Word: east
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Gniezno and told the welcoming crowd there with a grin, "It was so hot in Rome that I decided I must come to Poland." It was at Gniezno, where Polish Christendom's first see was established in A.D. 1000, that John Paul made his sweeping opening to the East. The day was Pentecost, the feast marking the birth of the New Testament church, when the Apostles began to speak in a profusion of languages. This miracle of tongues was held as proof of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church, and is also interpreted as an early sign...
...election as Pope last Oct. 16. "Is it not the intention of the Holy Spirit that this Polish Pope?this Slav Pope?should at this precise moment manifest the spiritual unity of Christian Europe? Although there are two great traditions, that of the West and that of the East, to which it is indebted, through both of them Christian Europe professes 'one faith, one baptism, one God and Father...
...Pope was quoting the Apostle Paul, who in Ephesians 4:5-6 called on first-generation church congregations to overcome their internal divisions. In doing so, he enunciated an ecumenical policy of broad social import. Vatican analysts had already expected that this Pope from the East might seek to heal the 11th century break with the Eastern Orthodox churches more ardently than to mend the 16th century split-off of Protestantism. The Pope's sermon surveyed the centuries of missionary activity in present-day Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and, finally, Soviet Lithuania...
...Paul joked to fellow Poles, describing the nervousness of his Italian aides. But the question will more likely be asked by Communist Party leaders all over Eastern Europe, most crucially perhaps by the Soviets. It is in the Kremlin, more than anywhere else, that the conditions under which the East bloc churches live could be quickly changed, for better or worse. Just as the real area of agreement between the Polish party and the Polish church was a fear of domestic disorder that might activate the Red Army divisions stationed in Poland, so John Paul's statements were notably diplomatic...
Alexander Tomsky, an émigré from Czechoslovakia who monitors East European church life at Britain's Keston College, expects that within Poland "nominal Catholics are going to be unwilling to make the small daily compromises to keep the party and the system satisfied." Beyond Poland, Tomsky thinks that the arrival of John Paul occurs "at a time when the Soviet Union is tired ideologically. In this climate, the revival of Polish Catholicity will be exciting to all believers. The Pope has told people in effect, that they should be dissidents." And if the Pope's ecumenical thrust toward Orthodoxy succeeds...