The Official Launch of The Way

Dr Danut Manastireanu of World Vision giving his speech

The event took place at St Botolph’s Orthodox Church in London, on October 7th, 2010. Archbishop Elisey presided, representing the Pan-Orthodox Hierarchical Assembly of UK. Representatives from the Anglican and the Roman Catholic Churches also were present.

Here is an article on this event from the New Year Newsletter, January 2011 of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, Great Britain.

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In a warm and celebratory atmosphere, IOCS launched its first ever published multimedia package – an Introductory Course to the Orthodox Faith, THE WAY – in the elegantly panelled Hall of St Botolph’s Church without Bishopsgate, London, on 7 October 2010. This festive event took place in the presence of Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh, representing the Pan-Orthodox Assembly of Bishops with Churches in the British Isles; also present were Dr Danut Manastireanu, representing World Vision, the organisation that generously funded publication of the course, and Father Mark Woodruff, representing the Archbishop of Westminster.

The Way Course
THE WAY is the outreach programme of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies. It is a course comprising 12 sessions, run usually over 12 weeks, and consists of: a meal together, a talk on a central aspect of Christian belief, free discussion in small groups, and a ‘question and answer’ session, where members of each group put questions to a panel. The course aims to present the basics of Orthodox Christian faith in an atmosphere of friendship, free exchange and trust, where no question or opinion is treated as unworthy of attention.

THE WAY course has been presented with great success in London, twice at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral (in 2004 and 2007) and at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in 2005. Two of the team offered the course overseas in the first part of 2005, at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Resurrection, Singapore, and at the Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral of St George, Sydney, Australia. The course has been offered in Cambridge and in North London by the original team, by local presenters in Manchester, and it has been experimentally tested by parishes as far afield
as Boulder, Colorado, USA and Melbourne, Australia.

The Way Boc Set
The course has been published by IOCS as a multimedia box set and is distributed by Gazelle Book Services, UK. Negotiations are currently underway for Conciliar Press to distribute it in the United States. The multimedia package contains a CD entitled ‘How to Run THE WAY’ and four DVDs of the original speakers: Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Professor David Frost, Fr. Michael Harper, Miss Gladys Bland, Dr. Christine Mangala Frost, Fr. Raphael Armour, Fr. Demetrios Bathrellos, and Mr. John Bazlinton.

World Vision made available funds for publication of the course as a box set. The instructional CD has everything to allow local organizers to run the course in their parishes. It contains the texts of all talks, all necessary materials, instructions and advice on a range of topics, from publicity and brochures to catering or the handling of the ‘Q & A’ sessions. The four DVDs have the original speakers delivering their talks, so that they can serve as a model for those presenting the talks themselves or can be projected on screen or shown on a television if parishes feel diffident about providing their own speakers.

THE WAY derives its authority to teach from the blessing given to the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies at its foundation by those Orthodox bishops with responsibilities in Great Britain. All the initial talks were vetted by Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, the ongoing revisions and expansions have been scrutinized by him, and he has now contributed a pivotal talk himself, on ‘Salvation in Christ’. The general public may order the box set from Gazelle (who will send to anywhere in the world), or from Amazon, UK. The Institute is currently organising to market in the Americas and in Australasia. The recommended retail price in the United Kingdom is £23.50 (which includes VAT).

More information on THE WAY course can be found on the IOCS website.

The Festivity
The Principal of the Institute, Professor David Frost, Director of THE WAY, started the festivity – appropriately for an audio-video multimedia publication – by introducing and playing the promotional video for the course box set, which has been posted on the internet on several key websites and which outlines the essential aspects both of the course and its published version as a DVD/CD box set. The Principal then presented the first copy of THE WAY to Archbishop
Elisey, representing all the bishops with responsibilities in Great Britain. Archbishop Elisey received the box set and thanked the Institute warmly for what he called ‘this spiritual fruit’ of the Institute’s missionary work. ‘I think that every diocese and every church community in Britain has a great need for this course’, said Vladika, ‘and every community should have a copy of it.’

A second copy of the course was presented to Dr. Danut Manastireanu of World Vision, the organisation which sponsored and made possible the publication of THE WAY. Mr Manastireanu said in his speech that: ‘This is the fulfilment of a dream for me. A number of years ago we started in Romania a programme which is quite similar to this, but is addressed to children – ‘Christ to the Children’. After many years of an atheist regime the teaching of the Church has been weakened, as the communist state would not allow the Church to teach children or adults. Twenty years after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe we feel the need to bring back this most important function of the Church, the catechetical function, so, in Romania and in six other countries in the region, but also in the Middle East, in places like Lebanon, we have been working and supporting the Churches to create a biblical catechism for children.’

‘I am most rejoiced’, added Dr. Manastireanu, ‘that Patriarch Daniel of Romania, who is a visionary, and was a strong supporter of ‘Christ to the Children,’ now sees THE WAY as a perfect match and as a dovetail of the catechism for the children, now addressing the parents of these children, who themselves need support in understanding the Christian faith… We now have the tools and it is our duty to make use of them to the glory of God and to the strengthening of the Church of Christ.’

Professor David Frost then handed a presentation copy to the representative of Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, Father Mark Woodruff, thanking him warmly for being present at the celebration. Father Woodruff reported to his superior that it was ‘a magnificent resource’, and later, on the website of the Society of St. John Chrysostom, described the course as a ‘fascinating’ development. Father Woodruff wrote  lso: ‘We warmly congratulate the Institute on this magnificent resource, which will not only enable the spirituality and teaching of the Orthodox Church to be better known in the UK, now that increasingly its role in Christian life and mission alongside other Churches here is integral to the endeavours and discipleship of all, but it will also be of great value to the deepening and sharing of the faith when used in other Christian traditions.’

The Principal distributed presentation copies to Jeanne Harper, widow of Father Michael Harper, Deputy Director and one of the founders and original speakers of THE WAY, to the video editors, Ossi and Anssi Lazarus Jalonen, to the graphic designer, Mike Stonelake, and to other people who had contributed to and supported the development of THE WAY.

Copies of the course were then made available for purchase to the participants, who could also enjoy the refreshments prepared by members of staff and helpers of the Institute. Over a glass of wine or juice, around seventy guests from a variety of churches exchanged impressions, caught up with old friends and made new ones, in the very pleasant ambience of St Botolph’s Hall, which is surrounded by mementoes of the charitable work done by the City of London and its churches over the centuries.

Positive and enthusiastic comments from those present were an enormous encouragement for the staff of the Institute and a sign that this publication of the outreach course of the Institute may be for many the beginning of a long and fruitful journey along the way.

The video of the event is now on line on our video site.