Fellowship Conference 2025

Sobornost then and now

The Slavic word sobornost – соборность – is well known to members of the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius as the title of the Fellowship’s journal. As a theological and philosophical term, sobornost has been subject to various interpretations and emphases, but may broadly speaking be said to define the catholicity and oneness of the Church which reflects the unity in diversity of the Holy Trinity. It is a term which has great significance in considering the unity, conciliarity and synodality of the Church, not least in the context of relations and understanding between Eastern and Western Christians.
In this 1700th anniversary year of the First Council of Nicaea, which laid the foundations for the credal and theological unity of a diverse Church, our conference will consider the role of sobornost in the history and contemporary life of the Church – and of our Fellowship – and the importance of a renewed understanding of sobornost in the quest for Christian unity.