The Monastery of the Kykkotissa Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in Cyprus is hosting an international conference on Monasticism of Russia and Cyprus: Spiritual and Cultural Ties. The meeting is organized by the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Kykkos Monastery, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and St. Basil the Great Foundation. A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk, vicar of the Donetsk diocese, a member of the Board of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, abbot of the Holy Dormition Lavra in Svyatogorsk, took part in the conference. The delegation included hierarchs, hegumens, hegumennesses, monks, a choir and interpreters – 56 people altogether.

On the 31^st of October 2018, the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church was met at the Larnaka Airport by Metropolitan Isaias of Tamassos and Oreini and visited the Church of St. Lazarus and the Convent of St. Thekla, Equal-to-the-Apostles. On the 1^st of November, the delegation was received by His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos II of New Justiniana and All Cyprus. His Beatitude gave his blessing to the hegumens and hegumennesses who had arrived in Cyprus to attend the conference. In his welcome speech Archbishop Chrysostomos called monasticism the spiritual core of the Church.

His Beatitude reminded all those present that the Orthodox monasticism on the island of Cyprus survived even at the times when the political power in the country was seized by the people alien to the Christian faith. “Each Local Church must take great care of the monasticism, for it helps maintain the spiritual life of the entire Church at a high level,” His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos said. He wished success to the participants in the conference and expressed his hope that its results would contribute to the preservation of the monastic ideal and would do spiritual good for monks and nuns of the Russian Church and the Church of Cyprus.

Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk conveyed to the participants in the conference blessings from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, as well as best wishes from Archbishop Feognost of Sergiev Posad, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism.

Vladyka Arseny thanked the hegumen of the Kykkos Monastery, Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos and Tillyria, and Metropolitan Isaias of Tamassos and Oreini for their hospitality and love for the monasticism. “With profound reverence we have set foot on the land of Cyprus irrigated by the blood of martyrs, tears of confessors, and sweat of labourers. The very air here contains the prayerful breath of the Mother of God, the Holy Righteous Lazarus, Friend of God, the holy apostles and apostolic fathers, as well as of many generations of bishops, monks, nuns and pious laypeople who in various historical periods preserved in purity the canonical Orthodoxy… Now the external forces are trying to influence the relationships between the Churches,” Metropolitan Arseny said, “Yet, we believe that by the action of the Holy Spirit the Orthodox Church will help, as it helped before, overcome unkind sentiments against the ecclesial world. We are asking for your prayers for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and especially for the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, who defends the purity of the canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine. We believe that through the joint prayers of all Orthodox Christians the Lord will strengthen His people and bless them with peace. The key words here are ‘His people.’ We have come here to learn more about the Cyprian monasticism, to learn how to be the people of God.”

The International Conference on Monasticism of Russia and Cyprus: Spiritual and Cultural Ties opened at the metochion of the Kykkos Monastery. The conference concluded its work on the 3^rd of November 2018. (Quelle: © 1997—2018 The Russian Orthodox Church. Department for External Church Relations, www.mospat.ru, 3. November 2018)