The Slavish spirit in Europe

A few days before the celebration of the liturgical memory of Saint Benedict, on February 14, in the heart of Europe the Slavish world celebrates the solemnity of the Saints Cyril and Methodius in the universal Church. Although the statues of the two brothers from Thessalonia are visible on the façade and on the apsis of St. John’s Lateran Basilica in Rome, and although in the past decades four pontiffs dedicated to them important Magisterium documents, the two saints, proclaimed Europe’s co-Patron Saints by John Paul II on December 31 1980, are scarcely known.Indeed, the topical relevance of their message deserves special emphasis. In Slovakia, for example, every year the Fathers of Slavish culture become the banners of contradiction, triggering a lively discussion. Forcefully and luckily they are at the centre of a debate between those who praise them and those, owing to an a-critical dependence from Brussels, don’t accept their teachings. Moreover, the social and political structures founded on natural principles and laws, as expressed in the Nomocanon (an important work translated in Slavish by Saint Cyril), introduced by the Saints into Slavish Europe 1150 years ago, are unacceptable to all those who believe that the decisions of the political majority or of the predominant culture should be necessarily accepted in all circumstances. In fact, according to my experience, in a large number of Western countries the term “European” is always understood as referring to “West-European”. Accordingly, the Slavish world is perceived as a merely marginal appendix. By browsing through textbooks it becomes evident that the history and the culture of the Slavish world – i.e. over half of European tradition – are considered of minor importance. The same cannot be said for the Eastern part of Europe. In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were – and still are – taught languages, literature and arts belonging to the West-European cultural traditions. Every once in a while, in order to liven-up the debate I enjoy saying: “You French, English, Germans, Spanish, Italians… you’re just West-Europeans. The true Europeans are the Czech, the Slovakians, the Poles, the Ukrainians, the Russians: they are knowledgeable of the Western tradition and they consider it also ‘their own’…” The tradition and the heritage of Cyril and Methodius extend even further, for they represent an alternative, a cultural and civil politics model, as confirmed by over a millennium of history. That heritage encompasses a vital synthesis of faith and culture, which developed within a culture of the spirit. It is the evidence of a great historical experience, which reaffirms that the content and the influence of faith engender truly human culture and civilization, owing to its spiritual essence. In the European Union, that is now almost a synonym of Europe, experiencing an identity crisis, stand out the righteous words of John Paul II, whose many speeches on the future of Europe underlined that if spiritual, cultural and human values should prevail, the EU would be a blessing, while if economic interests prevailed, we would witness the failure of our project. Looking at the European Union Slovakian Catholics consider the solemn declaration the Holy Father dedicated to them in the Vatican Basilica as their will: “Slovakia has its specific role in the building of Third Millennium Europe: be conscious of it! With its traditions, its culture, with its martyrs and confessors, with the living force of its new generations it is called to provide a highly significant contribution to the authentic progress of the continent. Slovakia is invited to offer Europe the gift of its faith in Christ and its devotion to Mary”. That was the Pope’s call to Slovakian people. It was also an invitation to Europe, to rediscover those roots, that heritage and self-identity. The collapse of negative models is a sign of hope and responsibility, indicating the recovery of the source of life, the source of the faith. It is not a nostalgic return to the past. It’s a return to memory, like the memory of the Saints Cyril and Methodius, without which there can be no present, nor can there be a vision of the future.