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THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 3 REVITALIZE ACTIVITIES Russian Orthodox Moving Closer to Ecumenism Tie ISTANBUL, Turkey (NC) — The Orthodox Church of Russia, which for two generations was almost completely isolated from the rest of the Christian world, appears now to be in tent on a new ecumenical era. Just one aspect of this new ' presence” was the recent an nouncement in Athens of the forthcoming revitalization of the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon * on Mt. Athos— the monastic "republic” which occupies a mountainous peninsula on the southeastern coast of Greece. BEFORE World War I there were over 2,000 Russian Orthodox monks at St, Panteleimon. Normal recruit ment of vocations to the monastery came to an end with the Russian Revolution. Until World War II the Greek govern ment was unsympathetic on grounds that St. Panteleimon was a potentially dangerous Russian enclave on Greek ter ritory. As a result, the Russian monastic community dwindled to two score monks — the youngest about 70, and the old est in his 90s. ARCHIMANDRITE Juvenaly, a spokesman for the patriarch ate of Moscow, has announced in Athens that 18 novices would be coming to Greece shortly to Join the community at St. Panteleimon, The Russian priest, who had been a member of the delegation of Russian church men who visited the United States in the spring of 1963, made the announcement in the course of a pilgrimage to Christian centers in the Near East, the Holy Land in particu lar. The announcement came less than two months after the Soviet ambassador to Greece, ac companied by his cultural at tache and several other mem bers of the embassy staff, went to St, Panteleimon (May 10) for a five-day visit. Before leaving the "holy mountain” the ambassador promised to work for the renewal of the Ml VI SMUT* * CROSV IROTHKR VVUCXIMI iMVIMOMi i SANMINA •OfflCIWOatf • It ASM iMMNNNNNl for Information Wrttoi BrettierVeneld Menael, CM 104 Holy Cross Sskool iVSO Dauphins Itmst c & s REALTY COMPANY "Specialists in Commercial and Industrial Real Estate" Suite 200 Henry Grady Bldg, Atlanta 3, Ga, Warehouses, Stores, Mfg. Plants, Acreage, Shopping Center Dev,, Subdivision Dev., Industrial Dev,, Insurance 524-2052 MIKE & STEVE SERTICH community. ARCHIMANDRITE Juvenaly before making the announce ment in Athens told a press conference here in Istanbul that "the Patriarch of Moscow has requested authorization from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to establish a Russian episcopal See on Mt. Athos, headed by a prelate with the rank of metropolitan (arch bishop).” This promised renewal of Russian Orthodoxy on Mt. Athos —for 1,001 years a leading font of Orthodox spirituality—has not come alone. The Moscow patriarchate’s new outward - looking policy has become in creasingly apparent at inter national Christian meetings in the past few years. THIS started at the time of the meeting of the First Pan- Orthodox Conference at Rhodes in September and October, 1961, Since then, the Moscow patriarchate was represented at the second conference at Rhodes, last year at the cele bration of the millennium of Mt. Athos on June 18, 1963; at the first and second ses sions of the Vatican council at Rome, and at the World Council of Churches congress in New Delhi in 1961. IN ANWER to a question ask- Name Bethlehem Street For Pope BETHLEHEM, Jordan (NC)— The main street of Bethlehem has been renamed for Pope Paul VI, who made a historic visit here last January. The unveiling of the memorial pla que bearing the Pope’s name was done by the apostolic dele gate, Archbishop Lino Zaninl. Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro, archbishop of Bologna, noted the 50th anniversary of his ordina tion while on pilgrimage here with 20 of his priests and 50 other pilgrims from Italy. Deaf Athletes MADRAS, Indian ^C) — A Catholic laywoman, Mrs. Lourdhammal Simon, has been elected president of the sports association for the deaf of India, which is cho&slng s national team to send to the world competition for the deaf to be held next year in Washington, D,C, ed at the press conference here about persecution of the Church in Russia, Professor Siskin, who teaches theolqgy at Leningrad, said: "For Russian theologians, the phrase 'church persecution’ is incompre hensible. JThe weakening of the •faith is a physiological phenomenon wfiich has oc curred since Orthodoxy in Russia lost the privileges given it by the year9. 'This can be explained in the following manner: In Russia, Orthodoxy no longer has the attraction that it had in olden times. Formerly, one had only to show a certificate of membership in the Orthodox Church and all doors opened. Today, religion does not of fer advantage to anyone. , . it is natural for it to lose its strength.” A JOURNALIST then asked Archimandrite Juvenaly if there were fewer churches and priests in Russia today. The .»prelate replied that this was possibly the case, “Today,” he said, "the real scholars are Orthodox.” Then, speaking about the lack of religious vocations, he said, smiling, that "in the whole world and in the Occidental countries, there is a weaken ing of Christianity and a shortage of religious vocations, not only in Russia. However that may be,” he concluded, "in Russia, the churches are still full of people.” Remodeling Frta Eitlmatti A Planning Room Additions Kitchen! Modernised Roofing-Siding Painting Concrete k Block Reference! Gladly Given F.H.A. Ttrmi N. Atlanta Conitr. Co. 231-1514 CARY SANDERS) Television, Radios Stereos tv SALES AND SERVICE 375» Roswell Rd., N.E. Phone 238-4275 Imported from Far East and Europe. Span ish wrought iron and hand crafted wood articles. World-wide exotic and useful gift items from all over the world. PaitAm«rtaan Imports 3099 Peachtree Rd. (in Buckhead) 233-97RS a udi osier e o me. f High Fidelity Components Sales and Service A. J. "DOC" SCHIER 2929 Peachtree Road, N. E. Atlanta, Georgia 231-4374 ST. JOAN OF ARC PRAYED HERE—This early 15th cen tury French chapel, which now stands on an estate in Long Island, N.Y., will be disassembled for shipment to Marquette University, Milwaukee, where it will be reconstructed stone by stone on the campus. Believed to be the chapel where Joan of Arc prayed before leading her countrymen into battle against the English in 1429, it was brought to Amer ica in 1927 by Gertrude Hill Gavin for her estate at Jericho, N. Y. The present owners of the estate, Mr. and Mrs. Marc B. Rojtman have given it to Marquette University. How To Understand Liturgical Changes BY ARCHBISHOP PAUL J. HALLINAN Thli is the conclusion of a series of articles written by the Archbishop to assist the people of the Archdiocese of Atlanta In an understanding of the fuller worship to which they have been called to participate. What are the youth of today thinking about the liturgical changes? What will Their Church be like In 19647 Each wave of human beings inherits the past, and is responsible for the future. Most of us in our fortiss, fifties and up recall the tinsel trappings of the 1920'i and the. searing un certainty of the 1930's, This includes many parents, oldsr parsons in the professional and laboring ranks, lawmakers and industrial lesders, Msny priests (and most blihopi) are alio of thli group, Now we are followed by the World War 11 and post-war generation! Thois now in thslrtwsntiea and thirties, This wavs included the young mar ried and their children, the younger teachers and writers, scientists and engineers, executives and the majority of the wage-earning population, Many of our prieiti are of this generation, It would be absurd, of eourie, to classify Catholics on such s rigid chronological basis, Our growth in Christian life is not Quantitative, by years; rather, it is qualitative, by vitality. Yet we cannot ignore certain differences that are linked to sge, Older persons feel more the pull of the past, and ars leas apt to aeek and hope for a sense of renewal of things religious. The younger Catholic la more likely to find old wayi wanting, to aik new question, and search out new answers, The experience and the wisdom of an older man la more easily dismissed by the younger, — just as the fresh knowledge, insight and energy of the young are too readily brushed aside by those who are older, In her schools, the Church strives for the formation of the "whole man.” The liturgy is a school; it has its educational role as well as the central function of God’s praise and man’s salvation. It teaches man that purpose which oversees and outreaches all his other goals: to live as a part of the body of which Christ is the Head, in a manner that will enroll him in that society beyond earth In which Christ is the Second Person of the Godhead. The liturgy teaches man not to try to live by bread alone. Only in Christ does man’s whole nature (body and aoul) live the abundant life. Yet it also teaches him not to despise bread and material things, God looked upon all crea tion, and saw that it was good. Jesus taught us in his own prayer to ask for our daily bread. The materialist and the spiritualist are shaky guides for a man trying to be whole. This Is one of the lessons of the Incarnation - 'The Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us.” Further, the public worship of the Church teaches man that he cannot live to himself alone. He is a part of the whole community. It is significant that Shakespeare put the famous rule 'To thy own self be true” - on the lips of an old fool, Polonlus, Contemplative monks (who withdraw from the world) keep the salva tion of that world as th’e constant subject of their prayer, Men pray together to their God because thiS .we on each other Is a human mark. Yet our philosophy goes astray if we swing to the other pendulum of the "collectivity,” Man is responsible not only for his brother, but for himself, His knowledge, his power, his de cisions must remain his own. It will not do to bury them in a mass of togetherness. The rugged Individualist, living to himself, is as far from the Christian goal as the anonymous, conforming cog in the social machinery. All this, the Council Fathers discussed in thsir preparation of the Constitution on the liturgy, One of America's best liturgists, Dr, Frederick R, McManus, has expressed it well! "• • i the audible and visible sides of Chris tian worship recognize the wholeness of the human person as created by God - with lips to sing and legs to walk in God's honor," And regarding the social nature of liturgy, Dr, McManus writes! "It is God's will that we, individual! that we are, should be laved as s Church, as s people, si His people, 'The Community of the faithful if not the enemy of the individual but hli itrength.The liturgy does not suppress the piety of the partici pant but lifts it up, gives it growth and meaning in the assembly — because of the union with Christ and with Hli members,” We ire blessed today that'both the older and the younger generations have helped to produce a climate in which changes in the liturgy were called for. Now we are giving new form to the substantial fact of human worship. It is a time for noble work, even for greatness, Our pastors are charged to "promote the liturgical instruc tion of the faithful, and also their active partici pation in the liturgy, both internally and ex ternally.” Our people are charged to take their proper roles, specialized (e.g. lector) or general (the reciting or singing congregation). Difficulties there will be, and the usual pangs of changes, but none too great for the devout Catholic. If he starts now, if he knows why it is being done, if he carries It out to the best of his ability — that will be the renewal. And the new generation? It will find one practical result — the unifying of their life in Christ, Many of our young Catholics are learn ing — of the new riches of the sacred scriptures, They are thinking of other Christians and those not baptized in an ecumenical mood, rather than a belligerent and beleaguered frame of mind. They are eager to know the Church's social teachings for the social ills of poverty, conformity, pre judice and parochialism. They are learning more about theology’s place in the community of arts and sciences, They are building their futures on a broader (and hopefully, a deeper) base of the Christian message. Today, now, the 1960’s, we all come together, pooling our old experience and love for the Church with the new knowledge and hope for the Church, Tomorrow the new generation can have a deeper insight into the mysteries of our faith. It is no time for gloom, delay, or lingering over the past. It is a time for Christian optimism, for hope and fulfillment, VIENNA CARDINAL Says Church Supports Democracy, Liberty Cardinal Koenig, author of this article on the Church and democracy, is Archbishop of Vienna and one of the leading figures in the Second Vatican Council. He visited the United States earlier this year.^, BY FRANZISKUS CA RD1N AL KOENIG (N.C.W.C. News Service) Through her history the Cath olic Church has lived in and been obliged, to a certain extent, to collaborate with remarkably diverse societies. She hasi existed In feudal states and city-republics, under absolute monarchies and dicta torships. And inevitably, be cause the Church is a church of men, she has adapted her self to and to an extent accep ted these various social struc tures. BUT EVEN in times of perse cution, when cooperation with the state was impossible, the Church did not give way to op portunism and modify either her fundamental structure or her message of salvation. Nor has she ever given her approval to Injustice, but at most has suf fered an endured. In the modern world the Church openly and honestly supports democracy in many nations. This is not opportunism nor is it a mere compromise with those who are presently in power. Rather, it is the way in which the Church fulfills her mission by using the means of the times. Democracy is not the only possible way of life. It Is not the only possible form of society in which the Church can live and carry on her mis sion, But it is the best form of society for the modern world, TODAY It is considered fashionable, even by many Catholics, to criticize the Church of the past for ex cessive attachment to her en vironment, The Church is held responsible for everything bad in a particular historical era— as "goodness” and "badnesi" are determined with the advant age of hindsight, But is not this s form of in tellectual arrogance? The suf fering, struggling Churchlnhsr earthly form has always bean a Church of human beings, whose view is obscured, whose wills art ltd astray, whose thought is closely tied up with this world. In her human aspect, the Church is s rather conservative institution—that is, she seeks to preserve certain forms to which she has become accus tomed, This is undeniably paradoxical, for the message entrusted to the Church is after all the moat revoluntlonary Imaginable, Indeed, in auch con servatism there la a certain lack of confidence in the ai- ilitance promised to the Church by her Divine Founder, SUCH TENDENCIES have often during the centuries in volved the Church in struggles which were not hers to defend social forms to which she had grown accustomed. This strug gle has taken place not only externally—between the Church and outalde adversaries — but internally aa well. Those who point to new ways of life have always encountered difficulties; only once in centuries does the Church have a pope like John XXIII, who with his own hands opens the door to the future— and even John XXIII was not understood by everyone, in cluding some within the Church, This tendency toward con servatism was apparent in the 19th century in the Church's attitude toward democracy. In many cases the Church could see in the self - proclaimed democrat only an enemy, a burner of monasteries—and in deed many of the democrats of that period left no doubt that that was the way they wanted to be looked upon. But the need to defend her self against that kind of de mocracy actually caused the Church to make use of the forma of democracy herself. In fighting secular liberalism and atheiitic Marxism, the Church inspired the organization of de mocratic mass political parties. IT IS easy enough today to say that the Church thereby made a -mistake. But at the time, what #lse could the Church, con sidered in her human aspect' and influenced by the ideologies of the era, have done? Today the Church is without government, party, or social privilege. She has only her faithful. And this Is certainly as It should be. The Church in a certain sense has always been at bottom de mocratic, because she has re cognized the absolute and es sential equality of all men arising from their status as children of God with immortal souls. If in the past the Church gave more attention to the soul of a king than to the soul of a laborer, it was not because she considered the king’s soul valuable but because she hoped to reach the soul of the com mon man through his ruler, IN OUR times the Church has frequently been accused of ac cepting and supporting de mocracy, tolerance and re ligious freedom only in places where Catholics are a minority; wherever the Church enjoys majority status, it is said, she seeks absolute power. This Is a serious accusation, and there is certainly some historical evidence which would seem to support It, Catholics may not respond to it merely with counter-charges. It in volves a serious theological question, and as such it will have a large place In the com ing session of the ecumenical council. Looking ahead, one may pre dict that the Church will con clude that, without abandoning her claim to possess the truth and to have a mission to spread It, she can accept for all others the religious liberty which she demands for herself. In all times and places she can re spect the religious, and even nonrellglous, convictions of every individual. This is not a surrender to relativism; behind it, rather, lies the conviction that- > truth is stronger than secular power. THUS democracy means for the Church a fair and equal chance—nothing more. How is the Church to use this chance? In the past she has done so through Christian political parties. Such "political Catho licism” may indeed be neces sary in certain circumstances to protect the rights of the Church. It is, however, not an ideal situation nor a final goal. In the long run the Church can not engage in political partisan ship without suffering grave harm. The Catholic bishop of Austria in 1945 renewed a pro hibition of 1933 against priests’ accepting political appoint ments. When the Church stands aloof from politics in this and other ways, it is not a sign of indifference. On the contrary, she must be all the more in terested in political events since she now cannot directly influence the shaping of policy. Nor does such a situation im ply that the Church is entirely neutral with regard to all politi cal movements in all countries. Rather, her task now is to stress basic issues and clarify the distinctions that influence political judgments, THIS, however, is a far cry from giving political directives to her members. Catholics can not and should not expect such directives. They must make their own decisions, using their own reasoning and consciences. The Church cannot do this for them. Christian political action does not mean waiting for the orders of the bishop or campaigning under the banner of the Church; rather, It means bringing to politics a sense of Christian responsibility. It is the Church's job to encourage and strengthen this sense of responsibility—but not to suggest specific political solutions. 37U LAWRENCEVILLE HWY., TUCKER IJMIOO .1*14 ROSWELL STREET, MARIETTA 422 SMI 31M 81ENW00D Rfi., DECATUR 2|4.||3| SITS MAIN STREET, EAST MINT TIT-1411