Patrick Comerford
I have been a regular student at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge since 2008, taking part in the annual summer schools in Sidney Sussex College, visiting the IOCS premises, which were first housed in Wesley House on Jesus Lane, joining in IOCS pilgrimages and making friends each year among the faculty, visiting lecturers and students.
Part of the life of any institute like this is the friendships that are created among the large variety of people who come together providentially and from across the continents. We should never under-estimate the amount of theological inquiry and ecumenical bridge-building that can be pursued in the cafés, bars and pubs in Cambridge during the weeks of the summer school, or the new insights that can be gained on buses travelling through the countryside of East Anglia.
The institute says: “To our friends, old and new, but also to anyone who wants to learn more about the Institute, our mission, about opportunities for research and study with us, here is a short video presentation of IOCS.”
And they add: “Thank you for your long-standing support and friendship!”
Others who speak on this new video include the President of IOCS, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, the Director of IOCS, Professor David Frost, Dr Sebastian Brock, formerly Reader in Syriac Studies in the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, IOCS staff members the Revd Dr Alexander Tefft, Dr Christoph Schneider, Razvan Porumb and Revd Deacon Dragos Herescu, along with Dr Marcus Plested and Dr Christine Mangala Frost, as well as fellow students Revd David Patrick Cassidy from Austin, Texas, and Alice Belcher from Brighton.
There are clips from the new IOCS premises at Palamas House in High Street Chesterton, Cambridge, from last year’s summer school in Sidney Sussex College, from our visit to Saint John’s Monastery in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, from a celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Cambridge, and from other locations, as well as some beautiful camera work throughout Cambridge.
It is a delight to see so many of my friends at Cambridge on this new presentational video, and it has been a privilege to take part in its production.
