International Ecumenical Conference of Orthodox Spirituality
11.09.2017
From September 6 to 9, the 25th International Ecumenical Conference of Orthodox Spirituality was held in the Bose Monastery of Italy. The four-day conference was titled "Hospitality as a Gift" and was devoted to the Christian understanding of hospitality and its Scriptural, compassionate, theological, monastic and canonical perceptions.
With the blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; Rev. Fr. Tovma Khachatryan, Armenian spiritual pastor of Italy and Vicar of the Western European Pontifical Legate, represented the Armenian Church during the Conference.
The Conference was opened with a lecture by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Patriarch Bartholomew outlined man as the host of the Creator on earth; a guest who, pretending to be a landlord, ended up becoming stranger to his own home; a guest that the "hospitable God" never abandoned. It is for this extraordinary fidelity that the believer "hosts the alien as God hosts him in the world".
During the meetings, congratulatory messages of spiritual leaders from various church traditions were also read.
Father Tovma read the Pontifical message and greetings of the His Holiness Karekin II, expressing appreciation for the kind attitude towards the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Catholicos of All Armenians.
