Message from Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury
This year’s theme, “The Ages of Spiritual Life”, is an important one. The spiritual life is life in the Holy Spirit and the life of the Holy Spirit in us
XXI International Ecumenical Conference
on Orthodox Spirituality
THE AGES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Monastery of Bose, 4-7 September 2013
in collaboration with the Orthodox Churches
Canterbury, 3 September 2013
Dear Brother Enzo,
Brothers and sisters of Bose,
Brothers and sisters in Christ
It gives me great pleasure to send my warm greetings as you gather for this year’s International Ecumenical Conference at Bose. We all owe a great debt of gratitude to the Community for bringing together each year Christians of different traditions, Eastern and Western.
This year’s theme, “The Ages of Spiritual Life”, is an important one. The spiritual life is life in the Holy Spirit and the life of the Holy Spirit in us; and the goal of the spiritual life in the Church, as the Letter to the Ephesians reminds us, is nothing less than the mature humanity of which Jesus Christ is the full measure. The mature humanity of Christ embodies the fullness of God’s love for his creation; and we all who have been baptized into Christ are called to embody that same love in selfless service to the world, not least to the poor and all who suffer.
In the world’s present economic and political situation their numbers are increasing; and my prayerful hope for your conference is that it will strengthen your resolve to grow together towards mature humanity in Christ, and so increase the ability of our communities to witness to God’s love through service to all God’s people.
With my very best wishes and the assurance of my prayer for God’s blessing on your conference,
+ JUSTIN, archbishop of Canterbury and all England