Research project and scientific committee
The XIXth International ecumenical conference on Orthodox spirituality (Bose, 7–10 September 2011) desires to propose for its theme this essential unity of Holy Scripture and exegesis in the Spirit, the Word of God and spiritual life, which runs through the entire tradition of the Eastern Churches, in ways and forms different from those of the West, but with a strong convergence on the pneumatic reality of Scripture, as Vatican Council II has also highlighted.
Without claiming to exhaust all the wealth of this tradition, the conference desires to concentrate on three focal aspects, transverse to the various relations.
A first aspect will be dedicated to the hermeneutics of the Bible as elaborated by the fathers, who touch on problems that remain still today of great topical interest: the meaning of the different literary genres; the relation between exegesis, praxis, and spiritual experience; the ecclesial meaning of Scripture; the living relation between faith and Word.
A second aspect will be centered around the ecclesial dimension of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, making fruitful the Scriptures in the Church’s bosom, reveals Christ’s face, leads towards the encounter with him, and orientates personal and community existences towards a life in obedience to the Word that emerged from “it is written”. “Through the Word of God the entire holy Church remains in faith, is confirmed and saved through the help of him who spoke through the prophets and the apostles” (St Tixon of Zadonsk, Tvorenija, 1:180). In this sense not only will there be reflection on the tradition of the past, but also on the present of the various Churches, so as to permit a proper approach to how the Eastern Churches in their spiritual tradition and in the life of the people of God have always preserved and lived in many ways Holy Scripture: from the liturgical celebration to the importance of the Bible for Orthodox theology, from a historical and critical exegesis to the ecclesial reading of the Bible, to the relation between exegesis and spiritual life.
Scripture itself is polyphonic: a multiform tradition flows out of the very plurality of the Biblical text. The translation of the Gospels marks the birth of a Church, of a spiritual tradition, and of a particular hermeneutics. Often the Biblical renewal in a Church coincides with a spiritual renewal. The third aspect, thus, explores the reality of Scriptural presence in the various Churches and in particular in the experience of Christian monastics. The questions that arise touch in depth some of the great interrogatives open still today before every man: how does Scripture shape the spiritual life? How does it inspire decisions (personal/community)? how does Scripture interrogate life? Ho does life interrogate Scripture?
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Enzo Bianchi (Bose), Lino Breda (Bose), Sabino Chialà (Bose), Hervé Legrand (Parigi), Adalberto Mainardi (Bose), Antonio Rigo (Venezia), Roberto Salizzoni (Torino), Michel Van Parys (Chevetogne)