The Phoebe Institute for Religious Studies which was founded by a retired diocesan cleric, Eve Wiseman, will be offering two courses this year after a successful beginning last October.

The first study course--in the four star Kalamaki Beach Hotel near Corinth, Greece. A dozen participants from this diocese combined the week with time in Athens, on a Greek island, in Austria, or on visits to family in England.

Ruins near Corinth, Greece, are explored on a field trip organized by the Phoebe Institute for Religious Studies

Sister Elizabeth Rees O.C.V. gave the lectures. She has published four books on the early church and is an expert on Celtic worship and sites in Britain. Field trips were made to Epidauros (legendary birthplace of Asclepius, god of healing) Isthmia, Cenchrea and Ancient Corinth.

A highlight was the guided tour of the site in Corinth led by Dr Guy Sanders, the Director of Excavations for the American School of Archaeology in Greece.

This year’s dates are 7th-14th April "Symbol and ritual in the early church," and a new course 29th September-6th October 2008.

The cost will be approximately $1300 for accommodation, breakfast and dinner, coffee, gratuities and tours, not including air travel to Greece

Information can be obtained from eve@wisewoman.plus.com or Telephone 011 44 1273 494 407. She will be in Vancouver during most of March. The institute’s website is www.phoebeinstitute.org.