On Thursday, February 22, 2024, the third event of the series “The Liturgy after the Liturgy” took place, organized by the Holy Metropolis of France and the Vicariate of French-speaking parishes (Vicariat Sainte Marie de Paris et Saint Alexis d’Ugine, Ecumenical Patriarchate) in collaboration with the Volos Academy for Theological Studies.
It was the round table on the topic “The Eucharist as a work of the whole of the people”. Participants included His Eminence Grigorios (Papathomas), Metropolitan of Peristeri, Professor of Canon Law at the Department of Theology of the University of Athens and at the Institute of Orthodox Theology “Saint Sergius”; Dr. Michel Stavrou, Dean of the Institute of Orthodox Theology “Saint Sergius”, Professor at the Catholic Institute in Paris; and Dr. Julia Naett Vidovic, Professor of Synodical History and Bioethics at the Institute of Orthodox Theology “Saint Sergius”. The discussion was moderated by archpriest Rev. Serge Sollogoub, Rector of the Church of St John the Theologian in Meudon, near Paris, and Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies.
The speakers emphasized the importance of the Eucharist for the life of the Church from the early Christian years until today, since “the Church without the Eucharist is not a Church”. The Eucharist creates a community, but this dimension has weakened due to the strong individualism in the modern and post-modern era, which has resulted in the alienation of young people from the Church. A very significant element is the contact and common experience within the parish, especially in small parishes where the faithful maintain close ties, in a way that “I” and “we” have a common ground, or, in other words, where the physical presence has a synodal dimension.
In recent years, the restrictions of the pandemic highlighted the need for participation in the liturgical life and its communal expression, while, according to some opinions, postmodernity also includes a kind of nostalgia for the communal spirit, disputing the strict rationality of modernity. In the discussion that followed, the social dimension of the Eucharist was also mentioned, as it is an element that opens the Church to the rest of the society. There were questions about the gender roles within the Church, about the bureaucratic anchorages that appear inside the Church making it cumbersome, but also about the deficit of meaningful participation, which is hindered by the large numbers of formally Orthodox people in traditionally Orthodox countries. The dialectical relationship between the personal and the individualistic spirit was also mentioned, as well as the personal dimension of prayer, which at the same time expresses a spirit of community and collectivity.
The video recording of the event is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtktmCyRv14 (in French).
