Course description
Theatre director Kalle Holmberg and writer and philosopher Torsti Lehtinen were familiar sights at the Valamo monastery, which they both considered their spiritual home. They visited there together and separately to lecture, discuss, walk in nature and attend church services. The masters, recognized as experts in their own fields, created a close relationship with each other and engaged in debates related to existence, faith, grace and competition. Dostoevsky, Tarkovsky, Kierkegaard and other well-known thinkers were recurring themes in their speeches. The Old Masters course remembers Holmberg and Lehtinen and sets up discussions according to their heritage. It strives for a gentle but uncompromising dialogue, which was a lifeline for Kalle and Torsti. During the course, a panihida, or memorial service, will be held in the memory of the masters in the main church of Valamo. The weekend is a tribute to the old masters, while also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Valamo College.
Course program
Friday 27.2.
Arrival and meal from the café-restaurant Trapesa buffet at 15.00
16.15 Opening of the course in the hall of the cultural center
Metropolitan of Kuopio and Karelia Arseni, journalist, priest Niilo Rantala, rector Sirpa Koriala
18.00 IX Lent, service of the hour, great evening service and Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the main church
20.00 Program evening session in the café-restaurant Trapesa: Valamo tea table with poems and songs, journalist, priest Niilo Rantala, actress Eija Vilpas, actress Anna-Leena Sipilä
21.30–23.00 Saunas: men in the lower floor of the college hotel, women in the sauna of the small hotel
Saturday of Souls 28.2. Day of Remembrance of the Dead
06.00 Midnight service, parastasis morning service and John Chrysostom liturgy in the main church
07.30 Monastery breakfast at the Trapesa café-restaurant
09.00 Requiem for Kalle and Torsti with introductions, main church
KP Metropolitan Arseni of Kuopio and Karelia
09.45 Guided monastery tour Mollberg, writer Annina Holmberg
12.00 Moleben or prayer service to the Theotokos in the main church
12.30 Lunch at the café-restaurant Trapesa
13.30 save?
director Ilari Nummi, actor Eija Vilpas, actress Anna-Leena Sipilä
18.00 Vigil in the main church
20.00 Evening meal in the café-restaurant Trapesa
Gregorios Palamas Sunday 1.3.
07.30 Monastery breakfast in the café-restaurant Trapesa
09.00 in connection
Room handover before lunch but no later than 12:00.
