St.
Petersburg
An
ecumenical theological conference titled "Man in the Age of
Apocalypse" was held in Petrikirche on September 26.
Taking
part in the conference were: Michael Schwartzkopf, dean of the
Northwest Deanery of the ELCER, Archpriest Vladimir Fydorov of the
Prince Vladimir Orthodox Cathedral, President of the Theological
Seminary of the ELC Anton Tikhomirov, priest and teacher at the Roman Catholic
seminary Alejandro Jose Karbaho Olea, deacon of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Ingria Evgeny Mikhailov and teacher of religious
studies at RGPU Alexei Gaidkov. The moderator of the seminar was the
church council president at St. Catherine's Lutheran Church, Elvira
Zheids.
Among the topics discussed were: faith a demagogry, religion and ideology, the sources
of inter-cultural and religious conflicts, finding paths for dialogue
between believers and non-believers and the opportunities offered by pluralism.
Pastor
Anton Tikhomirov spoke about his experience teaching in a Lutheran
congregation in Kazakhstan: "I see the main task of the church
on the whole and this seminar in particular to be to make connections
with the people who are around us," he said. "My recent
experience in leading a seminar in Astana among conservative-minded
people showed that themes of eschatology are particularly
controversial. Of all the theological disciplines, in questions of eschatology there is the least amount
of theological clarity. Discussions with participants of the seminar
showed how deep the filters or lens sit within us that we use while
reading the Gospel; they do not allow us to see that which lies
beyond that narrow field of vision which we have created for
ourselves. It is quite common to find an inability or very slight
ability to take on a new point of view. I came to the conclusions
that we need to develop language both outside and inside the Church
for reaching other people with what we really think. There are huge
barriers here: priests in the church frequently speak in only in
"church dialect," using concepts that are understandable
only to those on the inside - grace, salvation, following Christ and
others; these things don't mean anything for someone outside of the
church. All the same we understand this barrier and try to overcome
it. The second is more difficult and it is related to the
expectations of people outside of the church. They expect us to speak
in religious jargon. I've very often met people who are capable of
interpreting philosophical texts, prose or poetry in a free and
creative way, but as soon as they run in to religious texts them
become like stone statues. In other words for most people religion is
a selection of dogmas that cannot be put aside even one bit. How do we
teach people that faith, theology, religion - these are also spheres
of creativity, freedom and thought for which there are no firmly
fixed borders - that's the biggest problem. We should work in this
direction."
Archpriest
Vladimir Fyodor noted that the main question for the contemporary
Church is what language the clergy speaks in, what people hear
from them, and what they understand. Theology isn't like math or other
exact sciences - it is not about definitions, but about images, since
theology is figurative thinking. "We try to describe a mystery
and mathematical logic will not help us with this, only images. The
description of a mystery should be in figurative language and then it
will always be relevant," said Father Vladimir. In
his opinion the main tension that exists in society is not
interconfessional, interreligious or conservative / liberal split,
but it is between enlightenment and willful ignorance or
"obscurantism." In Russian this word ("mrakobesie") points to a source in
the demonic and in the dark. A person can be possessed by darkness.
When there is no light, a person becomes insane. Enlightenment is a
deeply Christian term - Christ enlightens us with the light of truth,
ignites the light of reason. Revelation is possible only when there
is light. In the fast few centuries this Christian understanding has
been distorted by the rational approach that was dominant in the era
of Enlightenment. The conflict between darkness and light exists
within every confession; it is no surprise, then, that an Orthodox
theologian understands a good Catholic priest almost immediately,
while two Orthodox priests with different levels of education might
consider one another to be heretics. "Today
it is very important to have the skill of reading holy texts since
only through interpretation is something revealed. In the
contemporary world there is not enough communication, not enough
exchange of interpretations. A person who seeks the truth is seeking
God whether he or she recognizes this or not. In order for there to
be enlightenment, there needs to be the light of Christ. For me this
light of Christ is the search for that language in which I can
communication my religious experience. I am only able to communicate
that which I know - my own internal experience," said Father
Vladimir.
The
representative from the Roman Catholic Church priest Alejandro Jose
Karbaho Olea told about how in his home country, Spain, the
church was unable to find a suitable language for communicating with
youth, and therefore the majority of the people of his generation and
younger are lost for the church today.
The
importance of the right kind of dialogue with the congregation was
emphasized also by the deacon from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Ingria, Evgeny Mikhailov. In his words the preacher, communicating
with the congregation, to a certain extent answers the question he
himself put forward and not always those which are interesting to
people.
"There
are various levels of truth," said Father Alejandro, "the
understanding of Revelation is different now then in the 13th
century. The interpretation of truth changes with time."
"Pluralism is good when it is a result of education, not the
lack of education," added deacon Mikhailov. "It is good
when there are many opinions if these opinions are of high quality."
The
participants of the conference agreed that the main task of the
clergy today is to seek for forms which can be used to reach people
with the Gospel."
From
materials from the "Water of Life" information agency.
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