Youth workers training course


A SYNDESMOS Youth Worker Training Course was held here 6-15 September 2000. The event was organised by SYNDESMOS in partnership with the local Orthodox Youth Fellowship of Saint Moses of Uhrin. The training course gathered over 40 participants from Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Yugoslavia and from several dioceses throughout Ukraine. The purpose of the event was to bring together youth workers of different backgrounds and experience for intensive training as well as to enhance Orthodox youth ministry in the Ukraine. Among the topics discussed were the establishment and operation of youth groups, the use of discussions in youth min-istry, Orthodox Christian education and upbringing, and social work. The group was really blessed by the presence of Mother Gavrilia, a nun from the Greek island of Leros, and Deacon Dimitri Leussis, an American who is currently living in Slovakia. Deacon Dimitri, an iconographer, contemplated the role and place of icons in the family life and at home. During a meeting with a representative of the Regional Administration who oversees Church Affairs, the participants learned about the complex religious
situation in Ukraine, especially in the Trans-Carpathian region.
On Sunday, 10 September, the participants visited Saint Nicholas Monastery in Mukachevo, where they met with His Grace, Bishop Agapit of Mukachevo and Uzhorod. The monastery is one of the oldest Orthodox centres in the region. Its history dates back to the 14th century when monks from Kiev came and settled near Mukachevo in caves. After the Union of Uzhorod, the monastery was taken away by the Uniate Catholics and the Orthodox monks were forced out to leave. In the early 20th century the monastery was closed. In late 1940s, it was returned to the Orthodox Church and reopened as a women's monastery. During their visit, the participants venerated the relics of Saint Moses of Uhrin.
The organisers express deep gratitude to the Orthodox Foundation for Christian Education for the financial assistance that made the meeting possible. Special thanks are addressed to Anamaria Livia Sberea [Romania] and Svetlana Panich [Ukraine], who helped the organisers [Bohumil Voprsalek, Slovakia; Taras Andrusevich, Ukraine; and Anastasia Moussatova-Tsoglina, Russia] with the day-to-
day activities and working groups.