INTER Project

Romania’s recent EU accession is in the first place a political act. Nonetheless, the country’s ongoing integration is a process that cannot be reduced to its political and economical aspects. Indeed, these are no longer self-sufficient in the comprehensive and difficult integration process of a country like Romania, or of any other country for that matter. The entire European construction needs, maybe more urgently than ever, to summon all resources liable to ensure its internal cohesion and its external credibility. The urgency of achieving an identity in an age of confusion, of subcultural globalisation, of stimulated resentments, and of aggressive ignorance gives a new impetus to the question of religious identity. For all the vaticinations of the past century, the homo religiosus has not become extinct. The technical achievements, the high living standards, the advanced medical technologies of our times have not managed to chase away man’s archetypal yearning, his spiritual quests, and crucial interrogations. Far from it, enduring injustice, wealth unbalance between individuals, countries, and continents, wars and catastrophes, financial uncertainties, uncertain employment perspectives, modern economic slavery, stock exchange cynicism — all these, and many more, emphasize one thing: modernity is not the equivalent of happiness, and modern man is not essentially diff erent from his ancestors. After twisting minds and wreaking global havoc, the myth of progress, alongside its attempt to banish God from men’s hearts, is now in need of drastic reconsideration.

To the keen eye, religion appears as the only key to the understanding of an age of communication without communion. Now as ever, religious faith achieves what states and ideologies cannot; it instils and consolidates the feeling of one’s and all’s value as unique human beings. Yet, in moments of crisis, faith is always invoked, and often accused. In spite of the diplomatic statements of political leaders, the ‘War against Terror’ has an obvious and complex religious dimension. Th e presence of immigrants in Europe also raises a problem of inter- religious and inter-cultural harmony. The immigration phenomenon, involving massive westward and northward population drifts, cannot be correctly understood if its religious implications are overlooked. In internal debates, most Europeans no longer realise the importance of referring to the spiritual roots of their continent’s identity in the opening paragraphs of the Constitutional Treaty. Not least, the religious argument is present in the controversies concerning the limits of man’s interference with nature, from embryos to pollution, and from genetic modifications to assisted death. In other words, faith lies today in the paradoxical situation of any authentic human act: it is present in the public conscience, active in the city, yet equally negated and marginalised. The so-called contemporary ‘religious revival’ is faithfully accompanied by the revival of prejudice, and of a negative imagery associated with religion.

The Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter-Confessional, and Inter- Religious Studies (INTER) is a possible answer to the kairos. The first of its kind in post-communist Romania, INTER would like to stimulate directly and indirectly the appearance of similar structures nationwide. INTER is a nongovernmental and apolitical academic and civil initiative, having the status of an association of laity and clergy, of theologians and other specialists from Romania and abroad. The Institute is based in Cluj, and has branches in Bucharest, Sibiu, Craiova, and Chisinau. Its main objective is to encourage through research the exchange of ideas, and to contribute to the creation of a culture of informed dialogue. With no important resources apart from the enthusiasm of its founders, contributors, and of its few benefactors, the Institute hopes to make good use of its independence, and to get involved actively in the creation of a new generation of thinkers and public actors.

In the nearly two decades elapsed since the end of communism, entities like ‘the civil society’ and ‘the Church’ have appeared to be mutually contradictory. Civil society has often been artificially reduced to a few reactive and critical organisations, perpetually discontent and ever reluctant, whilst the Church has been mistaken for its ministers, that is the top representatives who, whether they want it or not, are in danger of isolating themselves from the rest of the believers. The time has come for the laity to say aloud that they are a part of the civil society precisely because they are members of the Church, of a spiritual community that is not included in the definition of any State institution. Alongside similar bodies, INTER wishes to stimulate Christians to take seriously their earthly citizenship, albeit a transient one if compared to their spiritual citizenship.

We understand Romania’s EU integration as a challenge and as a necessity, as an opportunity for the Romanian theological discourse to take stands in the broader context of contemporary religious, cultural, political, and social discourses. Through partnerships and other ways of cooperation with European academic and ecclesiastic institutions, INTER wishes to make possible what has so far remained a rhetorical figure: the Orthodox contribution to the end of the crisis of the European man. No doubt, this implies the knowledgeable acceptation of the European agenda, an uninhibited and disinterested sense of dialogue, seriousness and consistency. The vision underlying the activity of INTER could be defined as inclusive Orthodoxy. Despite blunders, and notwithstanding the persistence of a defensive attitude, the Orthodox message is the message of a spiritual universe devoid of tensions, excesses and simplifications. Briefly put, Orthodoxy is a faith deprived of fundamentalism, yet mindful of its fundamentals.

From the perspective of theological studies, the three spheres of INTER — communication between the Orthodox churches, ecumenism, and the dialogue between the great religions of the world — are as many ways of inter-action. INTER starts from the necessity of a deeper understanding of the unity of the Orthodox Church, believes that the ideological excesses of the last few decades must be expurgated from contemporary ecumenism, and is aware that there can be no peace between cultures and religions without the knowledge of each other’s traditions. Th âe position of INTER is thus at the same time realistic and idealistic, it is opposed to the syncretism that mimics unity, but open to God’s ever surprising action in human history.