That recovery of Europe’s Christian culture which we wish to foment and nurture would of course be assisted and accelerated immeasurably if Christians themselves were more united than they are at present. And of course, this spiritual and cultural decadence is rendering the continent more vulnerable than ever to the social and political inroads of a vigorous, culturally aggressive, and rapidly multiplying population of Muslim immigrants. For this is a time when the ‘culture of death’, rampant secularism, and the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ threaten to reduce Europe’s native and still nominally Christian population to a point approaching demographic suicide, and her once-glorious cultural patrimony to a superficial, individualistic, materialistic, scepticism, bereft of any firm faith convictions or moral values. And both have emphasized the urgent need for a ‘new evangelization’ throughout Europe – East and West together – in the hope that the continent may thereby rediscover its Christian soul. The last two Roman Pontiffs – one from Poland and the other from Germany – have been born closer to your own Baltic homeland, I believe, than any previous popes in history. I am aware that a high priority for this series of activities is that of studying, promoting, and appreciating ever more deeply the priceless heritage of classical European culture that grew and flourished from Christian and Catholic roots. This is in fact my first visit, not only to Estonia, but to any part of Eastern Europe. I am greatly honoured by the invitation to speak at this Trialogos Festival. This is the text of a lecture delivered on September 26, 2007, at the Trialogos Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS: ICONS OF EAST-WEST CHRISTIAN UNITY

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Cyril & Methodius by Jerry McCollough