Charge to PeterFairfax, VA – The 28th Annual Orientale Lumen Conference will be held “in-person” and “virtual” on June 17-20, 2024, at the Washington Retreat Center near the St. John Paul II Shrine in Washington, DC. The theme will be “Primacy in the 21st Century” reflecting on the last three agreed statements of the Orthodox-Catholic Theological Dialogue: Ravenna in 2007 (Sacramental Nature of the Church), Chieti in 2006 (Synodality and Primacy During the First Millennium), and Alexandria in 2023 (Synodality and Primacy in the Second Millennium and Today).

The following speakers will give lectures: 1) Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, Orthodox Co-Chair of the international dialogue (remote); 2) Bishop John Michael Botean, Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Canton, OH; 3) Msgr. Paul McPartlan, Professor Emeritus of CUA, member of the international dialogue (remote); 4) Fr. Hyacinthe Destivelle, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, The Vatican; 5) Fr. Radu Bordeianu, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA; 6) Fr Philip Halikias, World Council of Churches, Editor, Week of Prayer for Unity, Greek Orthodox. Fr. Nicolas Kazarian, Ecumenical Officer of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, will be the moderator. A question-and-answer discussion among speakers and in-person participants, with limited virtual chat-room questions, will follow each lecture.

The in-person conference will begin with dinner on Monday evening, June 17, and conclude with lunch on Thursday midday, June 20. Plenary sessions will be live streamed to virtual participants at 10:00 am, 3:00 pm, and 7:00 pm each day, EDT. Various non-eucharistic prayer services of the Byzantine tradition will be held throughout the conference.

The registration fees are the same for in-person or virtual attendees: $150.00 for 6 plenary sessions or 12 hours of lectures and discussion. Overnight accommodation is discounted to $75 per person per night until May 5th. The final deadline for registration is May 10th.

For over 25 years, the Orientale Lumen Conferences have brought together several hundred lay persons, diocesan and monastic clergy, with Church leaders, ecumenists and theologians, to learn from each other and develop ecumenical friendships. For the 10th anniversary conference, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said: “Your sacred intent, therefore, is blessed from within and from above by the very nature of your initiative. For, while your effort may be – as you describe it – “grass roots,” we are convinced that it is at the same time rooted in heaven.”

Visit the conference website for more information and register online: https://olfoundation.net/upcoming-events/orientale-lumen-xxviii/

Jack Figel is the founder and annual chairman of these conferences, and received the Miller Award for Excellence in Ecumenical Leadership in 2023 from the National Council of Churches.

For an introduction to the Orientale Lumen “movement” view a short video here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnVgF1Sd2Mbkl7DCTD29FuQ