East West Dialogue

East West Dialogue Meeting at Minster Abbey

In August we hosted our Eleventh East/ West Monastic Dialogue meeting at Minster Abbey. These meetings are in response to Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Letter “Orientale Lumen” and provide a forum for Catholic and Orthodox monks and nuns to discuss topics of mutual interest. Mother Nikola presented an enlivening, historical overview of the extended pilgrimage of St. Willibald in the eighth century to places of special Orthodox significance. Fr Demetrios Charbak, the Greek Orthodox representative of the Antiochene Orthodox Church, presented a paper on the Petrine Ministry from an orthodox perspective. Fr. Demetrius attends the official Orthodox Catholic dialogue meetings. Having him as part of our meeting gave us a very immediate and exciting insight into the progress of the dialogue. Fr. Colin Battel Prior of Ampleforth Abbey presented a paper on the Catholic view of the subject. We hope to widen this discussion next May, as we prepare for the 12th East/ West Dialogue Meeting. The “Petrine Ministry” is the current theme of the official dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox. The most recent meeting was held in Cyprus in October.