The Russian Orthodox Church has proposed a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed at saving Europe's soul from "Western post-Christian humanism," according to the Russian Patriarchate.
The offer came this week in an introduction written by Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion to a book of speeches by Pope Benedict XVI on Europe's spiritual crisis.
Archbishop Hilarion, who is president of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, took a combative tone in his text.
He denounced the "militant secularism" adopted by an increasingly united Europe, warned that religion was being closed off in the "ghetto" of private devotion, and urged Christians to confront their governments on issues like abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage -- even to the point of civil disobedience.
In contrast, Archbishop Hilarion said, the Russian Orthodox Church has emerged from more than 70 years of godless communism with new vigor: New churches are being built, seminaries are full, and millions of people are returning to God in a "religious renaissance."
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