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Russia’s Catholic bishops ‘interested in strong Orthodoxy’

CWNews.com - Cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church is necessary for the growth of Catholicism in Russia, according to the secretary general of the Conference of Russian Catholic Bishops.

“The Catholic community in Russia is a minority and must cooperate with the Orthodox; only then we’ll be able to develop to the utmost,” Father Igor Kovalevsky told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. “So, let’s say we are interested in strong Orthodoxy.”

Catholics and Orthodox need to work together to combat European secularism and re-evangelize the continent, he added.

0.7% of Russia’s 141.8 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.

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The Spirit of Truth

O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, You are everywhere present and fill all things. Treasury of Blesings and Giver of Life, come and dwell within us, cleanse us of all stain, and save our souls, O Good One.

Hymn from the Vespers of Pentecost

Wisdom from the Church Fathers

Even a pious person is not immune to spiritual sickness if he does not have a wise guide -- either a living person or a spiritual writer. This sickness is called _prelest_, or spiritual delusion, imagining oneself to be near to God and to the realm of the divine and supernatural. Even zealous ascetics in monasteries are sometimes subject to this delusion, but of course, laymen who are zealous in external struggles (podvigi) undergo it much more frequently. Surpassing their acquaintances in struggles of prayer and fasting, they imagine that they are seers of divine visions, or at least of dreams inspired by grace. In every event of their lives, they see special intentional directions from God or their guardian angel. And then they start imagining that they are God's elect, and often try to foretell the future. The Holy Fathers armed themselves against nothing so fiercely as against this sickness -- prelest.

Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky
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