The Academy hosted a workshop for Missiology Teachers' Community "Actual Issues of Missionary Service"

On October 4, the Synodal Missionary Department and the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church organised an advanced training course "Actual Issues of Missionary Service". The opening took place in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Theological Academy.

The Bishop of Lukhovitsky Euthymius, Chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department, Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, Chairman of the Educational Committee and the Rector of the General Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies, and the Bishop of Zvenigorod Kirill, Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, said a welcoming speech.

Bishop Euthymius distinguished different types of a mission. “The internal mission is addressed to our fellow citizens, compatriots, people of our culture, and the external mission is addressed to people of a different faith, origin and culture. Accordingly, the aspects of training for missionaries who are engaged in internal and external missions should be different. In this regard, it is reasonable to separate the training of internal and external missionaries. The course should emphasis on issues of internal mission, and it is also important to study the specifics of the region and take into account some conditions of the missionary field. For training the external missionaries, it is desirable to create a separate educational direction.

The following participants gave their reports: Priest Dmitry Berezin, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department (“The Relevance of the Missiology Subject in Theological Educational Institutions”), Boris V. Korchevnikov, General Director of the “Spas” TV Channel (“Mission of the Church in the Modern Media Space”); the Metropolitan of Klin Leonid, Patriarchal Exarch of Africa (“Peculiarities of the Orthodox Mission Abroad on the Example of the Exarchate of Africa”), Professor Andrey B. Efimov, Dr. of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Head of the Missiology Department at PSTGU (“History and Theology of the Mission”), Professor Alexey N. Gunya, Dr. of Geography, a member of the Synodal Missionary Department (“Geography, politics, global problems of our time through the eyes of missionaries”).

In addition, there was a panel discussion "Missionary service of the Russian Orthodox Church at the present stage" and a round table on the "Parisal mission".

On October 5, the Bishop of Lukhovitsk Euthymius, Chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department, opened the second day of the advanced teachers’ training program on Missiology in theological educational institutions.

Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev, Cleric of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist in Sokolniki, gave a report on the “Actual Issues of Dialogue with Non-Christians”. He noted that a mission is an important service that stems from the nature of our Church. Teaching missiology looks like a lab, where students can role play the communication with non-Orthodox representatives.

Priest Dionysius Grishkov, Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department, Head of the Center for Assistance to Migrants "Near the House", gave a presentation on the "Mission in the Migrant Environment". The center focuses on educational projects. Priest Dionysius described the dialogue like conditions that enable preaching among foreign people including students living in Russia. “The mission of the church concerns foreigners, non-Orthodox, who are in big cities. People live in the inner world, it is difficult to start communication with them. How to reach these people? Street mission remains the main way to work with migrants, and it is necessary to lay the foundation for friendly communication.” He also noted the importance of working with children who were brought up in a different culture tradition.

Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, gave a report on the "Mission in the Philippines". He spoke about the history of the Orthodox mission in this country and the features of the missionary field. The Philippines are self-taught Christians, who learn about Orthodoxy from books, through the Internet and ask for the baptism. There are still people living in the Philippines who studied with Russian refugees. St. John (Maximovich) was the one of them. He found a temporary refuge in this country and built several churches.

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