FOUNDATION STONE CEREMONY FOR ORTHODOX MONASTERY IN BURGENLAND, AUSTRIA

 

 Pro Oriente

Foundation stone ceremony for orthodox Monastery in Burgenland, Austria

Metropolitan Arsenios: „A fortress of charity, a place of dialogue, encounter and contemplation“ – „A historical day for the unity of the Church“ – welcoming words of Patriarch Bartholomew I. and Pope Francis on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone in St. Andrä am Zicksee, Austria.

Eisenstadt, Austria, 26.09.2020 (poi) The new orthodox monastery in St. Andrä am Zicksee in Burgenland will be „a center for the encounter of East and West“ Metropolitan Arsenios (Kardamakis) said on Saturday before blessing the foundation stone of the monastery and its church. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I., who had originally planned to attend the ceremony personally, had to cancel his visit due to corona. The new monastery wants to unite people in prayer „on the basis of the gospel“ the Metropolitan said. St. Andrä regards itself as „a fortress of charity and of the close bond between those who share a longing for God“, as „place of dialogue, encounter and reflection“. Simultaneously, the development of the first orthodox monastery in central Europe was a „historical event in the life of the Ecumenical Patriarchate“, Metropolitan Arsenios emphasised – as well as „the realization of a dream“ he had ever since taking office.

The Metropolitan expressed his gratitude towards Patriarch Bartholomew I., Pope Francis, Bishop Ägiduis Zsifkovics of Eisenstadt Diocese and Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil for supporting the monastery project. The new monastery wants to be a „house for all“ and the laying of its foundation stone is a „historical day for the unity of the Church according to the Will of Christ“.

Bartholomew I., as well as Pope Francis – in a message
conveyed by Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity – expressed their congradulations. May St. Andrä am Zicksee in the centre of Europe “be a place for the glorification of the name of God” (Patriarch Bartholomew) but also a place where Christians may approach each other in friendship in prayer and “praise to God” (Pope Francis).

In his welcoming speech, bishop Zsifkovics raised attention to the fact that the laying of the foundation stone of the orthodox monastery is a “joyful event” in the “sorrowful year” of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Eisenstadt. The bishop of Eisenstadt reminded the audience of the bon mot expressed by John Paul II. that Christianity must breathe with both – the western and the eastern – lungs. His hope is that “a strong common breath” will issue from the new monastery. Zsifkovics emphasized that the Diocese of Eisenstadt as well as the whole of Burgenland regards itself as a “bridge”. The Christian Unity hoped for is undoubtedly a spiritual rather than an intellectual process. It is about putting commonalities before divisions, “to pray together and to work together”. In his speech in St. Andrä, bishop Zsifkovics also made reference to the “panonian” Saint Martin – a Saint of undivided Christendom. The deed of Saint Martin – the cutting of the cloak – was a symbolic deed with regard to the united Europe. In view of the approaching 100th commemoration of the cession of Burgenland to Austria – which was heavily criticized in Hungary at the time – the founding of the orthodox monastery could also be understood as “healing of this ancient wound”.

The celebrations in St. Andrä am Zicksee (Hungarian Name before 1922: Moson Szentendre) were attended by numerous representatives of public life, headed by Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil and the Protestant superintendent Manfred Koch. Governor Doskozil stressed that Burgenland is a “land of cooperation, in ecumenism as well as between peoples”. The new orthodox monastery is “cordially welcome” as a “house of candidness”.