Friends of Mount Athos - Annual General Meeting 2015
The 2015 Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 13 June at St Anne's College, Oxford. The day will start with a celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity and the Annunciation (1 Canterbury Road, Oxford OX2 6LU) at 9.00 am. All members and their guests, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, are warmly invited to attend this Liturgy. The church is only five minutes' walk from St Anne's College where coffee will be available in the Mary Ogilvie Foyer from 10.45 am. Proceedings will begin at 11.30 am and there will be three talks.
The first speaker is Hieromonk Serafim (Aldea), a Romanian, tonsured at the Monastery of Rasca in Bucovine, who came to Durham to study for a doctorate under Father Andrew Louth. Whilst in Durham, he became aware of the early Christian history of the British Isles, and when the opportunity arose to acquire a disused chapel on the Isle of Mull, realised that this was an invitation to work to establish a monastery dedicated to All the Celtic Saints. His talk is entitled: "The silent uses of monasticism: Athos, Bucovine, the Hebrides" and will cover not only his own monastic formation, experiences of the Holy Mountain and his own plans for a monastic foundation, but principally will reflect his conviction that a monastic element is essential to the full realisation of the Christian gospel. More details about Father Serafim, and about his project for the Monastery on Mull, can be found by looking at his website: www.mullmonastery.com.
The second speaker is Professor Athanasios Papathanasiou, a prominent Orthodox theologian, who will speak on monasticism as the common vocation of all Christians and a reminder of the hope all members of the Church share. Professor Papathanasiou has degrees in theology and law, is editor-in-chief of the Greek theological quarterly Synaxi, and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Orthodox Theology. The latest of his numerous articles and papers is a study of Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia entitled A Hesychast from the Holy Mountain in the Heart of a City. We hope to have copies available on the day.
The third speaker is Simon Jennings, FOMA Treasurer, who will give an illustrated talk about the society's 2014 pilgrimage to Turkey and the Dodecanese. This multi-faceted trip visited important monasteries on Chios and Patmos, archaeological sites in Turkey, and was able to participate in the first re-consecration of an Orthodox church in Turkey following the tragic events of 1922.
A buffet lunch is available in the college and must be booked in advance (price £20.00). It is followed by the official business of the AGM itself and as usual there will be elections. Three members of the Executive Committee have reached the end of their term of office and will tender their resignations: David Cadman, Alasdair Cross, and Graham Speake. Any further nominations should reach the Secretary in writing at least one week before the meeting. Guests are welcome at the AGM but may not vote.
After tea there is a further opportunity to join the Orthodox community at 1 Canterbury Road for a Vigil service at 5.30 pm. The service will last about two hours and the languages used will be primarily English and Slavonic.
Attendance at the AGM is free. The charge for attending the rest of the day (including morning coffee and afternoon tea) is £12.00 each (students £6.00). Completed forms and cheques (payable to The Friends of Mount Athos) should be sent as soon as possible to Alasdair Cross, c/o Rawlinson & Hunter Ltd, Trafalgar Court, 3rd Floor, West Wing, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 2JA.
