From 13 to 17 March 2025, an international student seminar “Ecumenical Concepts in Everyday Life” was held in Gdansk (Poland). The seminar was attended by Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Volodymyr Bureha and two graduates of the Academy who are currently studying in Germany with the assistance of the Academic Initiative Foundation – BohdanMostovyi and Kirill Sergeev.
The seminar was held within the framework of theproject “Reconciliation in Europe – the Task of the Churchesin Ukraine, Belarus, Germany and Poland”. Accordingly, theseminar was attended mainly by young representatives of theleading Christian denominations of these countries, includingthe Catholic and Lutheran communities of Ukraine.
For five days, the seminar participants had the opportunity to discuss pressing issues of inter-Christian relations, including historical aspects of the ecumenical movement, current experience of interconfessional cooperation, and challenges facing Christian communities in different countries. The program of the event included lectures by renowned theologians, discussion groups, prayers, and the opportunity to participate in worships of various Christian denominations.
Special attention was paid to the practical aspects of inter-Christian cooperation in the real life of believers. Participants had the opportunity to share their experiences and thoughts on ways to achieve mutual understanding between representatives of different Christian traditions. In particular, Bohdan Mostovyi stressed the importance of dialogue and cooperation to improve dialogue both between denominations and between Orthodox jurisdictions in Ukraine. The latter is a particularly urgent need in the Ukrainian context, where there is a continuing division and even confrontation between the two Orthodox jurisdictions.
