In this recent column by George Weigel, we have the central passage of a letter sent by Pope John Paul II, to Patriarch Aleksy II in Moscow, on the occasion of the Vatican delegation's return of the venerable icon of the Madonna of Kazan to the Russian Church.
By a mysterious design of Divine Providence, during the long years of her pilgrimage, the Mother of God in her sacred icon known as "Kazanskaya" has gathered around her the Orthodox faithful and their Catholic brethren from many parts of the world, who have fervently prayed for the Church and the people whom she has protected down the centuries. More recently, Divine Providence made it possible for the people and the Church in Russia to recover their freedom and for the wall separating Eastern Europe from Western Europe to fall. Despite the division which sadly still persists between Christians, this sacred icon appears as a symbol of the unity of the followers of the only-begotten Son of God, the One to whom she herself leads us.It's like the Holy Father has envisioned the eventual reunion of the two great lungs of Christianity (i.e West and East) as almost an inevitability. In other words, we are saved by the same Lord, and both plead for the intercession of His Holy Mother, so it's only a matter of time. God bless him for his efforts.The Bishop of Rome has prayed before this sacred icon, asking that the day will come when we will all be united and able to proclaim to the world, with one voice and in visible communion, the salvation of our one Lord and His triumph over the evil and impious forces which seek to damage our faith and our witness of unity.
