EUROPE/ITALY - “Theology East and West in the 20th Century” meeting at the International Centre of the movement Communion and Liberation to present a basic Christian theology in a series of “100 Theological Works of the 20th Century” in Russian

Rome (Fides Service) - Metropolita Filaret (Vachromeev), Esarch of Belo-Russia (Minsk) and President of the Theological Commission of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow and Prof. Adriano dell’Asta, Docent in Russian Language and Literature at the Sacred Heart University in Milan, took part in a meeting with the title Theology East and West in the 20th Century, held yesterday 4 November at the International Centre of the movement Communion and Liberation in Rome. The meeting was organised in collaboration with the Spirit Cultural Centre and Library in Moscow and the Christian Russia Foundation in view of the publication of a series of volumes in Russian with the title "100 Theological Works of the 20th Century". The series stems from the desire of the Theological Commission of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow to publish in Russian a basic series of theological texts of the 20th century giving an overall panorama of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant works. As Metropolita Filaret said in October in his address to the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church: «The rebirth and full development of theological traditions will not be possible unless our theologians are familiar with the evolution and fruits of Christian thought in the last century, a period during which are theological schools were substantially limited by external circumstances».
After the project was approved by Patriarch Alexis II last December the Synod’s Theological Commission asked for the collaboration of the Spirit Cultural Centre and Library in Moscow and a first preparatory meeting was held with major Russian Orthodox experts in various disciplines representing the main centres of study in Russia including the Academies of Theology in Moxcow and St Petersburg, the Saint Tikhon Institite, and the Russian Encyclopaedia. On the Catholic side the project is supported by Cardinal Angelo Scola, Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, and Archbishop Francisco Javier Martinez of Granada. (P.L.R.) (Agenzia Fides 5/11/2004 - Righe 25; Parole 302)