CHRISTIANS IN A MULTIRELIGIOUS UNITED EUROPE
OI CHRISTIANS IN A MULTIRELIGIOUS UNITED EUROPE
Speech delivered in the Old Parliament Hall on 9-2-2007
in the framework of the Greek-German Symposium on "Prospects of Europe"
Under the Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and all Albania
Mr. Anastasiou
Emeritus Professor of the University of Athens
Honorary Member of the Academy of Athens
I began to understand the tragedy of the world and to worry about the future of Europe during the Second World War, at a time when our continent was writhing under the fury of war conflicts, dragging the entire planet into bloodshed. At that time, of course, at the gates of Hell that the mad slaughter had created, it was impossible to imagine a common path for the European peoples. However, the dream of a united Europe has begun to become a reality in recent decades. A process, which is not based on the old model of Empire, on the imposition, that is, of one people over the others, but on the democratic concept and on a new vision of peaceful coexistence based on commonly accepted values and principles.
For the idea of European unity to flourish and bear fruit, it was necessary to overcome many prejudices, mistrusts and group psychoses, cultivated by centuries of competition. The Christian subconscious, even of the secularized strata of Europe, agreed to basic principles, such as respect for the freedom and individuality of individuals and peoples, democracy, equality, peace, justice, social solidarity.
A
EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
Traditionally, the majority of Europeans are Christians, divided into various Churches and Confessions. Jewish communities coexist with them, which also appear to be differentiated from each other, as do Islamic communities of different national origins. In addition, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i groups, etc. 1
The problem of relations between Christians and other religions generally presents two aspects. The first is practical: The necessary coexistence with people of other religious beliefs. In this case, it is a "dialogue of life", where the only appropriate attitude is peaceful coexistence, respect for religious freedom, but also cooperation on issues of social harmony and progress. The second is theoretical: The understanding of other religions from a theological perspective 2.
Just as the life of Christ, the new Adam, has global consequences, so too does the life of His mystical Body, the Church, have a global reach and energy. Her prayers and concerns embrace all of humanity. The Church offers the Divine Eucharist and her doxology for all. She acts for the whole world. She radiates the glory of the living Lord throughout creation. We can stand with respect but also with distinction before the other religious experiences of humanity. 3.
A life attitude that respects the religious principles and views of others does not mean syncretism and alienation from the Christian faith. On the contrary, it requires a substantial knowledge of our faith together with a continuous living of it in repentance, humility and genuine love. The message of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches at the solemn liturgy in Bethlehem on January 7, 2000 emphasized: “We look to the other great religions, especially the monotheistic ones, Judaism and Islam, intending to further build the conditions for dialogue with them on the goals of peaceful coexistence of all peoples…. The Orthodox Church rejects bigotry and condemns religious fanaticism, wherever such phenomena may manifest themselves.” 4In general, it supports the harmonious coexistence of religious communities and minorities as well as the freedom of conscience of every person and every people.
1. The most important feature in modern Europe is the growing percentage of those who declare that they do not want to belong to any religion. In the countries of the European Union, the percentage of Christians has significantly decreased. In the Czech Republic, for example, Christians make up 33% 5. Older statistics (from 1990) reported that in 15 Western European countries, on average, 70% said they believed in God, 61% in a soul, 43% in life after death, and 33% in the resurrection of the dead. And 40% never go to church. 6. Of course, religious statistics are very relevant. [Often the figures they give are confusing (e.g. the latest statistic notes that in Sweden Christians make up 91% 7 while another, from 1990 8, that 45% believe in God!]. This religious diversity is made more complex by the fact that even those who declare that they belong to a religious community have been imbued with indifference by the ethos of secularization that permeates the social life of most European countries. [Of course, traditionally Orthodox societies also breathe in this atmosphere of secularization. Although, according to statistics, the Orthodox in some areas exceed 90% 9.]
The current of religious indifference in Europe is often made more impetuous by the persistent intervention of circles that insist on eliminating religion from social life. Usually, taking French laïcité as a model, they persistently promote absolute positions. There is a tendency for militant secularism to develop into a kind of pseudo-religion. With the aim of pushing traditional religions, and especially Christianity, to the margins, into a ghetto where it will be allowed to live, but not to act socially. It indirectly seeks to promote the old Soviet model of limiting religion 10As was seen in the process of drafting the European Constitution, the fundamentalists of laïcité managed to have a decisive influence.
2. In parallel with the secularization trend, the European public has recently been influenced by vague religious metaphysical ideas. This is characteristically revealed by the best sellers of children's literature. For children of the 20the century, one of the most beloved heroes was Dickens' Oliver Twist. In the early 21th century, its place has been taken by GK Rowling's Harry Potter. In the story of Oliver Twist, Good and Evil are largely defined in social terms. In the adventures of Harry Potter, Good and Evil belong to the realm of metaphysics and emanate from fate. In the first case, the tragedy of life is transformed by the intervention of a noble intellectual. On the contrary, the hero of today's children finds refuge in the dark world of fantasy, because his visible environment is hostile. The magic wand in his hand changes the image of the world. His intention is to define his environment using metaphysical invisible forces of the universe. The surprising success among the general reading public in many countries reveals the special charm that escape into the imaginary, into magical worlds has today. At the same time, however, it reveals an interest in an area that goes beyond the classical logic on which the European Enlightenment was based solely in the areas of science, philosophy, and aesthetics, giving absolute confidence in the critical function of reason at all levels.
The previous century passed under the influence, but also the upheavals and hopes created in millions of people by, on the one hand, Marxism and Leninism, with the dream of social justice, and on the other, Liberalism, the Industrial Revolution, the development of technology, which promised the solution to all human problems through scientific progress.
Alongside the secularization and religious indifference that are spreading in Europe, a resurgence of religious interest in the Transcendent, in the Divine, is being observed today on a global scale. A metaphysical search. However, two dangers are emerging here: First, the alteration of religious experience with mutated products of various religious theories of diverse origins, which propose a vague metaphysics and spirituality, which ultimately leads to an undefined void. Second, the distortion of religious sentiment, oriented towards contempt for dissenters and hatred. With a climax, an alloy of violence and religious slogans that reinforce a series of terrorist acts.
3. In the religious mosaic of Europe, a significant part is now occupied by Islam. Today, many millions of Muslims of various national origins live in the European Union: approximately 4 million in France, 2,5 in Germany, 2 in Great Britain, half a million in the Netherlands and another as many in Italy, 300 thousand in Belgium, etc. 11.
With the start of the 21th century, a central place on the global public stage was taken by an intense confrontation between the Western world and Islam, a fact that also affects Europe in many ways. The terrorist acts that began with 11η The September 2001, XNUMX attacks, which continued in Madrid, London and elsewhere, initiated a conflict between a certain segment of Islam and the West. Various actions and omissions by the Great Powers have contributed to the perception that we are moving towards a “clash of civilizations.” Many Christians in Europe, on the other hand, insist on dialogue and cooperation between civilizations, respect for the freedom and rights of others and the avoidance of demonization of those who are different.
The interest of the Western world has focused on a form or trend of Islam, the aggressive one, which invokes Jihad. This term has been inaccurately rendered as “Holy War.” The label “Holy” is curiously a Western addition. Jihad literally means “to struggle, to fight” and can be better rendered as “struggle” (“struggle”). 12. Some Muslims argue that jihad refers to spiritual struggle, others that it supports defense against corruption of faith and morality rather than aggressive war. But these interpretations are not accepted by fundamentalists, who in many countries influence the majority. However, Islam as a whole is not identified with terrorism. It also hides very important religious, spiritual and cultural forces and we must approach it with particular care.
I do not think that Europe is threatened by a terrorist Islam. The most essential problem is Muslim penetration and growth. The critical point for our continent today is not so much that Islam, Arab or Turkish, encounters a traditionally Christian society, but that it enters a Europe in which Christian consciousness and life are eroded by indifference and secularization. With peoples who call themselves Christian, but are not inspired by Christian values, do not live the Christian faith. This deficit of faith, with the diverse gaps it leaves, can cost many times over the new coexistence that is being attempted, facilitating the wider influence of Islam. A religion with faith and enthusiasm has a vigor of influence, something that a relaxed religious society that bases its strength primarily on technological equipment lacks.
B
THE DEON FOR CHRISTIANS
1. The primary duty of the Christians of Europe is to overcome contradictions, which are not only of a religious nature, to cooperate with each other and to make a conscious effort for unity.
Already in the previous century, serious steps had been taken towards better acquaintance and, to a large extent, mutual understanding. The Conference of European Churches currently includes 126 European Churches and Communities (Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists and other Protestant groups). And this Conference cooperates harmoniously with the “Council of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conferences” (Council of the Conferences Episcopal European [CCEE]. This year, in fact, we are jointly preparing the 3η European Ecumenical Assembly (in September, in Sibiu, Romania), on the theme “The Light of Christ for the Church, Europe, the World”. In our century, this need has been proclaimed at repeated official meetings of leaders of the European Churches, such as the Message of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches at the solemn liturgy in Bethlehem, on January 7, 2000. More recently, in the proclamations in Constantinople by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict XVI, as well as during the Visit of the Archbishop of Athens, Christodoulou, to Rome, etc.
However, there is no shortage of opposing voices, who insist on the status quo. In both the East and the West, there are groups of Christians (e.g. extreme Evangelical and Orthodox circles) who oppose initiatives for a Christian approach. 13. The argument is that our contacts with the heterodox threaten to alienate Orthodox thought and ethos. Others believe that it is our duty to participate in it, sharing common concerns and offering Orthodox witness.
Certainly, there are many problems theologically, ecclesiologically, practically, which divide the Christians of Europe. And a responsible and systematic discussion on various issues will be needed. However, none of those who participate in inter-Christian relations is prepared to deny their identity. Besides, our essential contribution is not compromise or silence, but serious critical thinking, the offering of the treasure of tradition and theology that organically connects today with the apostolic era. 14.
In general, however, it would be tragic, while the political, scientific, cultural, and economic forces promote the unity of the citizens of Europe, thus supporting the peace and security of the continent, for the Churches to support and repair the barriers between them. Something worse: It would be a scandal.
2. In parallel with the effort to approach the contemporary debate on the definition of European identity and the prospects of our continent, we Christians must recall that: in the formation of European civilization, the Greek, Roman and Christian spirit played a leading role. Ancient Greek thought contributed the idea of democracy, freedom and beauty, the Roman tradition the principles of organization, administration and law, and Christianity the power of faith, forgiveness and love.
We often isolate certain spiritual values and give them the exclusive citizenship of one or another origin. However, historically they have interacted, complemented each other and ultimately coexist in mutual surroundings. Even when they were challenged by one side or the other, they evolved and matured.
The spiritual vitality of European culture is based on spiritual search, critical attitude, dialogue, self-criticism, the effort to overcome failure, synthesis, ecumenical reflection. These are certainly related both to the heritage of Greek thought and to the dynamics of Christian ethics: the disposition for repentance, purification and renewal.
It is therefore necessary in the new ideological religious fermentation for Europe to rediscover its spiritual background, its Christian roots. And to let their juices freely animate its drugged spiritual life. To realize that technological power is not enough to shape free and responsible people, to ensure the cohesion of society. Of course, Christian Churches are not allowed to become either masters, servants, or tools of the state. Our clear reference to the Christian origins of Europe is neither against religious tolerance nor against coexistence with people of other religious traditions or philosophical concepts. Exactly the opposite. The sober Christian spirit ensures sincere respect for the value of every human person and people.
More directly, in the public debate taking place in Europe today, we are obliged to defend the right of man to refer to the sacred, the holy, the personal God and to publicly express his faith. The mockery of the Christian faith, cultivated by certain militant atheist circles, has no place in a Europe based on respect for personal freedom. In the tendency shown by certain groups of militant secularism to seek to impose their own principles in Europe in general, we are obliged as Christians to defend the right of our Churches to freely regulate their behavior according to their own traditions and to publicly proclaim their Christian beliefs.
3. The Churches of Europe must also remind in all directions that our continent is much broader than the European Union. And that they constitute the self-evident spiritual bond with all the European countries that do not yet belong to it, insisting on the need for reconciliation and reconciliation. “Europe is a complex of infinite contradictions. Different and very often opposing mental dispositions are born in the North and the South, in the West and the East….. The European spirit presupposes the understanding of the harmony of the European whole….. The great value of this whole is that it managed to unite in a superior synthesis the contradictions that constitute it” (G. Theotokas) 15. The Churches of Europe are called to contribute to the harmonious coexistence of European peoples by showing respect for the diversity of their traditions.˙ are called upon to work for a unity that respects diversity.
4. But the most important thing for Christians is the inner renewal and substantial living of the principles of the Gospel. A superficial and conventional Christianity cannot offer anything substantial.
It is imperative, first and foremost, that we Christians maintain the organic bond with our roots. To experience today the mystery of God's Love, of humility, self-sacrifice, solidarity, and sincere love for all.
In order for the Churches to respond to their historical role and contribute to the spiritual path of Europe, it will be necessary, first of all, to be consistent in their sacramental-saviorial character. Not to become like some of the many NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), as some would prefer. The Church must be a manifestation of the mystery of God's economy in Christ through the Holy Spirit. "Body of Christ", a space where the transformation of man is accomplished, the overcoming of his existential anguish, his union with the God of love. A Eucharistic community of believers, which experiences redemption from corruption, which responds to the deepest spiritual quests of man, which offers spiritual rebirth, the giving meaning to human existence˙ which helps man face life and death with the breath and power of the Resurrection.
3rd
CONTRIBUTION TO THE STRENGTHENING OF FUNDAMENTAL VALUES
1. The Christians of Europe have a historical duty to continue to contribute substantially to supporting the spiritual values that were born within them and to express their deepest message. I highlight some of the main ones:
a. Accentuation of dignity of every human person as a basic human right. This principle, which formed the foundation of the legislation of European states, was based on a subconscious, shaped by the Christian faith. As Berdyaev points out, “Humanism, and therefore the dignity of man, can be reborn only from religious depths…. The dignity of the person presupposes the existence of God” 16. Human dignity is not a vague bourgeois pride. It is based on the belief that man is a sacred person, a creation of a personal God.
b. A consequence of the previous principle is respect for every human person, regardless of origin, gender, education, religious beliefs, as well as the assurance of his freedom. Freedom is one of the most central ideas of Christianity. The free God created man free and therefore responsible for his actions. Dignity, freedom and responsibility surround each other. Regarding individual freedom, as the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew observes, it must be said “that our freedom is not only personal but interpersonal. As human beings we cannot be truly free by remaining in isolation, denying our relationship with our fellow human beings. We can be truly free if we become part of a community of other free persons. Freedom is not solitary, it is social”.
c. The biblical belief about marriage and family It established the principles of monogamy, which was the cell of European society, and defined the relations between the sexes. It emphasized and inspired fidelity and personal renunciation as the basic elements for its endurance. If this basic structure is disturbed, society is led to decline. We Christians of Europe have the right and the duty to defend these truths, on which everything most magnificent and pure that European civilization has created was based. 18.
d. Every faithful Christian must be responsible citizen of his country and Europe in general. To move with consistency, honesty and creativity, to contribute to the formation of the society of persons, strengthening justice, equality, solidarity in successive cycles˙ starting from the specific people to which he belongs, embracing all the peoples of Europe and expanding his interest in the prevalence of these values throughout the earth.
e. The ascetic ethos of frugality and restraint, which has been most strongly emphasized in Eastern Christianity, is also gaining serious relevance. Its cultivation can contribute as a dam to the torrent of consumerism, which threatens to flood our lives with the accumulation of useless things that are presented as necessary.
f. Despite the progress and many developments of Western civilization, certain characteristics of man remain constant over the centuries: Greed, violence, arrogance, hypocrisy, sin in general. Especially in our time, the disruptions that drugs, AIDS, the sense of loneliness and emptiness, the lack of meaning in life have added to individual and social life. Of course, problems are not solved by general ideas and a wooden language that mechanically repeats words with sacred meaning. Who will transmit a pulse of life? It is necessary faith and enthusiasm for the course of Europe, faith in man and his future. The crystal source of this kind of faith remains the truth of the Gospel.
g. However, the greatest contribution of the Christian faith has been – and remains in the memory – the beginning of love, with the breadth, depth and height given to its meaning. Within it, the emphasis on forgiveness is of particular importance. The possibility of forgiveness neutralizes contradictions and multifaceted enmities, to lead to the essential reconciliation of individuals and peoples. The inspiration that the Christian faith has offered to millions of believers for the experience of forgiveness and love is historically documented. Without love, European civilization loses its breath, strength and beauty.
Therefore, the revitalization and not the marginalization of the Christian faith, the experience of its essence, power and beauty will help European societies to maintain their identity and develop the values that constitute the core of European culture, as well as their creative dynamism.
2. In order for us Christians to be at the spiritual vanguard of modern Europe, we must also pay greater attention to some more general critical problems.
a. It is necessary to resist the use of religion for military conflicts, as well as for supporting and stimulating terrorism. In our time, religions continue to have influence, but of course they do not determine the decisions of political leaders and economic actors. The latter are taken on the basis of other criteria and interests. At the same time, however, leading voices of the warring parties use religious terminology invoking God. Religious conscience is therefore called upon to resist, so that religious sentiment remains in its sacred role: peacemaking, reconciliation, forgiveness, healing of wounds.
b. In the previous century, the role of the protagonist for social justice and the defender of the poor was assumed par excellence by the communist movement based on atheistic premises. In our century, we see certain Islamic groups claiming such a leading role in protecting and defending the poor. It would be one of the greatest scandals to allow the Christian world to remain indifferent to the issue of poverty in our century and for Christians to ally themselves mainly with the strata of the rich and powerful, indifferent to the millions of our fellow human beings in Europe and in the world in general who live (or, more precisely, slowly die) below the poverty line. As Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize 2006) characteristically observed recently, 60% of the earth's inhabitants live on only 6% of its resources. 19The presence of the Church must be constantly prophetic and critical of the various phenomena of indifference towards poverty. Through the sacrificial exercise of its ministry, setting the example with a life of frugality and restraint.
c. The spiritual principles on which European civilization was founded have a universal scope. The new Europe has no right to close itself in or act on the basis of its own interests. It had and has a universal responsibility. This universal vision, a direct consequence of the Christian conscience, constitutes an undeniable spiritual European value. Europe, which in the previous century treated the peoples of other continents arrogantly and utilitarianly, is time to form its universal conscience and thought in order to fulfill its duty to humanity, especially in what concerns ensuring world peace and justice.
Christians in Europe must take pioneering initiatives on global problems and lead the fight for the protection of the natural environment, for peace throughout the world. We envision a Europe that – inspired by the Christian ideals of respect for the value of every person, freedom and love – will strive for the correct development of globalization.˙ so that, instead of a process that turns peoples and people into lifeless material, useful for the economic and political exploitation of an anonymous oligarchy, we can move towards a globalization of justice and solidarity.
d. Circles that seek to underestimate the contribution of the Christian faith in Europe often invoke the absolute dominance of Science and Technology. Some even argue that these conflict with faith. The Christian faith, within the framework of the general respect for the freedom of the human person, also accepts the freedom for more authentic knowledge. In particular, the Orthodox Church has avoided seeking to patronize the development of scientific endeavor, to rush to take a position on every emerging new scientific question, as certain Churches in the West have tended to do. For the Orthodox conscience, freedom of research is a God-given gift to man.
Fortunately, in the Eastern tradition, any conflict between science and theology has been avoided as much as possible, due to the dual methodology of the Orthodox Fathers, which is founded on the ontological distinction between created and uncreated. However, at the same time as this affirmation, Christian thought points out: first, the dangers hidden behind certain scientific achievements˙ secondly, the limits of human knowledge˙ and thirdly, the existence of another "knowledge". If we emphasize respect for freedom and the value of scientific research, in the next phase of the application and use of new knowledge, with the same and greater enthusiasm we emphasize the importance and value of another existential category, Love. This does not fall directly into the scientific field, but it proves to be many times necessary for the correct delimitation of freedom and the utilization of the fruits of science, with the limitation of egocentrism and the essential communion with fellow human beings, the final unity of truth, beauty and love20.
My dear,
At the beginning of the last century, Oswald Spengler argued 21 that there is a natural historical development of great civilizations, birth, growth, flowering, fruition and aging, culminating in death. His view was that Western civilization has reached this final phase. Many voices were raised against this view, among which Arnold Toynbee stands out 22. The latter points out the difference between material and technological progress on the one hand, and genuine progress on the other, which he calls spiritualization. He sees the roots of the crisis of the Western world in the departure from religious experience and in the adoption of a cult of technology, the nation, and militarism. And he identifies the crisis with secularization. The re-empowerment of the religious element is considered as a therapeutic treatment. To the concept of biological decline he opposes the volitional position based on the vigor and vitality of creative minorities and distinguished personalities.
Christians are called to offer Europe such personalities from their ranks: people of faith, integrity, responsibility, free from greed and hypocrisy, free from the conventions and fears of this century, selfless, with a spirit of sacrifice, who believe in and strive for pan-European and global peace, justice, solidarity and progress.
Thus, creative minorities are formed, which will help Europe discover and develop the best elements of its heritage and move towards a new intellectual flourishing.
1 G. Davie, Religion in Modern Europe. A Memory Mutates, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2000. R. Remond, Religion and Society in Modern Europe, Oxford 1999. G. Vincent and JP Willaine, Religions and transformation in Europe, Presses Universitaires, Strasbourg 1993.
2 For more details, see A. Yannoulatos, “Emerging perspectives on the Relations of Christians to Peoples of Other Faiths”, International Review of Mission 77 (1988), pp. 332-346. Anastasios (Giannoulatos), “Relations of Orthodoxy with other religions”, Living Orthodoxy in the modern world, edited by A. Walker and K. Karras, Estia, Athens 2001, pp. 43-62, 260-262.
3 I note characteristically the words of one of the conservative theologians of the Orthodox Church, Professor and Academic John Karmiris, in one of his last speeches at the Academy of Athens (“The Universality of Salvation in Christ”): “Not only Christians but also non-Christians, unbelievers or nations can become “fellow heirs and fellow heirs and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:6) through the Church to which even the Gentiles, the heterodox, can belong invisibly, on the basis and by virtue of their own faith and the saving grace freely granted to them by God, having a quasi-ecclesiastical character” – I.N. Karmiri, “The Universality of Salvation in Christ”, Proceedings of the Academy of Athens, year 1980, vol. 55, Athens 1981, pp. 261-289. His, "The salvation of God's people outside the Church", Proceedings of the Academy of Athens, year 1981, vol. 56, Athens 1982, pp. 391-434.
4 "The Primates of the Orthodox Churches send a message of love without discrimination from Jerusalem," reports. Everyday 8-1-2000, Free press 8-1-2000.
5 A Handbook of Churches and Councils. Profiles of Ecumenical Relationship (compiled by H. van Beek), WCC, Geneva 2006, p. 361.
6 G. Davie, note. works.,.σ. 9-10.
7 A Handbook of Churches and Councils (see note 8), p. 455.
8 G. Davie, note. works., σ 10.
9 Romania 94% – A Handbook of Churches and Councils, p. 437. Greece 95%, A Handbook of Churches and Councils, p. 401.
10 I. Alfeyef, Orthodox Witness Today, WCC Geneva 2006. Cf. A. Dierkens (ed.), Pluralisme religieux et laïcité dans l'Union européenne, ed. Université de Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1994.
11 Anastasiou (Giannoulatou), "Christians and Muslims in Europe today. Their contribution to the development of commonly accepted values", Proceedings of the Academy of Athens, vol. 76, issue 201 (581), pp. 594-XNUMX.
12 Ch. Townshend, Terrorism. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002. Greek. Translated by S. Renta, Greek Letters, Athens 2006, p. 127.
13 E.g. Recent Announcement by the Monasteries of Mount Athos regarding the above-mentioned moves by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece with the Vatican. – Official. Free. 4-1-2007.
14 See various articles, Orthodox Theology and Ecumenical Dialogue (ed. P. Vassiliadis), Apostolic Ministry, Athens 2005.
15 G. Theotokas, Free spirit, Estia, Athens 1988, pp. 8-9.
16 N. Berdyaev, «white Humanism» The truth i. Revelation, St. Petersburg 1996, p. 194: by I. Alfeyef, working memory237.
17 Speech of His All Holiness The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the London School of Economics (LSE) for the London Hellenic Society, "The Role of Religion in a changing Europe" (3rd November 2005), http.www.ec.patr.gr.
18 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Values in a Time of Upheaval, Crossroad, New York, Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2006, p. 148.
19 Congress of the Indian National Congress Party, on the theme "Strengthening the Politics of Peace and Non-Violence" (January 2007).
20 See more Anastasios Giannoulatos, "Orthodoxy before the rapid development of the positive sciences", International Scientific Conference: "Science, cutting-edge technologies and Orthodoxy", 4 to 8-10.2000, Athens 2002, pp. 33-43.
21 Der Untergang des Abendlandes, 2 Volumes, 1η Munich 1918-22. See M.thread. work in note 18, pp. 140-141.
22 A.J. Toynbee, A Study of History, abridged ed., Oxford 1987.