Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church sends his greetings to the participants in the Third European Russian Forum “One Europe from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean: Dreams or a Possibility?”
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent greetings to the participants in the Third European Russian Forum “One Europe from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean: Dreams or Possibility?” Archbishop Simon of Belgium and Brussels, ad interim of the Hague and the Netherlands, read out the Patriarchal message in Brussels on 9 November 2009. The full text is given below.
To the participants in the Third European Russian Forum
“One Europe from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean:
Dreams or a Possibility?”
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear brothers and sisters:
I cordially greet you all who have gathered at the European Parliament to discuss the problems of relations among the European countries and to search for their possible solution.
Europe is facing a serious challenge of loosing its civilizational and cultural identity. In this difficult situation projects of a new paradigm of intergovernmental and interethnic community are acquiring important significance. Put into its foundation should be an idea of equal relations between Western and Eastern parts of Europe that throughout their history have complemented and enriched each other. Our common Christian tradition, commitment to dialogue, and willingness to cooperate can and must become a driving mechanism of our rapprochement.
However, there are many obstacles on the way to preserving peace and solidarity in our common European home and to mutual understanding and good-neighborly relations among people living it. These obstacles because of the differences of politicians’ opinion on certain problems on the global agenda and actions of certain active biased forces that strive to revalue the facts of the European modern history in order to derive an instant advantage. The only result of this approach to the past will be a feeling of hatred and disunity in human hearts. The Holy Scripture says to us in the words of Prophet Hosea, “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hos 8:7).
Today the activities of the Churches, state structures and public associations should include the testimony to historical truth and common civilizational character of the European countries. It is necessary to abandon the stereotypes that hamper fruitful contacts, to give up imposing of ideological monopolarity, and to bring the values of the faith and the one spiritual space to the level of the really uniting principles. It is only in this way that we shall be able to create an atmosphere of solidarity and openness in the relations among the people of Europe, to lay a real foundation for their integration, and to turn a dream of one Europe from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean into reality.
I wish you, all the participants, an interesting and fruitful work and God’s help in the solution of your tasks.
I invoke God’s blessing upon you.
+ KIRILL,
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia