GERMAN DIOCESE: 4 October 2023
A joint clergy conference of both German dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church is held
 On October 2-4, 2023, a joint pastoral meeting of the clergy of the Berlin-German Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate and the German Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was held in Cologne. The event was held at the parish of St Panteleimon the Great Martyr (ROCOR). Each day of the conference began with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy with the participation of bishops and clerics of both dioceses.
On October 2, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, the first meeting of the pastoral conference was held. His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany (ROCOR) addressed the participants via video link. Further speeches were made by His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon of Ruz, Administrator of the Berlin-German Diocese, and His Grace Bishop Job of Stuttgart.
Archpriest Nikolai Artemov presented a report on the history, problems, practice and advantages of the liturgical Church Slavonic language. Priest Alexey Veselov and Priest Alexey Lemmer spoke about the current state of youth work and general youth events. The audience was shown a presentation on the structure and activities of the association of Russian Orthodox youth in Germany ROJ DE (Russische Orthodoxe Jugend in Deutschland e.V.) established last year, and practical advice on organizing work with young people in parishes was given.
The second part of the meeting was devoted to issues related to the glorification of the Host of Saints who shone forth in the German land. The report of Archpriest Andrey Sikojev "German Saints. Pastoral aspects." Subdeacon Michael Vosnitsa and Thomas Braudel spoke about the peculiarities of composing hagiographic descriptions and liturgical texts for German saints. Following the presentations, a discussion was held.
On October 3, after the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, the participants of the meeting continued to discuss the topic of the veneration of the German Saints. In the second part of the meeting, topical issues of pastoral practice were considered, taking into account the specifics of ministry in Germany. Then the clergy visited Cologne Cathedral, where they venerated the relics of the Three Magi and martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity.
The pastoral conference concluded on October 4 with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
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