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Sacred places, hidden meanings 6/2026

05.06.2026 00:00 - 07.06.2026 00:00

Registration ends: 22.05.2026 00:00 - If registration has already closed, please inquire about course places by calling 017 570 1810.

myyntipalvelu@valamo.fi, p. 017 5701 810

, 300€/Student hotel 1 room, incl. accommodation, tuition, meals, 270€/College hotel 2 rooms/person, incl. accommodation, tuition, meals

Register for the course here

Course description

Tourism has made travel easy and functional, but at the same time, experiencing space can easily become superficial. The course aims to go deeper than the surface into the meaningful, experiential and historical dimensions of holy places and spaces. What was pilgrimage like before tourism? What makes a space holy? How have holy places been mystified? The lectures will examine the history of the meanings of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Sinai and other Greek and Armenian holy places. The course will be taught by professor and author, Father Serafim Seppälä.

Course program

Friday 5.6.

Arrival at the monastery

14.00 Lunch at the Trapesa restaurant

16.00 Course start

16.15 How did the Christian idea of a holy place come about?

18.00 IX moment, evening service. Small post-vespers service and akathist to Saint John of Valamolainen .

19.30 Evening meal.

20.00-21.30 What was the Orthodox pilgrimage like?

Saturday 6.6.

06.00 Midnight service and morning service. Liturgy. Old church.

07.30 Breakfast

09.00 The mysticism of Jerusalem. Bethlehem as a holy city. Sinai – the mountain of God

12.00 Prayer service for all the saints of Valamo. Old Church.

12.30 Lunch

14.00-15.30 Sacred Space as a Vanishing Resource: Armenia

16.00-17.30 The Afterlife of Sacred Space: Smyrna. Discussion.

18.00 Vigil.

19.30 Evening meal

Sunday 7.6.

(07.30 Breakfast)

09.00 Third moment and liturgy.

11.30 Lunch

12.00 Prayer service for the people of Valaam, Sergei and Herman. Winter Church.

12.30-13.30 Tarkovsky and the art of pilgrimage. Discussion.

Rooms must be handed over by 12.00

Rights to changes reserved

Teacher

Seppälä Serafim

Archimandrite Serafim Seppälä is an award-winning author and professor of systematic theology and patristics at the University of Eastern Finland.

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Valamo Monastery is open all year round. The opening hours of the services vary according to the season.

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