Shotly about Taize, Roma, Italy 2012/2013 - Peacemakers

We were at Taize. There was prayer conference in which 50000 persons of 35 states took part (and the ruests from USA and Africa). - Here is the description of some of the events of the Taize conference in Rome, some meetings etc. http://isaurian.blogspot.ru/2013/01/peacemakers-rome-taize.html

Taize conference was nice, but we had imagined it differently before we came. There were 50000 people, and we were impressed by how they managed to organize everything so well (food, place to sleep, discussion groups etc.).

Common dinner at Taize

Common dinner at Taize

Taize, Roma, Santa Maria Mediatrice - common last photo

We were happy, when we were at regional meeting, because there were Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants from Russia. All people were friendly and wanted to build friendships with each other. This seems incredible in Russia, but all of them were from Russia, so it is possible! We praise God for that! We exchanged contact information with them, and we will try to have conversation with them.

Meeting of Russian people who were at Taize

We were impressed by
common prayer meetings, where there were more than 6000 people in one cathedral at the same time.
"Common prayer at the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura 30.12.2012"

I (Yura) had new experience, when I led discussion group in English. It was hard, but I managed to do it J. Nika also led another discussion group. When we came to the registration point before the conference started, they asked us to lead small groups at our perish. I doubted if I should agree, because I didn’t know if I would be able to lead a discussion in English. But it turned out that our help was necessary – very few people volunteered to help lead the discussions. It was strange to me that many people who knew English much better than me, didn’t volunteer. And out of those who did, there were only girls. And generally, most volunteers during the conference were girlsJ

Discussion group of Yura

Discussion group of Nika

We lived in an Italian family. The lady who welcomed us and 3 girls from Hungary at her apartment didn’t know English at all, and we didn’t know Italian J, but we could talk, using a small dictionary, sings, drawings, pantomime etc. and so, during the Taize meeting we learned some Italian words J

We and our friends who lived at Geny's appartment

We made the acquaintance with some Dutch and Hungarian guys. We learned that in the Netherlands for example most of people are protestants, and they oppress all those who are not protestant. It showed us, that each denomination can oppress other denominations if it has the power in the country. Dutchman (he is catholic) studying to be a theologian for the 4^th year already, doesn’t know the Bible well, because in his university students read many philosophical and theological books and works of  Catholic theologians, but don’t pay too much attention to the Bible. We were sad about it. And he was very surprised when he talked to us, because it was his first experience with protestants who heard him and didn’t attack him because he was a Catholic. He was also surprised how we apply the Bible in our life, how we find answers on our life questions  there and help others to do the same (Nika told him about counseling).

Taize, Roma, Santa Maria Mediatrice - New Year's Eve

We could not understand why so many people came to Taize, because the program consisted of prayer meetings and not exciting shows or parties which usually attract young people; there were no charismatic leaders  - in fact, we only saw Brother Alois once at the prayer meeting with the Pope on St.Peter’s square. Also, nobody controlled the participants of the conference, nobody forced people to attend the prayer meetings, but at every meeting the churches were full with people (although of course there were those who just used this conference as an opportunity to see Rome and they just went to see sights instead, but there were very few of such people). It was unbelievable J.

Common prayer at the Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura 30.12.2012

We were glad that we could go to the Taize conference and had this experience. We are thinking about sending a group from our youth movement to Taize, so that they could see the life of Christians of different denominations in different countries, be more tolerant to other believers and understand God’s Word without prejudices. The trip to Italy broadened our minds and views, and we want to share this experience with our friends.

P.s.

- Here is the description of some of the events of the Taize conference in Rome, some meetings etc. http://isaurian.blogspot.ru/2013/01/peacemakers-rome-taize.html

- And here is an album with pictures from Rome on facebook https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.530077743693789&type=1

- and some videos:

1. Santa Maria mediatrice 31.12.2012

2. Santa Maria mediatrice 31.12.2012 NEW YERAS PARTY - dance without music ;)