Writer Christine Chaillot gave a lecture about The Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Orthodox Parish of St Apostle Matthew in Leuven

On Sunday February 24, the Orthodox Parish of St Apostle Matthew in Leuven had a pleasure to receive a special guest, a renowned Swiss scholar Christine Chaillot. After the Liturgy, After the Liturgy, by the blessing of archbishop Simon of Brussels and Belgium and by invitation of Fr.Serge Model, she gave a lecture entitled The Oriental Orthodox Churches. The lecture was in English with a Russian interpreting provided by Victor Yudin. Christine Chaillot is the founder and secretary of the Association "Dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians". She is also the author of several books and articles dedicated to the history and spirituality of so-called Pre-Chalcedonian Churches, such as Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Armenian, and Indian.

The pleasant surprise was that a large group of clergymen and laymen of the Ethiopian Church attended this event, including Bishop John, the head of diocese in Western Europe, who came by chance from Rome for the main fest of the Ethiopian parish in Brussels. The priest of the Coptic Church in Leuven, Fr.Lucas Al-Baramusi, also attended the lecture which, in fact, became a small symposium. After the main speech given by Christine Chaillot, the quests were asked about dogmatic, worship, and ritual life of their Churches. As an example, Ethiopian choristers performed several liturgical songs (including the Easter troparion) accompanied by playing the lyre as well as several songs (accompanied by traditional dances) these are analogues of the Western or Slavonic Christmas carols.

At parting, we gave them presents: copies of the icons of Holy Trinity (by St. Andrey Rublev) and The Mother of God of Vladimir, as well as several books in Dutch and French. Fr. Alexander Yavarouski thanked Christine Chaillot and guests for organising and visiting this symposium. In return, the Ethiopian bishop thanked us for the hearty welcome and expressed a hope of our future union in Eucharist.

Videos:

http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0049246/080224_video/080224_leuven_1.avi (10 mb)

http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0049246/080224_video/080224_leuven_2.avi (26 mb)

http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0049246/080224_video/080224_leuven_3.avi (54 mb)

http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0049246/080224_video/080224_leuven_4.avi (20 mb)

http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0049246/080224_video/080224_leuven_5.avi (40 mb)

http://perswww.kuleuven.be/~u0049246/080224_video/080224_leuven_6.avi (23 mb)