The Stages in the History of the Library by Jean François Thiry July 1993 The Russian Episcopal Conference asks the Christian Russia Foundation (also known as Russia Christiana) to open a center for the distribution of religious books in Moscow to support the clergy’s pastoral work in this period of the Catholic Church’s rebirth there, inviting Fr Scalfi to continue in loco the work that he had been doing semi-clandestinely from Italy since the 1950s. November 1993 The Library of the Spirit begins its activity, supported by the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation and in collaboration with Caritas. October 1994 The Library of the Spirit collaborates with the Theological Academy of Saint Sergious to distribute the Bible in all the Russian Orthodox seminaries; this collaboration leads to the realization that the Library of the Spirit is an important instrument for dialogue between the two Churches. March 1995 The Library of the Spirit celebrates its first 100,000 books distributed. December 1995 The Library of the Spirit launches its “Books by Mail” program, which is still the most important program for the sale of religious books by correspondence in Russia, with a catalogue sent three times a year to about 5,000 addresses, reaching even the most remote cities. July 1996 The Library of the Spirit is charged with the responsibility of printing the Catechism of the Catholic Church; in 7 years it prints and distributes 12,000 copies. April 1998 In Moscow, the exhibit from the Meeting in Rimini, “From the Land to the Peoples,” is offered and then presented in different cities (Novosibirsk, Saint Petersburg, Astrachan, Saratov, Vladimir, and Niz¹nij-Novgorod) and is still traveling throughout Russia. Its historical emphasis lends itself to collaboration with Orthodox religious entities, a great number of which have requested it (Minsk, Smolensk, Obninsk, and Ekaterinburg). May 2000 The Library of the Spirit is re-founded as a non-profit organization and Cultural Center. The founding members are the Catholic Archbishop Kondrusiewicz of Moscow; the Orthodox Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk; and the Christian Russia Foundation. March 2001 As the fruit of a long collaboration with the Russian world of culture, the Center organizes the presentation of the book The Religious Sense, by Fr Giussani, in one of the most prestigious universities of Moscow, with the participation of the President of the University, as well as Giancarlo Cesana and famous Russian philosophers and poets. September 2002 The first “Book Bazaar” is organized. May 7, 2003 All the Cultural Center collaborators are received in Rome by the Holy Father, to whom they give the millionth book distributed. December 2003 The “Christian Theology in the 20th Century” project begins. The Library of the Spirit commits, together with the Theological Commission of the Patriarch of Moscow, to publish in Russian a collection of particularly significant works for contemporary Christian thought, destined for seminaries and theological academies, and also for the vast public of the universities and the lay academy. November 19th, 2004 The new location for the Cultural Center is inaugurated in the presence of Cardinal Poupard, and with the blessing of Patriarch Aleksij II and Pope John Paul II; its activities expand with the addition of a bookstore, a coffee bar, and a space for cultural activities. Currently The Library of the Spirit Cultural Center has 13 employees. It distributes on average 500 books a day, with a catalogue that presents 700 titles. It carries out educational and charitable projects in religious environments (parishes, seminaries), educational institutes, and social recovery facilities (hospitality centers, prisons). It is preparing over 15 volumes for publication.