This is a
translation of the message of the 20th May 2010 from Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I
of Moscow and All Russia, to Benedict XVI on the occasion of the concert
sponsored by the patriarchate in the Holy Father’s honour. The event marked the
Pope’s fifth anniversary of his pontificate, and closed
the “Days of Russian Culture and Spirituality in the Vatican.”
Your Holiness, Beloved Brother in Christ,
Eminences, Excellencies, Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
My heartfelt greetings to Your Holiness, as well as to all the participants in
the concert of Russian sacred music, organized by the Pontifical Council for
Promoti ng Christian Unity, by the Pontifical Council for Culture, and by the
Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
For the first time in history, three exceptional music groups — the Russian
National Orchestra, the Synodal Choir of Moscow and the Horns Chapel of Saint
Petersburg — meet today in Paul VI Hall, in the Vatican, to perform works of
great Russian composers. Present in the Hall are the head of the Catholic
Church, representatives of the episcopate and clergy, monks and nuns, laymen.
All this makes the moment you are living an event of great importance in the
history of cultural exchanges between our Churches.
Music is a particular language that gives us the possibility to communicate
with our hearts. Music is able to transmit sentiments of the human spirit and
spiritual states that words cannot describe.
To understand a people, it is necessary to listen to its music. And this
applies not only to Or thodox liturgical music, of which today some of the best
realizations will be performed, but also to the work of the Russian composers
written for concert halls. In the years of persecutions against the Church and
of the dominance of State atheism, when the majority of the population did not
have access to sacred music, these works, together with the master works of
Russian literature and figurative art, contributed to take the evangelical
proclamation, proposing to the secular world ideals of great moral and
spiritual depth. “Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and
harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and
pipe!” (Psalm 150: 3-4). These words of the Psalm, which will also
resonate today in your Hall, enable us to see that music can be permeated with
the spirit of prayer and contemplation of God. Even secular music can transmit
a spiritual content.
I pray for God’s support to Your Holiness and to all the guests and
participants in the concert.