”Continuity, Context, Uniqueness”
Programme and proceedings
Friday, October 3
9.45 – 10.00am Registration
10.00 –10.20am Prayer. Greetings. Video viewing
10.20 – 10.50am Andrey Kostryukov (Moscow)
Western European Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate on the eve of the pastoral ministry of Fr. Anthony (Bloom)
10.50 – 11.20am Natalya Likvintseva (Moscow)
Bishop Anthony and Brotherhood of St. Photius
11.20 – 12.00pm Gillian Crow (London). Online. Translation will be provided
The Church as Family – Metropolitan Anthony’s vision for his diocese and beyond
12.00– 12.10pm Discussion
12.10 – 12.30pm Coffee break
12.30 – 13.00pm Natalya Balueva (Kostroma)
Liturgical and singing traditions of the Russian Diaspora in the Diocese of Sourozh during the regency of Archpriest Michael Fortunato
13.00 – 13.30pm Michael Sarni (London)
The ministry of Metropolitan Anthony in the context of religious and social life in Great Britain in the second half of the 20th century (based on archival sources)
13.30 – 14.00pm Protoierey Hildo Bos (Amsterdam), Online
The Sourozh tradition in the life of St. Nicholas Parish in Amsterdam
14.00 – 14.15pm Discussion
14.15 – 15.45pm – Lunch break
15.45 – 16.15pm Grigory Sheyanov (Moscow)
«Are gathered in my name»: Dmitry S. Likhachev’s meeting with Bishop Anthony
16.15 – 16.45pm Maria Tanailova (Moscow)
«God may be all in all»: On the calling of the world and man in the theology of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh in relation to patristic thought and theology contemporary to the Bishop
16.45 – 17.15pm Konstantin Matsan (Moscow)
Man before God: Existential Philosophy in the Theology of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
17.15 – 18.00pm – Discussion. Video viewing
18.00 – 18.30pm Coffee break
18.30 – 20.00pm Round table «Metropolitan Anthony on human values in medicine»
Moderator: Konstantin Matsan (Moscow)
Participants: Archpriest Alexander Shabanov (Tver), Tatyana Semchishina (Moscow), Hieromonk Feodorit (Senchukov) (Moscow), Archpriest Christopher Hill (Moscow)
20.00pm Prayer
Saturday, October 4
10.15 – 10.30am Prayer. Video viewing
10.30 – 11.00am Petr Mikhaylov (Moscow)
Kenotic theology in the legacy of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
11.00 – 11.40am Revd Dr John Binns (Cambridge). Online. Translation will be provided
On praying and living the creed. Metropolitan Anthony’s talks to his congregation
11.40 – 12.00pm Metropolitan Anthony’s Book Presentation «The Living Creed» (М., 2025)
Participants: Revd Dr John Binns (Cambridge). Online. Translation will be provided, Petr Mikhaylov (Moscow), Egor Agafonov (Moscow)
12.00 – 12.20pm Discussion
12.20 – 12.40pm Coffee break
12.40-13.10pm Atchpriest George Zavershinski (Belfast)
Theology of Dialogue in the Spiritual Experience of Metropolitan Anthony
13.10 – 13.40pm Alexander Koltsov (Moscow)
«Christianity After Religion» Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Metropolitan Anthony on the Possibility of a Modern Interpretation of Basic Religious Concepts
13.40 – 14.10pm Alexander Ponomarev (Moscow)
The Patristic Reception of Metropolitan Anthony as a Path to Christian Formation: From Obedience to Love
14.10 – 14.30pm Discussion
14.30 – 16.00pm Lunch break
16.00 – 16.45pm Victoria Bogdanova (Moscow-Oxford) и Kelsey Cheshire (London). Online. Translation will be provided
On pedagogy and faith in man
16.45 – 17.015pm Svetlana Martyanova (Vladimir)
Literary art in the book by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh «Can Modern Man Still Pray?»
17.15 – 17.25pm Discussion
17.25 – 17.45pm Coffee break
17.45 – 18.15pm Adalberto Mainardi (San Gimignano, Monastery of Cellole, Italy)
Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) and the question of the unity of Orthodoxy during his service as Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe (1963-1974)
18.15 –18.55pm Jeremy Ingpen (Cambridge, USA). Online
Olivier Clément and Metropolitan Anthony: two contemporaries
18.55 – 19.45pm Discussion. Video viewing. Prayer
Sunday, October 5
14.15 – 14.45pm Prayer. Video viewing
14.45 – 15.15pm Aleksander Melik-Pashayev (Moscow)
Iconographer and Painter: Two Types of Contemplation. Assistance from Metropolitan Anthony
On pedagogy and faith in man
15.15 – 15.45pm Anna Shmaina-Velikanova (Moscow)
Martin Buber’s Thought in the Theology of Metropolitan Anthony
15.45 – 16.15pm Archpriest Vladimir Arkhipov (Novaya Derevnya)
Metropolitan Anthony’s sermon on reality
16.15 – 16.30pm Discussion
16.30 – 17.00pm Coffee break
17.00 –18.30pm Round table «Living Tradition: Bishop Anthony’s Legacy Today»
Moderators: Natalya Likvintseva and Egor Agafonov (Moscow), Tatyana Sulina, Tatyana Volkhonskaya (Tübingen)
Participants: Archpriest Vladimir Arkhipov (Novaya Derevnya), Boris Bratusʹ (Moscow), Alexey Gaginsky (Moscow), Tatyana Sulina (Tübingen), Anna Shmaina-Velikanova (Moscow), Petr Mikhaylov (Moscow), Priest Stephan Strekopytov (London), Natalya Ivanovna Bruni (Sarabyanova) (Moscow)
18.30 – 19.00pm Memorial service
Reviews and reports
Exhibitions
Photographs
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh Spiritual Heritage Foundation and Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad invite you to visit the 10th International Conference on the Legacy of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh ”Continuity, Context, Uniqueness” to be held on October 3–5, 2025.
“… Looking at the past two thousand years of the Church history – not just Orthodox, but that of the whole Christian world – one is amazed by the depth of knowledge about God, the beauty of theological concepts, prayers, worshipping, and art achieved by Christians. Yet, at the same time one shudders, suddenly realizing that we were sent into this world to transform it to become the Kingdom of God, but in fact we do not see it.”
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
The legacy of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (1914–2003) is in many ways unique, driven by his strong and prominent personality, his tireless inner work, his intimate experience of communion with God. At the same time, it is clear that his pastoral and theological capabilities were not shaped in a void, but developed in a vivacious intellectual environment of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, while his fluency in several languages gave him direct access to the theological and philosophical works of his contemporaries. This makes it all the more interesting to study Vladyka’s texts in order to trace connections and connotations with the theological legacy of the Fathers of Church, the Russian religious ideas of the first half of the 20th century, the European existential philosophy and works of prominent non-Orthodox theologians of the time.
The 10th conference on Metropolitan Anthony’s legacy will focus on discovering and exploring such connections, which will undoubtedly provide a more in-depth look at the genealogy of Metropolitan Anthony’s ideas and a broader context for its study.
The following main topics will be discussed at the conference.
- Metropolitan Anthony and works of the Fathers of Church, their application and interpretations.
- Metropolitan’s Anthony spiritual development amongst Russian Church émigrés: mentors, peers, friends.
- Metropolitan Anthony’s intellectual connection with the English religious and social thinkers: cooperation and testimony.
- Metropolitan Anthony’s relations with hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet era.
- Religious existentialism of the 20th century and Metropolitan Anthony’s ideas.
- The influence of a search for a new language in the Catholic and Protestant theology of the 20th century on Metropolitan Anthony’s way of thinking.
- Fiction, science, art and its significance for Metropolitan Anthony’s preaching.
- Metropolitan Anthony’s influence on the religious ideas of the 20th and 21st centuries and current development of his theological, ecclesiastical and practical insights.
The conference will include presentations, roundtables to discuss relevant topics, videos of talks and services, memories of those who met Vladyka and took part in the life of his parish and diocese, and a photo exhibition.
Experts are welcome to participate. Please send your topics and talking points no later than July 15, 2025 at the email address of the Foundation: fondmas1@yandex.ru. The Organizing Committee reserves the right to select presentations for the conference. The texts of the presentations will be published.
Venue: Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad, 2nd Nizhnyaya Radishchevskaya Street, Moscow
Working languages: Russian and English. Translation will be provided.
Registration