Perspektywy dialogu między Rosyjskim Kościołem Prawosławnym a Kościołem Rzymskokatolickim w Polsce (en translation)

Abstract: The dialogue undertaken recently between the Orthodox Church in Russia and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland brings a new chance to ascribe a new empirical meaning to the famous metaphor of “two lungs” formulated by Vyatcheslav Ivanov and repeated by John Paul II in his documents dealing with spiritual unity of the European continent. In this dialogue one should not look for one commonly accepted interpretation of the Polish-Russian history that would be shared by both sides. Defining details of the European history does not constitute the duty of Christian Churches. In the present challenges brought by the actual secularization process it has been especially important to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the spirit of unity postulated by Christ himself. This task seems particularly important in the process of European integration when the inspiring role of Christianity is required to save the role of spiritual values in the evolving culture of our continent. The Orthodox-Catholic dialogue brings chances for demonstrating Christian unity necessary for postmodern European culture.