As we collectively turn our minds to celebrating and commemorating a number of religious festivals at this time of year it is perhaps appropriate to share this Christmas message from the International Association of Patristic Studies - Association Internationale D'Études Patristiques. Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a truly Happy New Year.
Dear Members of AIEP,
The holiday season always invites us to reflect on how we have used the time that God has given us. This is undoubtedly necessary and beneficial both on a personal and institutional level. The AIEP Executive Committee also believe it is important that we reflect, in order to make our members aware of the great effort we are undertaking to update and modernize our association. This effort also implies an immense challenge, which is not to lose sight of the mission AIEP’s founders entrusted us with “to promote the study of Christian antiquity, especially the Church Fathers, and to connect all academics dedicated to this fascinating field of study.”
Some of the tasks carried out this year are:
Enhancing our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@aiep with interesting videos on "Research in Patristic Studies in the 21st century: Challenges, Possibilities and New Methods". Also continuing with the section dedicated to thanking members who have contributed significantly to expanding AIEP.
Updating our database and email addresses so as to provide all members with useful information regarding the field of Patristic Studies. This task has been and continues to be difficult and for this reason we apologize to some AIEP members who have not received this information properly.
Remodeling our website https://www.aiep-iaps.org/, which will allow all members of our association to find information referring to the immense production carried out by AIEP members more efficiently.
Keeping the Facebook group updated, which is undoubtedly a way of linking and generating friendship among AIEP members.
These tasks would have been impossible without the help of Fernando Soler, Paolo Bernardini, Alyson Nunez and Margrethe Kamille Birkler. We also want to especially thank the National Correspondents of the 54 countries in which AIEP is present, for helping us disseminate information regarding activities related to Patristic Studies and for connecting members of their country.
Next year, we will continue to improve these activities already begun and start new and challenging initiatives. Finally, we would like to thank all AIEP members for their continued support and friendship and share with you some of the many reflections on Christmas that the Fathers and the great authors of Early Christianity offer us as strength and spiritual nourishment:
Augustine of Hippo: (Sermon 185, 1)
Wake up: God has become man for you. Wake up, you who sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will be your light. For you precisely, God has become man. You would have died forever, if he had not been born in time."
Leo the Great, Pope (Sermon on the Nativity of the Lord 1, 13)
«Today, dear brothers, our Savior has been born; Let us rejoice. There can be no place for sadness, when life has just been born; the same one that ends the fear of mortality and instills in us the joy of the promised eternity”.
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