{"id":136642,"date":"2025-07-14T06:41:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T05:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/vesti\/%category_vesti%\/uchestvo-na-bigorski-na-megjunarodna-konferencija-za-ulogata-na-religijata-vo-sovremena-evropa\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:46:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:46:56","slug":"participation-of-bigorski-monastery-in-an-international-conference-on-the-role-of-religion-in-contemporary-europe","status":"publish","type":"vesti","link":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/reports\/events\/participation-of-bigorski-monastery-in-an-international-conference-on-the-role-of-religion-in-contemporary-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Participation of Bigorski Monastery in an International Conference on the Role of Religion in Contemporary Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Upon prior invitation from the distinguished organizers \u2013 the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies \u2013 the Monastery of St. John the Baptist \u2013 Bigorski took part in the international conference Religious Diplomacy between the West and the East: The role of religion in contemporary European Affairs <\/em>held from July 9 to 12 on the island of Syros, Greece. Representing the monastery was our brother, Archimandrite Kiril, who, with the blessing of the Elder, His Grace Bishop Parthenius of Antania, travelled to Greece to convey the monastic voice at this important inter-Christian gathering.<\/p>\n

The conference took place in the light of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea \u2013 an event of immense significance for the entirety of Christian history and ecclesiological consciousness, particularly in the context of modern challenges facing Christianity in Europe.<\/p>\n

Archimandrite Kiril delivered a presentation during the third thematic session, entitled Positions of the churches on topical socio-political issues<\/em>. He spoke on the topic: An Orthodox Response to the Digital Age and Contemporary Socio-Cultural Challenges<\/em>, with a particular focus on the issues posed by the rapid development of so-called Artificial Intelligence (AI), data-based digital systems, Large Language Models (LLMs), bioengineering, transhumanism, and new forms of virtual existence. Addressing the audience, he posed the question: \u201cHow can a person remain a person in the world of algorithms and avatars?\u201d Conveying the thoughts of his Elder, Bishop Parthenius, he emphasized that modern digital trends often aim to reduce the human being to a \u201cuser,\u201d \u201cprofile,\u201d or \u201cdata set,\u201d thereby undermining the ontological wholeness of the person. In contrast to these reductionist models, the Church bears witness to man as the image of God, created for communion, for participation in God, and for transformation\u2014not as a technological project, but as a being called to theosis.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, he highlighted Orthodox anthropology grounded in the Incarnation of Christ, according to which the human body is not merely an information carrier, but the very locus of salvation. This mystery, he said, is endangered in an age that separates the body from experience, and liturgical life from personal presence. \u201cWithout the body, there is no person; without presence, there is no Eucharist; and without the Eucharist \u2013 there is no authentic community,\u201d he underlined. He also emphasized the necessity of a renewed asceticism\u2014not as a withdrawal from the world, but as the transformation of everyday life: fasting not only from food, but from noise, from screens, from digital hyperstimulation. \u201cEven in this new era, the Church has something vital to offer \u2013 interior stillness, prayer, personal presence, and authentic relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing issues such as migration, poverty, political polarization, and secularization, Archimandrite Kiril stressed the need to restore the sacred and the theocentric into public life through liturgical culture, spiritual education, and the Church\u2019s works of mercy. Technology, he noted, is not inherently good or evil, but must remain the servant of the human person, not its idol. Toward the end of his address, he issued a call for spiritual discernment as a new form of asceticism in the digital age \u2013 the ability to distinguish the beneficial from the destructive, to safeguard personhood and presence, and to defend the mystery of human dignity.<\/p>\n

The international character of the conference was further reinforced by the presence of numerous eminent representatives from the Orthodox and Catholic worlds, the academic community, and European institutions and foundations. Among them were:<\/p>\n