Yet may it be that Christianity, though the creator of Europe once, is now in
the past? What does it have to offer to Europe today, now that there are no more
barbarians, at least not in the historical sense of the term? What can it offer
to this Europe which navigates by the stars of human rights and of the rule of
law, and where education is compulsory up to a certain age and then open to all?
But the Church is to the world what the soul is to the body: she is the breath
of life to it. She is the expression of God’s love and of His gift to man, the
open and caring embrace of the Virgin Mary, the life of her members itself,
their prayer in joy and in grief. As an institution, as an organisation, the
Church expresses her ecumenical standing by covering the life of man in its
entirety.
There is no social task which the Church undertakes because the state does not
want to or cannot carry it out or because there are no other capable
institutions. The Church constitutes by definition the very fact of our life in
community. She cares for us because we have our own cares and we come to drop
them off at her. The Church will not forfeit her social work, because we only
think of going to church when we want to pray for someone or for something. The
intervention of the Church is therefore our own warm breath on the frozen glass
of necessity. As the troparion says, "the Church proved herself to be like a sky
studded with many lights, which illuminated all the faithful".
It is within the horizon of the Church that we raise this issue today. And we
can see wherein the threat lies today.
