In "For Rome and Moscow, It's Spring Again," Sandro Magister on Chiesa looks at the book, in Italian and Russian, presented to Pope Benedict recently by Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk. It is a collection of the main speeches of Benedict, as cardinal and pope, on European culture made over the past ten years. The title of the book is taken from an expression that Benedict used in Prague: "Europa, patria spirituale [Europe, spiritual homeland]." Magister translated the archbishop's introduction (excerpts reprinted below). But listen to his amazement: Those who expect an Orthodox Church removed from time, made up only of remote traditions and archaic liturgies, will come away shaken from reading the introduction to this book. [ ... ] The image that emerges from it is that of a Russian Orthodox Church that refuses to let itself be locked up in a ghetto, but on the contrary hurls itself against the secularist onslaught with all the peaceful weapons at its disposal, not … [Read more...]