CU Christian Orthodox Society

Dear brothers and sisters,

The Institute of Orthodox of Christian Studies (http://www.iocs.cam.ac.uk/) would like to make known to our community the courses they provide. Therefore please read the information provided below.

I had the pleasure of attending last week’s lecture (17/12/2011), given by the Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. A summary of this lecture is available here.

Would you like to study Orthodox Theology and the history of the Orthodox Church from the comfort of your own home? Are you in full time employment or live in remote areas and you cannot afford the time and money to travel to Orthodox Theological Schools, but you wish to receive a high quality university education in Orthodox Theology?
Then the IOCS Distance Learning Programme is for you. We are the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies, specializing in high quality and advanced Orthodox Studies for 10 years now, being situated in Cambridge, UK.

All our Distance Learning study material (in English) is provided at the start of the study and is for a low all-inclusive fee, payable at the start of each module (a significant discount is provided for the registration to the whole programme).

Here is what one of our distance learners has to say about our programme:
“Here is an opportunity to take classes offered by one of the world’s finest and most respected universities and to enjoy them in the comfort of your own home and at a time that fits your schedule. You will actually see and hear world class theologians and biblical scholars lecturing in a classroom setting. You will experience, through chat rooms or Skype, lively interactions with intelligent, well-informed tutors who will guide you through the materials presented in the lectures. Most importantly, you will experience all of this in a supportive and caring environment that encourages questions and thoughtful discussion.”

Our Distance Learning Certificate Brochure: http://www.iocs.cam.ac.uk/resources/texts/distance_learning_brochure.pdf

Our Distance Learning Portal (with free access to many of our On Line Library Videos): http://distancelearning.iocs.cam.ac.uk/

Distance Learning Inquiries: ca356@cam.ac.uk

Also, please note that there is an International Conference on the Philosophical and Theological Significance of the work of St Gregory Palamas (Thessaloniki, 7-15 March 2012).

Conference Website (with Registration Form and Method of Payment):

http://distancelearning2.iocs.cam.ac.uk/ICStGP-2/

Further info from ca356@cam.ac.uk and icsgp@aeath.gr

Dear all,

The youth committee of the Orthodox Fellowship of Saint John the Baptism is organising several events during this academic year. They are as follows:

1. Pelgrimage to Walsingham, on Saturday 26th November 2011. Please check the following website for more details:

   http://www.orthodoxyouth.co.uk/coming-events.html

   The pelgrimage runs over 2 days and all included is £59. If you are interested I think you should get in touch asap since this is next week. There is an application form available here.

2. Study weekend about the Macarian Homilies: life, love and prayer.
   27-29 January 2012, St. Matthias Church Centre, Lincoln.
   You can find more details and the provisional programme here:

   http://www.ofsjb.org/sw2012prog.pdf

   and the booking form here:

   http://www.ofsjb.org/sw2012booking.pdf

   A summary of the topic:

   The Macarian Homilies are among the greatest treasures of the Orthodox Church. Issuing from Syria in the late Fourth Century, these texts testify to a spiritual life and mystical vision of the highest order – full of fire, light, love, and hope. It is a vision which remains as fresh, vital, and  accessible today as it was 1600 years ago. The Homilies have had a decisive impact on the Orthodox Christian tradition, helping shape the life and thought of such great saints and theologians as St Maximos the Confessor, St Gregory Palamas, and St Silouan the Athonite.
   This weekend course offers an initiation into and exploration of this enthralling and engaging spiritual treasure.

   The Macarian Homilies are among the greatest treasures of the Orthodox Church. Issuing from Syria in the late Fourth Century, these texts testify to a spiritual life and mystical vision of the highest order – full of fire, light, love, and hope. It is a vision which remains as fresh, vital, and  accessible today as it was 1600 years ago.The Homilies have had a decisive impact on the Orthodox Christian tradition, helping shape the life and thought of such great saints and theologians as St Maximos the Confessor, St Gregory Palamas, and St Silouan the Athonite.
   This weekend course offers an initiation into and exploration of this enthralling and engaging spiritual treasure.

3. Summer Orthodox festival: A weekend away of fellowship, fun and fresh air!
   June 1st – 5th 2012, Dovedale House, Ilam, Peak District.
   Please check here for more details:

   http://www.orthodoxyouth.co.uk/orthodox-festival-2012.html

Dear All,

The first talk of this 2011/2012 academic year will be given by Fr. Raphael
(from Saint Ephraim Orthodox Church, Cambridge) on Tuesday 8th of
November at 18:30. The location of the talk is: Forster Court, Charles
Babbage Road, Cambridge.

http://tinyurl.com/65q3khz

We will be in the bus station (Near Cavendish Laboratory – West
Cambridge) between 18:15 and 18:35 to guide every one to the room
where the talk is. There should be enough space for those coming by car.

Christ is Risen!

We are pleased to inform you that this coming Friday, 20th of May, Todd
Godwin is going to give a talk on the topic “Five Things Everybody Should
Know about East Syrian Christianity in the 6th to 9th Centuries”.

Todd Godwin is a PhD student at the University of London’s School of
Oriental and African Studies and in The Department for the Study of
Religions.  His dissertation focuses on the Church of the East in Tang
Dynasty China (7th to 9th century) and the Persian background of the church
as preparation for its ability to survive within the Medieval Chinese and
Later Abbasid Arab empire in Baghdad.  He is from the United States and has
been a teacher of English to non-native speakers in East Asia and the Middle
East and works in a number of languages associated with these regions.

The abstract from the talk:

1. The word “Nestorian” is no longer a politically correct term, was never
an accurate term, and thus should not be used. The terms “East Syrian” and
“The Church of the East” are easily made a part of our vocabulary if we
simply try. Understanding a few important things about the period, a brief
introduction to which will be given in the talk, will drive this point home
and flesh it out.

2. If we want to understand how Christianity got to Persia, China, India,
the Turkic and Mongolian tribes (and others) in the early Middle Ages, this
can only be done by looking at the history of the East Syrians.

3. East Syrian (and West Syrian) Christianity has much to teach us about the
origins of Islam and how Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together in the
past, which is helpful for understanding how they can do so in the present.

4. The Persian Empire, the setting in which East Syrian Christian history
played out in its first stages, is much more Hellenistic and based in Greek
learning and philosophical thought than we might normally think. It is
often stated that Greek learning was preserved by the Medieval Arabs and
then handed back to Western Civilization at the end of the Middle Ages.
This is not exactly the case, and the East Syrians did much not only to
pass Greek (and Indian) learning to the Arabs but to preserve it
themselves, as did the non-Christian Persians.

5. The East Syrian church preserved a venerable monastic tradition that is
in many ways  identitical to the one preserved by the Orthodox Greek and
Latin speaking churches and the Coptic, Armenian and Ethiopian churches.
Figures such as Evagrius Ponticus and the Desert Fathers made their way to
China, India, Sogdiana and to Turkic tribes in East Syrian monasteries and
made possible the venerable culture that was sustained by them.

When: Friday, 20th of May, 720pm

Where: Selwyn College, Walters Room

The directions to the College can be found here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl

The plan of the College:

http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/college/selplan/

Walters Room is number 4 on the plan

There will be refreshments

You are very welcome!

Dr Dominic Rubin, an Orthodox-Christian scholar of Hebrew now living and teaching in Moscow, will be visiting Cambridge on Weds (11th May) as part of a UK tour to talk about his recently published book Holy Russia, Sacred Israel. The book deals in a careful, scholarly way with the history of Christian/Jewish relations over the last 250 years, but especially in the 20th century and up to today. It is enjoying considerable acclaim from those interested in this sensitive area -

”Dominic Rubin’s Holy Russia, Sacred Israel is a formidable and profoundly impressive piece of research, which needed to be done, and I was very glad to see it. It is a major piece of work.” –Most Reverend. Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
”Holy Russia, Sacred Israel is without a doubt a very important book and contribution to the field. With a deep and sympathetic understanding for both Judaism and Russian Orthodoxy, Dominic Rubin gives us new readings of some of the canonical figures of Russian thought: Soloviev, Florensky, Rozanov, Gershenzon, Karsavin, and Fedotov, among others. This is an important book for Russian culture because the author has no axe to grind and is unafraid of telling truth to power, facing both past anti-Jewish agitation and propaganda, while at the same time never surrendering hope for a future Russian-Jewish philosophical dialogue. Each figure is judged primarily on the merits of their thinking as theology and as humane expression, in a way which displays erudition, tolerance and a love for both Russian and Jewish culture.” –Brian Horowitz, Professor of Russian and Chair of Jewish Studies, Tulane University

When? Wednesday 11th May, 5pm
Where? Wesley House (Jesus Lane)

Jointly organised by the IOCS and the Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations.

2. Orthodox Youth Festival

The registration deadline is coming very soon. Details about this event can be
found here: http://www.orthodoxyouth.co.uk/orthodox-youth-festival-2011.html

1. Discussion Group on Lent

When: Thursday 3 March 7.15 p.m.

Where: Selwyn College (Walters Room)

Father Raphael will be leading a discussion on everything that concerns us
about the Great Lent.

Walters Room is in Old Court, on your left when you come from the porter’s
lodge.

See the plan of the College (Walters Room is under number 4)

http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/college/selplan/

On 24th of February Father Raphael will speak on the Services during the
weeks of preparation for Great Lent. Father Raphael is the priest of
St.Ephraim Russian Orthodox parish.

When: 24th of February, Thursday, 730pm

Where: Selwyn College, Walters Room

Walters Room is in Old Court, on your left when you come from the porter’s
lodge.

See the plan of the College (Walters Room is under number 4)

http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/college/selplan/

We are meeting up for dinner at Selwyn College this Monday, 21st
of February at 6pm. Dasha will be at Porter’s Lodge at 550pm.

Directions: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

The Orthodox Christian Society is very pleased to have Professor Irina
Kirillova speaking on the topic “Why read Dostoevsky today?”. Irina
Kirillova is Fellow Emerita at Newnham College and Lecturer in Russian
Studies at the Slavonic Department, Faculty of Modern and Medieval
Languages, University of Cambridge.

When: 14th of February, 8pm

Where: Selwyn College, Walters Room.

Walters Room is in Old Court, on your left when you come from the porter’s
lodge.

See the plan of the College (Walters Room is under number 4)

http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/college/selplan/