Study visit of young priests and monks of the Oriental Orthodox Churches

The annual Study Visit for young priests and monks of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, organized for the fourth time at the invitation of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, took place from 22 January to 2 February in Rome. The delegation included fifteen young priests and monks from the Antiochian Syrian Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church (Catholicosate of All Armenians and Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia), the Coptic Orthodox Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

During their stay in Rome, the delegation had the opportunity to visit various Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, in particular the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Communication, as well as the Secretariat of State and the Secretariat of the Synod.

The group also visited various educational institutions, in particular the Pontifical Lateran University, the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Pontifical Ethiopian College, the French Pontifical Seminary, the Pontifical Armenian College and the Pontifical Maronite College.

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Study Visit partially coincided this year with the meeting of the Commission. Besides their program of visits and meetings in Rome, the participants attended on 23 January a session of the Commission and the Academic Act at the Angelicum, the Vespers in St. Paul’s Basilica on 25 January, and the Papal Audience to the Joint Commission on 26 January.

During the Audience, the Holy Father welcomed the initiative, affirming that “the involvement of young people in bringing our Churches closer together is a sign of the Spirit, who rejuvenates the Church in harmony, inspires paths of communion, and grants wisdom to the young and prophecy to the old (cf. Joel 2:28). May this ‘dialogue of life’ continue under the banner of the Spirit!”

This was the fourth Study visit of young priests and monks of the Oriental Orthodox Churches organized in Rome, after the first visit in 2020, the second in 2022 and the third in 2023. In 2023 a delegation of Catholic priests was invited by the Armenian Apostolic Church - See of Etchmiadzin for a Study visit in Armenia to deepen their knowledge of the Armenian Christian tradition.