Abbot of Lebanese monastery meets with Volyn seminarians of UOC
Archimandrite Roman (Hannat) told the students of the Volyn Theological Seminary about the modern life of the Orthodox Church of Antioch in the Middle East.
On November 12, 2021, Archimandrite Roman (Hannat), the abbot of the Patriarchal Stauropegial Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Balamand (Lebanon) of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, who participated in the international conference "Catholicity of the Church: Theological, Canonical and Historical Dimensions", met with students of the Volyn Theological Seminary, reports the official website of the seminary.
The meeting was dedicated to the ties of the Volyn Seminary with the Balamand University in Lebanon, where Archimandrite Roman (Hannat) is a teacher of church singing and hymnography at the Theological Faculty. Father Roman was accompanied by the deputy head of the UOC DECR, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.
The cleric of the Patriarchate of Antioch reminded the seminarians that the activity of such Church Fathers and ascetics of piety as St. John Chrysostom and St. John of Damascus is connected with their Church. He also noted that he was glad to visit Ukraine. “I love the Ukrainian Orthodox Church very much, and you should also love your Church and take care of it with humility,” Father Roman urged the seminarians.
The meeting participants were interested in various aspects of spiritual life, youth ministry and the state of Orthodoxy and Christianity in general in the Middle East. Archimandrite Roman said that there are about 1.5 million parishioners of the Patriarchate of Antioch in Syria, 200,000 in Lebanon, and 15,000 in Turkey. At the end of the meeting, Father Roman performed the Troparion of the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Arabic.
As reported, more than 20 speakers of the UOC and other Churches made their reports at the forum on catholicity.
