatfield (St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York), Prof. Aristotle Papanikolaou (Fordham University), Prof. Harold Horell (Fordham University), Dr. Fevronia Soumakis (Columbia University, New York), Prof. Lucian Turcescu (Concordia University. Montreal), Dr. Anton Vrame (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Boston), Dr. Ann Bezzerides (Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology) și Rev. Fr. Joseph Purpura (Department of Youth and Parish Ministries, Antiochian Archdiocese).
At the end of the Symposium, His Grace John Cassian and the Rev. Fr. John McGuckin served Great Vespers. His Eminence Nicolae attended the service, along with the Symposium guests. You can learn more about this event by going online at www.symposiumroaa.info
