Nowy Eurodialog

First of all we must ask ourselves the question: what is Europe? It is the space between Ural and Gibraltar. Russia is therefore not only a part of Europe, but it also belongs to Asia. Russia is like a continent which can be called Eurasiatic, and now the old Eurasiatic theory is very popular with Russia.

For me the heart of Europe is Rome, a centre of Greco-Latin and Christian civilization. Rome has become the heir of ancient tradition, all the stones in Rome are sacred. Fyodor Dostoevski would write that Europe is a second mother for Russia, and each Russian should come to Europe and, falling to this holy ground, weep bitter tears. This idea is close to my heart. Indeed when I first came to Rome I was so moved that I cried. Europe is for me the quintessence of culture and spirituality, whereas America is, as I think, like the dark side of the moon, because, for instance, skyscrapers are not a manifestation of culture but of civilization. Europe is the embodiment of the highest values - spiritual values. Europe has left behind the experience of the Middle Ages, the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, and her patrons are Benedict of Nursia, Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavonic land; they are patrons of Europe as proclaimed by the Holy Father John Paul II in 1985. The fact that the saints of the Roman-Catholic Church and Orthodox Church have become patrons of Europe symbolizes the unity and indivisibility of the western and eastern Church, a unity which lasted until 1054. Unfortunately, it is differently today, for there exists "the line of demarcation". Poland exists at the point of contact between traditions; at her eastern border there is an invisible wall, dividing two worlds, two Churches. Unfortunately, Russians are strongly prejudiced against Catholicism. It seems to me that one of the aims of the new evangelization of Russia is to refute this prejudice, the new evangelization should contribute to the return of Russian hearts to the sources of one and undivided Europe, a Europe which gave us saint apostles and medieval Christian culture.

Russia wants to become a Third Rome. Undoubtedly, everybody has heard about this old saying: there was Rome, then Constantinople, and Moscow is a Third Rome, and there will not be any other. Germans had similar aspirations, when they were building the Third Reich. I do not share this desire, for I think that there was one Rome and there cannot be another one. Constantinople could not be a Rome. In the case of rome we can, of instance, speak about papocaesarism, whereas Constantinople seems to be caesaropapism, that is the superiority of caesar over the Church, and such attitude is alien to Rome. I recognize the superiority of the spiritual power over the lay power, for in the hierarchy of values I put spirituality in the first place, only then society, state, and I think culture to be a buffer between society, state and the Church. Culture is a sphere of cooperation in which the Church and society may come closer and closer or keep distance. Now returning to the idea of Europe, it seems to me that culture all over Europe turns out to be an organic soil, owing to which Russia may come closer to the western world. One cannot isolate himself and consider himself to be a Christian, or Orthodox Christian, without reading Goethe, Dante or Hegel, for this is our common Christian culture.

Europe cannot even imagine what difficulties Russia is currently facing, what ideological battle is going on in Russia at the moment. For there are very different Russian: communists, fascists, and Russian patriots. Each of them has something else in mind when thinking about Europe. It is characteristic of Russian nationalism to tend to rebuild the empire, and we must understand such a man who has seen his state fallen into ruin, and that was a state which seemed a rock of order. Today chaos holds sway over Russia, and we are dealing with a criminal state. According to me, there is no democracy, instead we have a typical plutocracy, the mafia, corruption, criminal society and the like. It would make no sense to dwell on it any longer, for these are matters that belong to common knowledge. We are still a long way from democracy. Yet hope dies last.

I feel I am a patriot and this is how I imagine our unity with Europe: I wish that we could freely visit one another, we could live in friendship, there would not grow big Chinese or Berlin walls between us. And most important of all - that there would be again a genuine hierarchy of values in Russia: the Church in the first place, then culture, and the state last but one. Last but one, for if it is in the last place, then we shall have chaos and lawlessness. Let then the state become a normal warranter of human rights, such a state would create the foundations upon which to integrate with Europe.

What can our culture be like? People say about the culture of reason and the culture of heart; we are accustomed to regard western culture as rational, whereas our culture as emotional, and here lies a grain truth - Russia had her own way. There is no doubt that her origins are linked with early Christianity, and Christianity has marked Russia to the extent that even under communism some elements drawn from Christian sources were visible. This is what Bruno Kautsky had in mind, when writing his book about the origin of Christianity. The practice, however, has had it differently. In Russia we did not dealt with any attempts to create some communist and just society, but with the most barbarous violence against all the authentic and natural human properties that come from God. Communist ideology arrived in Russia from the West, therefore Russians are embittered and distrustful of the West. We had Sacred Russia, Orthodox Church and, suddenly, everything ended in 1917. Today when we speak about a restoration of spirituality and of the Orthodox Church, it is an expression of our yearning for what was before the revolution. Well, we even observe some revival of monarchistic tendencies.

Western and Russian cultures, however, do not seem so different, for they both have stemmed out of Christianity, and the differences are rather of minor importance. The Russian has obviously an access to western culture, and his knowledge about it is not worse and the French's or Italian's. Believe me, we know Dante and Homer, and German classical philosophy. The Russian is very well-read, so I may with pride say that the Russian bears European culture in his heart and consciousness, but there is nothing in that he favors his own culture, for the latter is most dear to him.

Culture may help the Roman-Catholic Church and Orthodox Church to find a common language; culture brings people closer to one another, helps to demolish barriers. In 1991 I participated in a preconciliar symposium in the Vatican, then the Holy Father... Western Slavs, inhabitants of Central Europe, therefore also Poles, certainly play a great role in the process of bringing Russia close to the West. The tale about three brothers: Lach, Czech and Russian is very well-known. Lach, that is a Pole, was an elderly brother. Accordingly we are related. When visiting many times the countries of West Europe I had an opportunity to compare different cultures. I think that the culture of Western Europe - leaving aside certain decline in spirituality - and that can be seen with the naked eye, is currently going a protest against American consumptive culture. believe that Western Europe has already become immune to the bug of consumptive ideology, that untrue culture, for it is not a true culture. What media offer to us, mass production, is only a surrogate. Unfortunately, Russia is, as usual, at the tail end and is far from Europe. We had no Reformation or Counter-reformation. It is typical of our history that we lag behind by several epochs, and then, suddenly, we try to jump over a great precipice with one leap. What Europe has gone through over many decades, Russia wants to jump at one moment. She is going through an expansion of untrue culture, which in a normal and sound Russian arouses aversion to stupid American films, commercials, and pornography. The Russian's heart is sad to see such filth. Our young generation will be lost, if during the next two or three years it is exposed only to pornography and other odious things. There are people who consider implementing some protectionist laws, which are already binding in West Europe. In France, for instance, domestic cinematography is defended against the American cinema. We are still a long way off, but if we want to be regarded as a civilized country, if we are to form a democratic society, then we must draw on the patterns from the West. As regards culture, protectionism is necessary to save our own, Russian culture.

On the other hand, however, I dream there were no barriers, especially ideological. Culture should be beyond barriers. People who are engaged in the dialogue between cultures should not be ideologically blinkered. For me, ideology is even a pejorative and abusive word. I dream of a spiritual dialogue, for culture of its nature belongs to spiritual phenomena. If we run out of spirituality in our culture, then we receive a poor substitute, its surrogate. A true culture possesses a powerful spiritual energy which is radiating. It is my belief that the cultural dialogue may be going on only between ardent believers, between those people who believe in God and want to serve mankind. And that is why I seek to build an interfaith dialogue. We have organized, for instance, a cruise on the Volga. The participants were writers, musicians, the clergy - including Catholics, among others, the director of the evangelical centre form Rome and the directors of the Russian section of the Vatican Radio. On the way we would meet local intelligentsia, open ecological clubs and the like.

What are my dreams? I wish there were no borders, and that not only in man's heart, but also on the map, I wish there were no barriers. Then, perhaps, Moscow will in a mystical way come closer to Warsaw, Paris or Rome. Are they not, by any chance, children's dreams? No, for in each dream I prefer to see the outlines of a project. I prefer to think that each dream is a divine mystery. When the founders of Marxism would say that freedom is a necessity made aware, they lied because freedom is a choice between necessity and freedom. Where we deal with necessity, there we perceive prison. To be made aware of necessity is like to be made aware that one is in prison. Therefore I prefer to take freedom as divine mystery. One may be in prison, but nevertheless stay internally free. One may learn all the benefits of civilization and yet be a slave of that civilization.