Upon
the
invitation
of
the
Russian
Orthodox
Church,
an
International
Theological
Conference
titled
"The
Orthodox
Teaching
on
the
Church"
was
held
from
November
17
to
20,
2003
at
the
St. Daniel
Monastery.
His
Holiness
Patriarch
Alexi
of
Moscow
and
All
Russia
inaugurated
the
conference,
after
he
was
introduced
by
Metropolitan Philaret
of
Minsk.
The
conference
considered
ways
of
improving
church
management
in
the
new
historical
conditions,
the
status
and
the
codification
of
the
church
law,
and
relations
between
the
local
Churches.
Also,
the
conference
participants
explored
ways
of
achieving
"a
harmonious
balance
between
the
local
and
universal
levels
of
the
church
existence,
between
the
ethnic-national
and
global
matters."
On
Thursday,
November
20,
2003,
the
Dean, His
Grace
Bishop
John Yazigi,
gave
a
lecture
titled
The
Church
and
the
Eucharist."
The
Lecture
was
translated
into
Russian
and
Greek.
The
Conference
ended
by
a
meeting
with
the
students
of
the
Moscow
Theological
Academy
by
its
Dean
Archbishop Evgeny
who
invited
all
guests
to
a
meal
in
a
sprit
of
fellowship
and
love.
Apart from the church top clergy, the forum will be attended by well-known Russian and foreign scientists, historians, philosophers theologians and representatives of secular science. Experts from 17 states including Greece, Syria, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, Austria and Italy came to attend the conference. The conference ended on November 22, and all participants returned to their churches with the enthusiasm of repeating these kind of uniting and important meetings.