Moscow Real ecumenism The Botkin House A New Beginning in the Shadow of the Kremlin The exceptional message of greetings from Patriarch Aleksij II and the Pope’s telegram for the inauguration of the new location for the Library of the Spirit, in Moscow this past November 19th. A place for encounter, friendship, and dialogue that involves Catholics and Orthodox, together to testify that “Christ is everything in everyone” by Giovanna Parravicini It might seem as if we were at the Meeting in Rimini the night before opening, if it weren’t for the heavy snowfall (the first of the season) outside the windows, blocking traffic and making the situation all the more chaotic. In the rooms of the “Botkin House”–a historic home, a vast space of almost 1,300 sq ft (400 sq m) in a very centrally located street of Moscow, which we were able to purchase about a year and a half ago to host an exhibit/conference room for the “Library of the Spirit” cultural center, the bookstore, and a coffee bar–an army of friends is hustling frenetically to work a miracle: bring the shine out of the flooring still covered with construction detritus, clean the bookshelves and chairs whitened with masonry dust, install the light fixtures, and hang the curtains, in order to welcome the guests at the official inauguration ceremony for the Center, tomorrow morning, November 19th. There won’t be a front door–it’s not ready yet–but there’s still the hope that, miraculously, overnight, the construction workers will be able to finish the toilettes, which at the moment are just black holes. As a consolation prize, the 19th-century plasterwork decorations on the ceilings, saved and restored by Elena and Alessandra, two friends from Rome who have painted splendidly (involving also local workers), remind us of the history of this home, these rooms, enlivened by illustrious men of culture, including Lev Tolstoy. During a lunch in Gudo… The idea for the Library of the Spirit came to Fr Giussani during a lunch in Gudo years ago, when he suggested to Father Scalfi that, given the new climate of freedom in Russia, he could create a place of free debate and encounter, like the “Feltrinelli bookstores of yesteryear.” Miraculously, friends arrived–Jean François, Viktor, Flo, Tanja, and so many others–with whom the idea could be achieved, step by step, starting from scratch, at times without even realizing the great implications of what was happening. However, all along there was a perception that filled us with gratitude every time we became aware of it, that we are called together in a friendship as big as the world, to embrace the whole world. And, wisely, Viktor reminded us of this more than once, when irritability about all the things to be done or the responsibilities to be faced threatened to create divisions among us: “But if we lose our friendship, what’s the use of the work?” If there’s one thing that Fr Giussani and Fr Scalfi have always taught us, from the earliest steps of this work, it has been to prize those we meet, the life of the Church that we have before us, because it is the face of the Other, of Mystery. Thus, it was almost genetic for us to learn ecumenism, without needing to be theologians. The Library of the Spirit was born in 1993 with this same characteristic, as a synergy among people who want to help each other testify to “Christ, everything in everyone,” and who recognize that together, Orthodox and Catholic, we are part of a much greater unity. Coming out into the open The cultural activity, the publishing work, and the diffusion of Christian texts in Russia and the territories of the ex-Soviet Union (in 2003 we celebrated in Rome–meeting with the Pope–the millionth book distributed!) are all gestures and initiatives invented step by step, marked by this spirit, and we are the first to be amazed, because of how great the gap is between what seems possible with our strength and what happens instead! Two years ago, we said that we needed to come out into the open and leave our book-crammed apartment on the outskirts of the city, where we conducted our activity. We needed public visibility, with shop-windows on the street where people could encounter our proposal more easily. Thus, we set out on the adventure of finding a new center, like making a bet with Providence. It wasn’t a coincidence that in the megalopolis of Moscow we found a location on a street that recently re-gained its ancient name, Pokrovka, “Protection of the Mother of God.” Even the inauguration date was a challenge laid down by Cardinal Paul Poupard’s flattering proposal: “If you inaugurate around November 20th, when I’m in Moscow, I’ll come cut the ribbon!” During the desperate struggle with time and with the problems and lack of funds that we had to face in the following months, we experienced first-hand more than once the miracle of a Presence, which amazed us simply because it was, and made us enjoy the gusto of continuing. To give just one example, only a few days before the inauguration, we were tired, irritable, and depressed because there had been some defections among the “illustrious guests,” but at a certain point we received an unexpected fax with a very warm letter from the Orthodox Patriarch Aleksij II, blessing our initiative and hoping the renewed Cultural Center will have an ever-more fruitful collaboration with the Patriarch of Moscow. This totally gratuitous gift put wings on our feet, giving us a tangible sign that we were serving the work of Another. The day of the inauguration The morning of the big day, the Library rooms overflowed with guests–old and new friends, people we’d met twenty years ago during the era of dissent, or those we’d encountered recently; representatives of civil and religious authorities, diplomats, Orthodox and Catholic prelates, scholars and exponents of the university and academic world, and families and friends of the Movement, not to mention Fr Pino and Fulvia, with a group of fifty friends from Italy to celebrate with us and bring us the love of Fr Giussani and Fr Scalfi. A prestigious collector of icons, Viktor Bondarenko (whose collection is presented by the 2005 Christian Russia calendar ), “lent” us four splendid pieces from the fifteenth century to put on display for the occasion. We also had a photographic exhibit from the Meeting in Rimini, “Ready, Set, Go,” dedicated to the origins of the universe. The morning’s greetings and talks culminated with the reading of Patriarch Aleksij II’s message and the Pope’s telegram, brought by Cardinal Poupard. The Cardinal underlined how the Center is called by its nature to be an act of faith, that is, of trust in the fecundity of the faith; of hope, to make fruitful and accompany reality toward its full transfiguration; and of love, which is the force through which God’s promises are fulfilled in history. East and West In the afternoon, a conference entitled, “East and West, Exchange of Gifts,” aimed at offering an example of content proposed for the Center’s future cultural activity. Cardinal Poupard spoke about culture and the need to rediscover the Christian roots of Europe, and the other speakers examined more closely specific aspects of this rediscovery. Vladimir Legojda, director of an interesting Orthodox magazine for young people, spoke of the new challenges to society posed by secularism. The historian Ol’ga Vasil’eva examined the relationships between Orthodox and Catholics in the period of the Second Vatican Council. Adriano dell’Asta, of the Catholic University of Milan, highlighted the contribution of Russian religious philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century, while Ol’ga Popova, Byzantologist of the State University of Moscow, demonstrated the artistic unity of the first millennium Christian world, tracing a journey of ideas from Ravenna to Constantinople and Kiev. The innocent boldness of our friends The next evening, we had a big party. Claudio Chieffo offered us a splendid concert that enthused and moved everyone, Russians and Italians, because of the evidence of the beauty and truth that flowed from his testimony. Listening to him sing, and singing along, made us live once again the experience of the people that we are, and to which everyone immediately felt themselves belong in part, even acquaintances or the university students invited for the first time. We are a people that is taking its first steps, strong in the “innocent boldness” conferred by the friendship that leads us. November 16th, 2004 N. 6305 To the Director of the Library of the Spirit Cultural Center, Mr Jean-François Thiry Most esteemed Mr Jean-François Thiry: Thank you for your invitation to participate in the inauguration of the new location of the Library of the Spirit Cultural Center, to be held next November 19th in Moscow. Unfortunately, previous engagements do not permit me to accept your kind invitation. Knowing the cultural and formational activity of the Cultural Center you direct, I would like to congratulate you on the new location on Pokrovka Street, and express my hope that your collaboration with the Synodal Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church may develop further. I wish you, most esteemed Mr Jean-François Thiry, good health and every success with the blessing of the Lord for your future efforts, in your important position as Director of the Library of the Spirit Cultural Center. With sincere esteem, Aleksij, Patriarch of Moscow and of all of Russia