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Problems Of Byzantine Studies and Patristics Discussed In Kyiv

27.05.2003, [21:47] // Conference //

The Ukrainian Center of Byzantine Studies and Patristics held a round table meeting on “Problems in the Development of Byzantine Studies and Patristics in modern Ukraine” on 23 May, 2003 in Kyiv. The participants included religious figures, scholars, theologians, architects, and journalists.

The participants’ reports dealt with general problems of Byzantine studies in modern Ukraine. Archbishop Ihor Isichenko (Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church) spoke about the heritage of the Fathers of the Church and prospects for Ukrainian theology. Volodymyr Nikitin, doctor of culture studies (International Centre for Policy Studies, Kyiv) demonstrated the need to integrate patristics into the process of conceptualization of the ways of the modern world.

Victor Zhukovskyi, a teacher of dogmatics and Eastern Christian spirituality (Ukrainian Catholic University [UCU], Lviv), spoke about problems of Ukrainian spiritual and theological identity. Andrii Yasinovskyi, a teacher of Byzantine History and Culture (also from UCU), told the participants about UCU’s experience in organizing Byzantine research.

The participants of the round table adopted a number of recommendations: to hold in November, 2003 a conference “Constantinople. Athos. Kyiv: The Dynamics of Ecclesiastical and Cultural Relations;” to ask publishing houses, spiritual schools and state universities for an update on the prospects of translation and publication of works of the Church Fathers; to advance the initiative of spreading the teaching of the Old Church Slavonic language as an optional subject at secondary schools in Ukraine and a compulsory discipline in humanities departments.

Source: Information Center “Agia Sophia”