The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew declared open the International Conference, titled “The theological legacy of Archpriest George Florovsky,” on Sunday afternoon, September 1.
“We warmly welcome you to Constantinople and the historical Centre of Orthodoxy to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of his passing of Archpriest George Florovsky, an influential figure in Church and Theology, who was a preeminent professor of patristics,” said Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his opening address. The conference is organised in Constantinople by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in collaboration with the Patriarchal Institute For Patristic Studies In Thessaloniki.
“The work of Archpriest George Florovsky will always belong to future generations. It will always be a source of inspiration and direction for theological debates. The central element of Florovsky’s thought and witness was the “creative return to the spirit of the Fathers,” the Ecumenical Patriarch said.
The Ecumenical Patriarch underlined the importance of the Orthodox discourse in the modern world.
“The discourse of Orthodoxy is too true to be excluded from the debate on the major current problems. In order to deal with all these challenges, we all understand the importance of the unity of Orthodoxy. We have experience on how fragile the Pan-orthodox unity is in the case of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church convened in Crete as well as the Ukrainian autocephaly issue.
Unfortunately, the eucharistic and eschatological identity of the Church today is threatened by tendencies characterised by infertile spirituality within the Orthodox Church, as well as by tensions in inter-Orthodox relations.”
