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Editorial

This issue of SIDIC provides a glimpse of recent and current developments in Eastern and Central Europe – a part of the world which in little more than half a century experienced the devastating effects of the Nazi regime as well as the inhibiting restrictions of Communism. It uses the designations Eastern Europe and East-Central Europe to refer to all the countries formerly under Communist rule in central Europe, east and southeast Europe and all the European countries of the former Soviet Union. With the collapse of Communism and the accompanying changes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, these countries are experiencing religious and cultural renewal in the midst of dramatic political and economic upheavals. These “seismic shifts” have often been rapid and unplanned, resulting in complex and frequently puzzling situations in a new context of religious and cultural pluralism.

Since we cannot attempt a comprehensive overview of this recent historical experience with its diverse expressions and developments, we have chosen to enter this “world in transition” through Poland. Poland perhaps illustrates most effectively the richness and the suffering of the past, the complexity of recent and current developments, and the promise of a reconciled and hope-filled future. In this heartland of the Jewish Diaspora Jewish culture rose to some of its greatest glories. It was home to the largest Jewish community in Europe and its capital, Warsaw, was one of the most important European Jewish centers. As such, it was also the place where the Jewish community suffered its most devastating defeat when it became Nazi Germany’s main killing ground.

Archbishop Henryk Muszynski and Stanislaw Krajewski – a Roman Catholic voice and a Jewish voice – provide us with an insight into efforts in Poland today to move from a stance of “religion and conflict” to one of “religion and reconciliation”. Krajewski’s personal reflections also effectively portray Jewish efforts to recover historical meaning while striving to create a new and vibrant Jewish community.

Jewish Communities in East-Central European Countries Today presents a very brief overview of other Eastern and East-Central European countries. It shows some aspects of the diverse effects of the past and provides examples of religious and cultural developments in their life today. The relaxation of restrictions on freedom is resulting in new access to and production of scholarly work, as well as opportunities for freer religious and cultural expressions. The books reviewed in this issue help to reflect this and are an indication as well of the increasing interest in and focus on these “societies in transition”.

With the collapse of Communism in the former Soviet Union some voices are beginning to articulate the Russian Orthodox struggle regarding its desired social, cultural and political role. As the Russian Orthodox church searches for the meaning of mission versus proselytism in a predominantly secular society, and as it is confronted with ongoing efforts to impose new legal restrictions on religious freedom in the provinces, Grigori Benevitch’s article, Judaism and the Future of Orthodoxy, serves as an example of Russian Orthodoxy’s efforts to delineate the desirable relation of Orthodoxy to ‘the Other’ and to embrace an open society while also remaining faithful to Orthodoxy. Jonathan Gorsky’s review of Olivier Clement’s book on the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, one of the most important figures in Orthodox Christianity, provides another example of Orthodox Christianity’s efforts to relate to the spiritual dilemmas of the world beyond Orthodox boundaries.