Just as it is complicated to get TO Uzhgorod, it is likewise complicated to leave FROM Uzhgorod. However, the next stop on this journey had some extra time built in – after Pascha my next appointment was a private audience with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on Saturday, May 3. That allowed almost a full week to get from point A to point B.
Father Taras Lovska and his brother, Father Joseph Lovska, both wanted to travel with me to
After dropping the two priests at the airport (one was Father Joseph Mai, SJ whom I’ve know for ten years since the first visit to Rome I made with Archbishop Vsevolod to see Pope John Paul II), we went hunting for a hotel nearby. Travel advisors at the airport gave us the name of a four star hotel, but no real directions except the name of the nearby village where it was located. After 45 minutes and 5 inquiries of folks on the street, we finally found the place. It was a nice, modern and new hotel with all the amenities. We all had a great lunch of chicken paprikash and Father Joseph headed back to Uzhgorod.
The next day, after a relaxing breakfast, Father Taras and I headed to the airport and boarded our flight to
On Thursday, we had planned some shopping and touring, but it was May 1st and local workers arranged a demonstration in
On Friday, taxis were operating again and so we ventured out toward Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. We had lunch at a local Guest House that I have come to know over the years and did some carpet shopping there as well. In particular, I wanted to buy a new carpet for the ambon of the new chapel at the Uzhgorod Seminary and let Father Taras make the selection. We found one, a nice dark blue and light tan design that fits well with the rest of the red marble flooring. That evening we met Paul Gikas, a lay person from the
Shortly after lunch on Saturday, May 3rd, we got a taxi from the hotel with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately traffic was quite congested, even on a Saturday, and the 15 minute journey took over 45 minutes. We arrived just in time for our 3:30 meeting to catch our breath.
After waiting a few minutes in the group audience room on the third floor of the Patriarchate, His All Holiness arrived and invited us into his working office. We exchanged greetings and I introduced Father Taras. I presented a special white leather edition of We Are All Brothers/3, a festschrift of essays that I published in honor of Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos. His All Holiness contributed the Preface to the book, which we were able to complete in time to present to the archbishop on his 80th birthday last December, one week before he fell asleep in the Lord. We talked briefly about how we shall all miss the archbishop.
The main purpose of our meeting was to discuss details for the Orientale Lumen Conference in 2010 that His All Holiness has invited us to conduct once again. In particular we reviewed several options for dates, themes, the agenda and possible speakers. It was a very interactive and lively discussion, and His All Holiness took a genuine interest in the conference and made several very welcome suggestions.
We agreed to move the date from May (the month of the first two conferences in
Of the three topics I proposed, His All Holiness preferred “Church Councils of the East”, the same theme that I preferred. So we agreed that’s what it will be.
We developed a long list of possible speakers – hierarchs, theologians, academics, etc. So I will be contacting various people to invite them as speakers in the coming months, and will try to get a good mix of Church traditions, both Catholic and Orthodox, and a balanced blend of academic levels for our mixed audience of lay persons and clergy. I think the theme will be a great opportunity to learn about the first councils of the Church, all of which were held in or near Constantinople (
The Ecumenical Patriarch also relayed to us his personal joy with his recent visit to
At the conclusion of our audience, His All Holiness gave us two red Paschal eggs and a small Greek cross as gifts. He also gave Father Taras booklets about the translation of the relics of
After the meeting, which lasted more than 40 minutes, we went down to the Cathedral of Saint George and attended the last half of Vespers. We said goodbye to Paul, our host who came to work on Saturday afternoon for our visit, and made our way back to the hotel.
On Sunday, we attempted to attend the Divine Liturgy at Saint George Cathedral, but some large gathering was taking place along the
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