Romanians from Vienna joined efforts to organize Austria’s first post-pandemic Pan-Orthodox Youth Meeting.
Father Emanuel Nuțu, parish priest of the “Holy Prince Stephen the Great” Romanian Church in Vienna, and Father Athanasius Buk from the Greek Orthodox Church worked with priests and young people from other Orthodox Churches active in Austria.
The theme of the event was the Saviour’s words from the Gospel of John (11:25): “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
The meeting was held on Saturday, October 8, at the Mater Salvatoris Roman-Catholic School Campus in Vienna. Approximately 400 young people from all over Austria participated – some coming from as far as 500 kilometers away.
The event started with the Divine Liturgy celebrated in German at the great church of the campus by Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Arsenios of Austria, who was accompanied by many clerics from Orthodox sister churches.
The liturgy was attended by Serbian Orthodox Bishop Andrej of Austria, who delivered the homily.
After the group photo, participants had lunch together at the campus cafeteria.
In the second part of the event, dedicated to education, Gudrun Kugler, a Member of the Austrian Parliament, read a message on behalf of the President of the Parliament.
Metropolitan Arsenios delivered a talk on the theme of the meeting, which was followed by four workshops coordinated by clerics.
The young people were able to talk freely to the clerics and addressed numerous questions about the meaning of life and what follows after the separation of the soul from the body.
The meeting concluded with free time. Young people could socialize, play sports or paint glass icons at a workshop coordinated by Father Răzvan Gască, iconographer.
The event was accompanied by Romanian, Greek, and Serbian traditional music, folk dances, and Serbian traditional culinary products.
“Participants were numerous and very active and we hope this meeting has strengthened their faith and their feeling of belonging to the Church of Christ,” said Father Emanuel Nuțu.
Austria’s Pan-Orthodox Youth Meeting, which was at its ninth edition after a two-year interruption, benefitted from the blessing of the Conference of Orthodox Bishops of Austria.
Photo source: Facebook / Biserica Sfântul Stefan cel Mare din Viena
Source: basilica.ro
