Vigil for Saint Silouan, Conference with Fr. Constantin Coman, Arvo Pärt Concert

On the night between 23 and 24 September, the young people of Nepsis Switzerland gathered at the parish in Bern (the most central point in Switzerland) to celebrate Saint Silouan the Athonite as befits him, with an all-night vigil: Vespers, Litiya and Matins, followed by the Divine Liturgy. A special guest was with them, Father Professor Constantin Coman, together with Father Laurențiu Precup, the parish priest of the church in Bern, and a group of priests from the neighbouring parishes.

The conference held the following day is on the Nepsis Switzerland YouTube channel.

Then came the agape meal, prepared with much feeling exclusively by the Nepsis volunteers (who, although amateurs, put their culinary skills to very successful use!), and the programme did not end there. In the evening, after vespers, we attended a symphonic concert at the Camerata in Bern, where, among other famous works by Vivaldi and Schönberg, the piece “Spiegel im Spiegel” was performed, written by Arvo Pärt, a contemporary Orthodox Christian composer of Estonian origin, a disciple of Saint Sophrony of Essex and a spiritual “grandson” of Saint Silouan.