“The Question” in Novosibirsk

A double presentation of The Religious Sense in Siberia. The first at the Akademgorodok University, in the presence of illustrious professors. The second in the concert hall of the Philharmonic. Many took up the challenge to read the book

BY Luca Bortoletto

Everything began in the middle of January when a group of us started to meet regularly once a week to prepare and organize the two events set for March 23rd and 25th, the first at the university in Novosibirsk, the prestigious Akademgorodok, and the second, for a broader audience, in the concert hall of the Philharmonic.
We started planning by thinking of ways to attract people’s attention, choosing slogans, contacting radio stations and newspapers, preparing sample invitations and posters to hang up all over town, drawing up invitation lists, etc. There were a lot of things to do and organize, but with a very clear purpose from the beginning, to cherish and keep in mind as much as possible: that the beauty of the encounter we have had and the passion for life that it has generated may be transmitted to everyone.
Looking back over what has happened, now we can say that our strength lay not so much in the sum of individual capacities or abilities, but in saying, as did Moses, “If you do not come yourself, do not make us move on from here.”

Press conference
Monday, March 19th, press conference at the Novosibirsk Press Club. Five journalists arrived and immediately started shooting questions in an effort to understand an event as unusual as the presentation of a book entitled The Religious Sense in one of the largest cities of the former Communist empire, and what is more, by a clearly Catholic writer, in a place where the majority of Christians are Orthodox. During the buffet, the questions continued in a less official atmosphere, and between caviar hors d’oeuvre and shots of vodka, some of the journalists softened their approach. The next day the first articles started appearing in the local newspapers.

The exhibition
Friday, March 23rd, 1 pm, at the state university in Novosibirsk. The classroom in which the first invited speaker, astrophysicist Dr. Marco Bersanelli, was about to begin the presentation of the exhibition, “Ready, set… life!” was very small and filled up quickly with students and teachers. We rushed around, taking care of the usual last-minute emergencies. Finally, all was in readiness for the presentation, in which Bersanelli took us on a fascinating trip between the earth and the sky.
Between descriptions of scientific phenomena and quotations from the Psalms, he led our gaze to contemplate the infinitely great, the majesty of the universe all the way to its very heart, which is the “I,” where the question reverberates, “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” The silence in the room underlined the fascination of the topics, but questions were not long in coming from both students and teachers, and at the end many stayed behind to continue the discussion.
There was barely time to take a break, drink some chai (tea) and eat a bulochka (pastry) to ward off hypoglycemia, before the high point of the day, the presentation of The Religious Sense.
Passing through the waves of students rushing to their afternoon lessons, we entered the assigned room, which was already full. More than a hundred students had come early to get a good seat, while others arriving later searched in vain for empty seats. The first to speak was Dr. Leonid Panin from the faculty of the state university and a promoter of both events through the Center for European Studies (established by a Tempus project in partnership with the Catholic University of Milan), which he directs. “This book,” he said, “is the book of a sincere man who has taken on the burden of responsibility for his fellow man…. It is not easy reading and must be read slowly, because it calls up more questions than the answers it gives.” Next was Father Romano Scalfi, founder of Russia Cristiana and a great friend of Russia, to which he has given more than 40 years of his life, untiringly weaving a network of relationships, especially with the Orthodox world. Father Scalfi devoted his remarks to the cultural context from which the book was born, that is, a living Christianity in which faith and reason are not antithetical and which does not accept the ideological premises of rationalism and the skepticism that this brings forth. He did not fail to quote the Russian authors dear to Father Giussani, like Bulgakov, Solovev, and Dostoyevsky, who contributed decisively to his formation.
The next speaker was Dr. Evghenji Samahvalov, a philosophy professor at the local university, giving a brief talk in which he emphasized that Father Giussani proposes “an approach that is neither philosophical nor theological; an approach that with many writers becomes a cold, hard road toward God, but that in this book inevitably attracts the reader’s attention.”
Finally, Bersanelli explained that Father Giussani’s book is not for “specialists,” that is, for those who deal with religious matters, but “concerns life as such, it concerns people of every kind. It is more like a question than an answer.” And thus even for a scientist going about his daily work, the use of reason cannot be detached from considering Mystery a factor that is part of reality, not something outside of reality.
At the end came an unexpected and very moving testimony by a physics professor from the local university, Dr. Iurji Kulakov, who told how forty years of study have led him to discover that the laws of nature are not written in the laws of physics which the scientist can measure, but are of another order, so that he feels that his work is under the direction of a “Master.”

The concert
And thus we came to the final event on Sunday. For this occasion one of the largest concert halls in the city was rented, and the program included, as a fitting setting for the book presentation, a concert conducted by A. Kazh, who also personally took part in the presentation of the book, with a chorus and an ensemble of Russian folk songs.
The audience started arriving an hour before the appointed time (evidently the publicity campaign was successful). As they waited, many stopped, out of curiosity, to look at the exhibition on the “religious sense” set up in the theater foyer. This Russian version of an Italian exhibit, prepared by the friends in the community of Moscow, traced, using the films Blade Runner, Life is Beautiful, and The Truman Show, the human parabola described by the “PerCorso.”
The hall was almost full, with about 800 people in attendance. The concert began with an ensemble of Russian folk songs.
Sasha (the presenter) introduced them and explained that to understand who you are it is important to start from your tradition (and in terms of folk songs, the Russian people are second to none).
With a brief interval of the few minutes needed to set up a table and chairs for the speakers, it was time for the presentation of the book, with Scalfi, Bersanelli, and Kazh. One of the nicest surprises of this event was this 72-year-old man, one of the most famous Russian conductors of our time, who out of friendship for Father Ubaldo (a priest in the CL Movement) agreed to read the book and give his testimony as an artist, and offered to celebrate the event by conducting his orchestra free of charge for the people who came. Kazh received a letter from Father Giussani, who thanked him personally for the concert.
Some of his especially noteworthy remarks were: “The principal question of the book is that it proposes a unity between reason and faith.” “Why do people feel renewed after a concert? Because they have the same experience as those who go to church, because faith is the music of the soul.” “I hope that our young people understand that they need to read books like this one to live.”
After the concert, the chorus of the Philharmonic offered us some more splendid performances of folk songs and virtuoso choral pieces.
At the end, as he thanked the audience, Sasha reminded them that a group of people meets regularly every Thursday to read The Religious Sense and to go more deeply into its contents.
Among the broad smiles reflecting joy at the success of the event, and amazement at finding, at the buffet organized for the honored guests, the representative of the local Jewish community and one of the assistants of the Orthodox bishop, we began to ask each other, “How can we keep an event like this going?” We discovered that we have a face, an identity to propose to all, and many of us felt the very strong desire to help each other keep this new consciousness alive and to put it into action in the spheres in which we live.
A friend of ours told us that this event was the occasion for her to experience “the encounter” all over again. Father Scalfi, at the end of the evening, told us that the two presentations were a great sign from God for these people and this city.
In our conversations with each other in the days after the presentation, it came out that our responsibility now is precisely that of following and sustaining what the event has set in motion.
The best is yet to come.