The 150-th anniversary of the appearances of God’s Mother in Lurde was celebrated at the symposium “With the Immaculately Concepted – in future”, which was held in the church of Saint Symon and Alena on the 9-th of February 2008 with the participation of Archbishop Minsk-Mohilov Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusievicz, the Apostolic Nuncio in the Republic of Belarus Archbishop Martin Vidavich, priests and believers from Belarus and Russia, and also Belarusian Orthodox Church.

Various aspects of catholic teaching on the Immaculate Conception were illustrated by teachers of the Higher Theological Seminary in Grodno priest Uladzimir Hulay and priest Tadeusz Vyshynski.

Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusievicz presented his report “The Immaculately Concepted Mary – the star of hope”. The leader of the education and catechisation department of Minsk eparchy of Belarusian Orthodox Church, teacher of Belarusian Pedagogic University and theological faculty of Kiryl and Miatod of Belarusian State University priest Alaksandr Shymbalou talked about the peculiarities of the Orthodox teaching about the Most Holy Mary.

The report of priest Kshyshtaf Pazharski from the parish of Saint Stanislau in Saint Petersburg was dedicated to the relevance of the appearances of God’s Mother in Lurde. Priest Andrey Steckievich, another guest from Russia, who is a General Vicar of the Archdiocese of God’s Mother in Moscow and a teacher of Saint Petersburg Higher Theological Seminary “Mary – the Queen of the Apostles”, presented his report “The appeal to repentance – the central theme of the appearances in Lurde and in Fatima.”

Priest Igar Lashuk SDB from the Minsk parish of Saint Yan the Baptiser talked about the development of the cult of the Immaculate Conception of God’s Mother in Belarus. The symposium ended with the testimonies of believers about their personal perception of the appearances in Lurde and about the role of Mary in the life of people.

The Holy Mass ended the Symposium.