On Thursday, December 6, 2012, feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, Titular Bishop of the Archdiocese of Thyateira in Great Britain (Ecumenical Patriarchate) was the guest speaker at the Connelly Center on the Campus of Villanova University. The talk was part of the two month exhibition entitled “Icon: The Way to the Kingdom”.

The opening prayer was offered by the rector of the seminary, His Grace, Bishop Michael to a nearly capacity crowd including representatives from both St. Tikhon’s and St. Vladimir’s seminaries.

His Eminence Kallistos offered a lively, captivating, and entertaining presentation on the meaning of the Holy Icon as a doorway into the Kingdom. During his talk Metropolitan Kallistos touched on many topics as they related to the place of Holy Icons within the Orthodox Tradition including: the grace communicated by icons to those praying before them; the necessity for employing good art for writing icons (classical Byzantine style); and how the style of iconography employed does not necessarily hinder the participatory quality in the icon.

At the end of the talk Board of Trustee member Very Reverend John Perich, organizer of the Villanova event and curator of the Metropolitan Museum, presented His Eminence with a reliquary case containing the relics of both St. Sergius of Radonezh and St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite.

A video recording of the lecture in its entirety has been provided below.