PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: info@ArmenianOrthodoxChurch.org
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

THIRD ECUMENICAL FORMATION SEMINAR BEGINS IN ST MARY’S MONASTERY IN BIKFAYA
(LEBANON)

For the third time more than eighty representatives of Dioceses, Sunday
School and Youth Movements, and ecumenical staff working on different levels
of the Catholicosate of Cilicia is meeting in Bikfaya 10 to 17 August 2009.
The programme includes Bible Studies, presentations on the Armenian Church,
its Traditions, Liturgy and History, Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue.
In addition, at the end of each day the representatives from Lebanon, Syria,
Cyprus, Greece, Iran and North America are sharing their experiences,
concerns, problems and expectations related to the topics.

On Tuesday 11 August the meeting began with a Matin Service in St. Mary’s
Chapel. After welcome and introductions the Director of the Office of
Ecumenical Relations Bishop Nareg Alemezian introduced the programme and
thanked the "Punic Humanitarian Foundation" for its financial contribution
to the seminar. Dr. Nora Bayrakdarian-Kabakian explained the purpose of the
seminar. Following these presentations, His Holiness Aram I gave his
blessings and said that the goal of this formation seminar is not only to
receive information but also to learn to communicate, share, listen,
participate and contribute to ecumenical thought. He added that these
seminars should remind us that we are all ‘students’ always learning because
our societies and the world around us is changing constantly, and that for
us ecumenism is not representation but contribution.

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View the photos here:
tos/Photos392.htm
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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.