Pope Benedict XVI, left, shakes hands with Hilarion Alfeyev, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department of External Church Relations and permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow, prior to a concert dedicated to the pontiff by Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow, in the hall Paul VI at the Vatican, Friday, May 20, 2010.
Pope Benedict XVI underlined the mutual interests of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches, and the need for ecumenical cooperation in Europe, in a brief address on May 20 after a concert of Russian music.
The Pope spoke after a performance by the National Orchestra of Russia, which was sponsored by the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I to honor the Pope on the 5th anniversary of his election. After enjoying the concert the Pope spoke-- at first of the music, then more generally of the challenges that face the world's largest Christian bodies.
The music, the Pope said, expressed "the soul of the Russian people, and therewith the Christian faith." He mentioned that Russian liturgical music has a particularly rich history, "giving life to masterpieces which deserve to be better known in the West." Today's Europe, the Pope continued, "runs the risk of amnesia-- of forgetting and thus abandoning the extraordinary heritage aroused and inspired by Christian faith, which is the essential framework of the culture of Europe, and not only of Europe." Echoing a theme that Russian Orthodox leaders have frequently explored, he called for all Christians, Catholic and Orthodox, to work together to restore European appreciation for its Christian cultural heritage.
"Let us again let Europe breathe with both lungs," the Pope said, calling upon all Christians to help build a society in which "openness to the transcendent, the experience of faith, is recognized as an essential element of the human being."
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The Greeks must be loving this.
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