St. Cyril and Methodius, bishop

Cyrillus et Methodius

BIOGRAPHY

Both Thessaloniki native brothers worked for some time as missionaries to the Khazars in Crimea before they came to Great Moravia at the invitation of Prince Rostislav. From there, they returned with the remains of St. Pope Clement I, who they took to Moravia and later to Rome. Constantine compiled the Old Slavic script to evangelize Moravia and translated the liturgical books and the Holy Scriptures into the Slavic language. They took care of the education of their disciples and then, to solve three matters, went to Rome. There, 10-12 years younger, the brothers fell ill, took the name Cyril in the monastery, and died. Methodius returned as archbishop and experienced many difficulties, including prison and another accusation, which forced him to Rome again. He established a Moravian ecclesiastical province with a Slavic service. He died in Moravia.

BIOGRAPHY FOR MEDITATION

APOSTLES SLAVS

Birth brothers Cyril and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki (Thessalonica) to Maria and Leo, who were of noble birth and senior military officials of the province. Cyril’s name was Konstantin, and Methodius’s was Michal. They only changed their original names when they joined the order. Constantine was the youngest in the family, born in 827 as the seventh child.

His extraordinary talent for study soon became apparent, and at his father’s request, he went to Constantinople to study. He learned languages quickly, such as Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Slavic, Old Turkish, Arabic, and Gothic. From literature, he liked the writings of St. Gregory Naziansky. After his father’s death, the imperial administrator Theoktistos, the minister of Empress Theodora, showed interest in supporting his education. Among other knowledge, Constantine mastered theology and rhetorical readiness. He later became a professor of Christian philosophy and received the title of Philosopher for his achieved wisdom.

He could have a great career ahead of him, but he chose a spiritual state. As a deacon, he was a bibliographer and secretary to Patriarch Ignatius. He was ordained a priest in about 847.

When the Byzantine emperor Theophilus died in 842, his son and successor, Michael III, were only two years old. The widowed Theodora and Theoktistos, therefore, took over the regency government as executors of state policy.

According to his father’s wishes, Konstantin’s older brother Michal should have chosen a military career, but it was not the right path for him. At first, he was said to be in the civil administrative service for Slavs residing in the Byzantine Empire, but then he preferred religious life. About 840, he became a monk at the foot of Olympus in the Greek monastery of St. Basila vol. Polychron in Bithynia and took the name Methodius.

Constantine participated in a message to Arabia at the age of 24, advocating the teachings of the Christian faith, especially on the Holy Trinity, among the Saracens. He was probably in Baghdad. It is further stated that he went into seclusion in the monastery with his brother Methodius. With him, in 860, he was called on a missionary expedition to the Khazars in Crimea. He knew from the books that the body of Pope Clement I, who was drowned in the sea with an anchor around his neck, found and buried by the faithful, was to be buried near Kherson, but in turbulent times, his grave became unknown. The brothers saw him in the ruins of an old shrine on an island, picked up the remains, and took them with them.

So far, the Moravian prince Rostislav resisted raids from the East Franconian side, which were justified by efforts to spread Christianity. He was determined to get missionaries from somewhere other than the East Franconian empire. He wanted them to speak to the people in an understandable language. Therefore, around 861, he turned to the Pope in Rome and, in 862, to Emperor Michael III. He entrusted Constantine and Methodius with the task. The brothers prepared very responsibly.

Methodius, perhaps more spiritually, and Constantine for practical evangelization. He compiled an alphabet of 38 letters derived from Greek letters for the Slavs, which he called the Glagolitic script. He immediately translated the most important parts of the Holy Scriptures and the books of worship into Old Slavic speech. Regarding the compilation of Hadrian II, he later wrote that Cyril invented it through God’s grace and the intercession of St. Clement. Indeed, it was highly admirable how short a period it was possible to carry out the demanding preparatory work for the mission’s success. The synergy of work with prayer and blessing, for which we owe God, can be seen here.

At the Synod of Constantinople, Constantine simultaneously requested permission to elevate the Slavic language to a liturgical one. Thus, Slavic speech found itself among the languages that were considered sacred: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

In 863, Constantine and Methodius and their retinue came to Great Moravia. In addition to the treasure of faith and cultural values, they also brought the remains of St. Clement I, recalling the belonging and importance of communion with the victorious church.

Rostislav welcomed them with great joy, and they were very eager to introduce our ancestors to the basics of faith and to the glad tidings of God’s great love for us, sinful people. We do not know for sure where the primary residence of the Moravian princes was.

The Old Town in the Morava basin near Uherské Hradiště or Hradiště near Mikulčice is considered the most likely seat.

In Moravia, superstitions were widespread, pagan sacrifices were made, the sanctity of marriage was lacking, and infidelity was rampant. The Thessalonian heralds kindly addressed the people and showed them a reasonable path to God and mutual respect.

Raising house priests was also very important, but they could not yet be ordained. After three years of intensive activity, the brothers also had to solve other ecclesiastical-legal issues and decided to go to Rome to see the Pope. They embarked on the journey at the beginning of 867 or already in autumn, including the remains. They made a nice stop in Pannonia at the court of Pribin’s son Prince Kocel, who was enthusiastic about their evangelization program and asked that the best of the 50 young men be taken with them to Rome.

Pope Hadrian II came out to meet them with a procession. The remains of Clement were then kept in the basilica dedicated to him. Our heralds dealt with three main matters: the confirmation of Old Slavic speech in the liturgy of the Roman Rite, the ordination of disciples as deacons and priests, and the establishment of a separate hierarchy for Great Moravia, which would depend directly on the Pope.

Apparently, at Christmas 867, the Old Slavic Gospel was laid by the Pope in the basilica of (today’s ) Santa Maria Maggiore near the manger, and in this speech, Constantine celebrated the Holy Mass. There were new consecrations of clergy for Great Moravia, and the Pope decided to restore the Archbishopric of Sriemia with expansion into the territory of Pannonia and Moravia.

Constantine became seriously ill at the time and felt that he was at the end of his strength and unable to return. Therefore, he entered a Greek monastery, took religious vows, and took the name Cyril. He lived there until his death on 14. 2.869 and was then buried in the Basilica of St. Clement.

Methodius received priestly and eventually episcopal ordination in 868, with promotion to archbishop and papal legate for the Slavic peoples. On his return, he received from the Pope both a decree on spiritual function and letters for princes Rostislav, Svatopluk, and Kocel.

Along the way, however, he was captured on the instructions of the East Frankish bishops and taken to Bavaria with an escort. He was tried as an intruder, operating in a territory to which the East Franconian bishops had an exclusive right. However, Methodius defended himself that if it were such a right, he would immediately submit, but the decision-making belongs to the Apostolic Roman See, with whose consent he comes. Nevertheless, he was convicted and imprisoned in the Ellvangen monastery in Swabia for less than three years. Only then was he involved in the intervention of Pope John VIII. released and returned to Great Moravia in 873.

So far, Svatopluk has become the new ruler instead of Rostislav. He is reported to have had his uncle Rostislav blinded. Although he welcomed Methodius, he did not want to live according to his advice and committed moral lapses, for which Methodius admonished him. It was at the time of Methodius’ very successful missionary work in the mother tongue of the Slavs. In retaliation for the admonition, Svatopluk allowed the Frankish clergy to return and made Viching his advisor.

For the fact that Methodius did not submit to the prohibition of Slavic worship, handed down to him by Bishop Paul, he was accused in Rome at Viching’s instigation in 879 of covering up Greek delusion in incomprehensible language that his teachings were incorrect and that he worships in the Slavic language. Methodius arrived again in Rome, proved his orthodoxy there in the question of “coming out of the Holy Spirit,” even with the Greek formula “from the Father through the Son,” and gave the reasons for Slavic celebration. John VIII then established a Moravian ecclesiastical province with a Slavic service and reaffirmed Methodius as a valid archbishop. However, at Svatopluk’s request, he consecrated Methodius’ opponent, Viching, as bishop of Nitra.

After returning to Great Moravia, Methodius spread Christianity among the Czechs and Poles zealously, but he had enough difficulties. He also continued to translate the Bible and worship books in his last years. He died in Moravia on the 6th. 4. 885 Holy Mass was celebrated for him in three languages (Latin, Greek, and Slavic). He was buried in the main Moravian temple on the left side of the wall behind the altar of the Mother of God Mary, and the people cried during the funeral: “He was a leader for salvation to everyone!”

It is not yet known where this Marian temple stood. In 1970, an article was published in a Slovak archaeological magazine about the discovery of a skeleton in the masonry of the Great Moravian church in Uherské Hradiště – Sady. The buried person must have been more critical, but no more can be claimed.

After being expelled from Moravia, the Heralds’ students went to work in Bulgaria and Croatia, Pope Stephen VI banned the use of the Slavic language in the service 11 years after Methodius’ death.

Cyril and Methodius became our spiritual fathers, to whom we owe the Christian faith and culture, the acceptance of which placed us among the civilized nations. With the liturgy in the national language, they preceded the time by 11 centuries. After that, until II. The Vatican Council in 1962-65 proved to them that praising God in all local languages is appropriate during the liturgy.

In Moravia, both heralds were worshiped as patrons in the 14th century. The Cistercian church in Velehrad, consecrated in, became the center of respect. 1228. The official canonization took place in. 1880. Their memory was originally on the 20th. 3. In 1863, it was changed for the Czech lands and Slovakia by Pius IX. to celebrate 5. 7., while in the martyrology, the date of remembrance is 14 for the whole other church. 2. In 1863, Cyril and Methodius were declared patrons of all Slavic nations, and Pope John Paul II was 31. On 12 December 1980, he declared as co-patrons of Europe because, in addition to meriting culture, they fought for the unity of the Eastern and Western churches and showed the right way to the unification of Europe.

 Without women, there would be no harmony in the world. Man and woman are not the same; neither is superior to the other, but it is a woman and not the man who brings harmony and beauty to the world. The story of the creation of man in the first book of the Old Testament says that the Lord created every kind of beast, but man did not find a companion in them, „feel himself“. God put Adam to sleep and formed a woman from his rib, whom the man recognized. However, before he saw her, he dreamed about her: to understand a woman first, it is necessary to dream about her. When we often talk about women, we talk about them from the point of view of their function: a woman’s role is to do this or that. On the contrary, a woman brings wealth that a man does not have: a woman brings harmony to creation. There is no woman, and there is no harmony. We say: it’s a company where a man has a strong position… However, a woman is missing. , Yes, yes: a woman is there to wash dishes, to do that…’ No, no, no: a woman’s job is to bring harmony. Without a woman, there is no harmony. [S men] are not the same; one is not superior to the other, and it is not. It’s just that a man doesn’t bring harmony: it’s her. It is she who brings harmony, who teaches us to caress, to love with tenderness, and who makes the world something beautiful. Three key moments result from the creation of man: they are the loneliness of man, the dream, and thirdly, the predestination of both: to be „one team . “

I will pass on the married couple he met here during the general audience and who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. I asked them: „Which of you had more patience?“They looked at me, into each other’s eyes – I’ll never forget those eyes – then looked back and told me, both at once: We’re in love. After sixty years, that means one body. And that’s what a woman brings: the ability to fall in love—harmony to the world. So many times we hear: , No, in this society, in this institution, a woman must be here to do that, to do that…’. No, no, no: functionality is not a woman’s goal. It is true that a woman has to do certain things and does them, just like all of us. However, the goal of a woman is to create harmony. Without a woman, there is no harmony in the world. Exploiting people is a crime of hurting humanity; that is true. However, exploiting women is much more: it means destroying the harmony that God wanted to give to the world. It means destroying. Exploiting a woman is not only „a crime“but also „destroying harmony.

If we want to meet God, we have to take risks and go on a journey because a comfortable Christian will never know God’s face. Based on today’s reading from the Book of Genesis (Gn 1,20-2,4), which talks about the creation of man in God’s image, we think about the right and wrong path for a Christian who wants to know his identity. He cannot sit in a comfortable chair and flip through a book because no encyclopedia contains a „ God“ image. He will not find God’s image even in a computer. Nor is it reflected in comfortable obedience to rules that have nothing to do with God, said the Holy Father.

Kit will not set out on a journey, it will never recognize the form of God, it will never find God’s face. Sitting Christians, comfortably idle Christians, do not recognize God’s face. They don’t know him. They say: ‚God is so, so…‘ But they don’t know him. Furthermore, they are comfortable. For walking, the restlessness that God himself has placed in our hearts and that drives us forward to seek him is necessary. Let us consider the right and wrong image of God. Embark on a journey where God or life will test us. Risking, overcoming dangers, and feeling infirmity and small-mindedness from fatigue, great men like the prophet Elijah, Jeremiah, and Job also struggled in this way.

Then there is another way: to remain in comfortable peace and, therefore, to falsify the search for God. Based on the Gospel episode (Mk 7.1-13), in which the scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus of why his disciples eat without observing ritual purification: In the Gospel, Jesus meets people who are afraid to go on a journey who come to terms with a particular caricature of God. It’s a fake ID. These unsettling silenced the restlessness of the heart, painted God with commandments, and forgot God. ‚ Neglecting God’s commandments, you follow human traditions.‘ And so they turn away from God, do not walk towards God, and invent or do another commandment when they have some uncertainty.

People who behave like this are on the road only in quotation marks; it is a road on which they are not moving anywhere. Today, the liturgy forces us to think about these two texts, two identity cards. About the one we all have, because the Lord created us that way, and who tells us: ‚ Get up, and you will know your identity, because you are God’s image, you are made in the likeness of God. Get up and seek God.‘ And about the latter: ‚No, stay satisfied. Fulfill all these commands, this is God, this is God’s face.‘ – May the Lord give us all the grace of courage to always go on the path to seek the Lord’s face, that face that one day we will see, but that we have to look for here on Earth.

Trust in the school of spirituality of St. Sister Faustína means man’s attitude towards God. In the inscription on the painting that Christ had painted for her are the words: Jesus, I trust you. Trust is man’s first response to the recognition and experience of God’s merciful love. This word has a vibrant content because it indicates not only faith in the existence of God, his omnipotence, and the truths revealed by him but also man’s lifelong attitude towards him, which is manifested by the fulfillment of his will contained in the commandments, status duties or recognized inspirations of the Holy Spirit. Trust in the writings of Sister Faustina is identical to the biblical concept of faith, that is, it refers to the surrender of one’s life to God as the best Father, who desires nothing else for man than his temporal and eternal happiness. As Sister Faustína often said, his will is a mercy for us. Fulfilling God’s will is a measure of trust in God. Lord Jesus said to Sister Faustina: Grace from my mercy can be drawn with a single vessel, and that is trust. The more the soul trusts, the more it receives. Souls who trust me without limits are a great joy for me because I pour all the treasures of my graces into such souls. I am glad they ask for a lot because I desire to give a lot. But it grieves me if souls ask for little, they narrow their hearts (Diary 1578).

The attitude of trust is dynamic, and Sister Faustina’s life was subject to constant growth until she completely turned to God in all dimensions of life. In developing her attitude of trust, Sister Faustína used straightforward and common means available to all, for example, the development of faith, hope, love, humility, and repentance, i.e., the virtues that condition the attitude of surrender, as well as the practice of daily fulfillment of God’s will, even in tiny things. She consistently used them, which often required great strength of spirit, radicalism, and an uncompromising approach to fight against corrupt nature – as she said. Building a relationship of trust required her to constantly transform herself, to transcend herself, not only her weaknesses but also her natural talents, for example, the logic of reason. More than once, the Lord God placed her in situations where she had to deny her reason, suspend the logic of human thinking to trust him, and subsequently accept and fulfill his will. Lord Jesus highly appreciated Sister Faustina’s efforts to develop an attitude of trust. He said: You have a great and incomprehensible right to my heart because you are the daughter of complete trust (Diary 718).

Gifted, Peter … it’s strange when a person of the 21st century feels vulnerable. Many ask themselves the same or similar question: why did you create us so small and weak?! Such a question makes its way from the depths of our being in sickness, after failure, when we pray for someone to return to a good path for a long time. He rejects us, humiliates us … when someone hurts us … At the Stockholm International Forum on Preventing Genocide, Israeli Professor Yehuda Bauer, an academic adviser to the conference and the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, reported that between 1900 and 1987, genocide was the cause of death of 169 million people.  (Archbishop Celestino Migliore defined genocide as the “specific intent to destroy in whole or in part a nation, race, ethnic or religious group, a defenseless or vulnerable group of human beings simply because they are what they are.“) Thus a small and weak person could commit so many crimes! New hotbeds of war are constantly emerging, especially in Africa and the Middle East, terrorism threatens everyone. And the wise God answers our question like this: “To show you my strength! So that evil in the hands of man does not have too much power. So that good can win. That’s why I created you to measure – just”. Only created beings have evil in their hands. However, good is in my hands “. And therefore, goodness and love will win! Death and sin will be cast into the eternal lake of fire—even those whom they do not find written in the Book of Life. God wants to show his power—the power of salvation. Love longs to save all people. However, it does not do it violently; instead, it invites a person to a common path. He invites the apostles and each of us as his collaborators. God needs us! Let’s notice this in today’s Gospel: Once, Jesus was standing by Lake Gennesaret, and a crowd was pushing on him because he wanted to hear God’s Word… When he stopped talking, he said to Simon: “Draw to the depths(further) and start nets to hunt!” Simon answered him: “Teacher, we struggled all night and caught nothing. But at your word, I’ll run the networks.” As soon as they did, they caught so many fish that their nets were tearing… When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Here Jesus said to Simon: “Don’t be afraid, from now on you will hunt ( save people to live).” And when they drew the ships to the shore, they left everything and followed him.)1. Simon’s desperate: … “All night we toiled. “… Man is weak. He feels fear, especially when he stands face to face with the forces of nature or is close to God. He feels something similar in his soul to Isaiah when God called him a prophet: “Woe to me, I am lost. “And yet those who left everything and followed him, and who with the apostle Paul can exclaim: “But by God’s grace I am what I am, and his grace was not vain “in me, they cannot be helpless and weak!

2. But at your Word, I’ll run the networks… A person’s helplessness or security is primarily a question of faith. Therefore, St. Paul says: “Brothers, I remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, and you have received it, abide by it and achieve salvation through it.. “(1 Cor 15, 1). Through the Word, we achieve and spread the salvation of Christ. If we stick to it… Author of the book: “Circle of the Bible, “Roman Brandstätter, convert from Jewry, writes: “Let’s look the truth in the eye. Many people believe Scripture is not necessary for life and faith. They believe in Christ, but they do not know who He is. Their knowledge of the God-man consists of several catechism truths and free, disjointed Gospel stories. It can be almost certainly declared that the broad masses of Catholics believe in Christ but do not know the Scriptures.

However, this ignorance does not bring into doubt their sincere religious consciousness. Yet, it is not difficult to notice that such religious knowledge is detached from its historical roots and manifests in practical life as a mythology with primitive content. Daily reading of the Gospel forces us to compare our lives with Christ’s teachings. A person’s distaste for daily reading of the Holy Scriptures is the fruit of laziness, but it can also come from a feeling of fear before confronting God’s truth. The same author writes about his grandfather, who gave him such advice a few days before his death: “Bible read all the time. Love her more than their parents… More than me… Never break up with her! When you get older, you come to believe that all the books you’ve read in your life are just a lousy comment on this one single book… “Only according to God’s Word can miracles happen, even today. Miracles are always the fruit of living faith.

3. Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. If Simon Peter had been asked before this meeting: where is God?, he would undoubtedly have answered: “Up, in the heavens. “And if they asked him, “Who is this Jesus in your boat? “he would answer, “He is a craftsman from Nazareth. He has not worked since a specific time. Some say he works miracles, and he also healed my mother-in-law. He may be a prophet. But behold, after the miraculous fishing, Peter says: “Divine things happened in my boat. And the person here, near me, that is not a prophet, that is God, I would say from the flesh and bones, it is God who reveals himself in Jesus. And my worked hands, my hands that are made to pull out fish to divide bread at home, to caress, these hands touch God! “Isaiah was touched by an angel with glowing charcoal from the altar of incense… our mouth touches the body of Christ in the Eucharist … But is it also seen in our actions? I must count on God’s holiness and grace more than with my sinfulness!

4. …they left everything and followed him…After the miraculous fishing, they could have made a significant profit. But they leave everything and follow Jesus. Intuitively, they feel that his presence will give them more! We, too, are invited to love. Despite our weaknesses, we must accept his ways, outlook, and values and discover incomparable happiness. Many prefer people to take care of their goodness, life, and joy. We are also called. He is not absent from this grim-looking world of work. I also ask myself what prevents me from following him – Jesus. Why do I still feel weak or helpless … I will also say to Jesus: “Do I need you?! “

For two hundred and fifty years, Christians were persecuted and murdered in Japan. In the mid-nineteenth century, the era of persecution of followers of Christ in the „land of the rising sun“ ended. For which reason? Why did Christians stop being enemy number one?

Was this for at least two reasons? First, Japan was almost completely isolated from the world, and no one came into it from outside new ideas, so there was a belief that Christians succeeded in eliminating or at least pacifying. Second, at one point, power felt unchallenged.

Conviction, however, some rulers managed to get rid of Christ’s followers in Japan misguided. He stated I would like one interesting comparison: When the Portuguese came to India in the middle of the fifteenth century, Vasco da Gama heard the question: „Why the hell did you come to us?“. Sailor, he replied: „ We came looking for Christians.“In the nineteenth century, when the era of isolationism ended in Japan and the Europeans coming to the country were certainly not looking for Christians there, it was a massive shock for them when they found out that there were Christians in the country after all. Za Some people began to arrive at Europeans, asking them if they had a statue of the Virgin Mary or whether they were obedient to the Holy Father in Rome.

They spread there are rumors that a large part of Christians in Japan did not believe in the arrival of Europeans, and she continued to wait in hiding for some other, more convincing sign, after which she would dare to come out of the underground.  

How did Japanese Christians react to the end of isolationism?  Reports of how they reacted have been preserved, for example, to celebrate Holy Mass by a priest.

Japan, including France, was allowed to operate foreign diplomatic missions. It should be borne in mind that France, which was part of the other empire, was friendly to Christians. Finally alone, Napoleon III. believed that he was the successor of privileges dating from the time of the Valois, that is, that he was the protector of Catholics in the mysterious East and, therefore, also in Japan. Thanks to the measures taken by the French, Japanese Christians began to leave the underground.

However, there is a great danger associated with it because anti-Christian regulations were not repealed. Although in Japan, in the nineteenth century, Christians were no longer murdered, conversions to Christianity continued to be considered for high treason. A curious coincidence arose at one time. Japanese elites decided to carry out a mental revolution in the United States, and they sent a big message to Europe.

Na The West was often asked how the government treated Christians in Japan. Sure, at the moment, they found their way and realized that the persecution of Christians was lousy advertising for their country. And so, in 1873, they were anti-Christian regulations repealed in principle. I’m talking basically because the question of how to reconcile Christianity with respect cannot be answered and shown to the emperor, and what is this respect? Is it respect to the office, part of the monarchical system, or is it a religious cult? This it became clear only in 1945.

There was one more thing. At that time, the mad hunt for the modernization of Japan began. There were also extreme ideas, such as renouncing the Japanese language and introducing the English language to make the country modern. They also intended to abandon Chinese characters and introduce the Latin alphabet. They thought of giving up rice and replacing it with bread, not because it is tastier, but because civilized people eat bread. At one point, the idea arose to adopt Christianity as the state religion.

Why was this last request not implemented?

OF for an unfortunate reason. Japanese elites traveling the world came to believe that the elites in Western countries are no longer honest Christians and that it is in the fashion of believers among Western intellectuals in Christ, instead to mock, among them especially the popes, than „pleated persons“.

Aj, when some representatives of the Japanese elite staying in the West accepted Christianity, they got their bearings very quickly when they saw that they could work even without it in the world. Even if someone says that he has become a Christian out of conviction, others look at him as a freak.

The Japanese eventually concluded that, in that case, they did not need Christianity. 

Despite this shameful situation in the second half of the nineteenth century, Malo Christianity in Japan is a chance to develop?

It developed sa in the sense that it came out of the underground. Christians could pray openly, parishes were established, and the Japanese were ordained priests and even bishops.

Pope Pius IX beatified and canonized the first Japanese martyrs, including Sts. Pavel Miki and his companions. Too bad that this did not happen earlier, although we do not know whether, with the impermeability of the Japanese, it would be possible for the world at all. Information that Japanese martyrs are canonized and respected throughout the Christian world could have been important to the Japanese underground Church.

In this regard, the Church in Japan developed. Nevertheless, it is impossible to get rid of it, and they are under the impression that the best moment for the Christianization of Japan was the sixteenth century. In the second half of the nineteenth century, it was created in Japan’s centralized state, and it turned out that Europe could also be imitated without Christianity. He was behind the basic principle and then accepted the cult of the emperor. For example, the obligation to bow before was introduced a portrait of Emperor Meij during the recitation of his work „O návove“. Christians, those who rejected this gesture, were immediately fired from their jobs.

Some European missionaries claimed that such a bow could be shown (even though it is necessary not only for the emperor himself but also to pay tribute to the moral one with bow literature such as the work above. 

So, the best moment for the Christianization of Japan passed, and the conversions of the essential Japanese personalities, even representatives of the imperial family, did not make much of an impression on anyone. In other words, whether they are true or rumors don’t matter. This is best described in the personal drama of Emperor Hirohito, the grandfather of the reigning emperor, who is said to have considered converting to Christianity. Even if it happened, would it mean a breakthrough? Undoubtedly, for Hirohito’s soul, yes. And for the world? Perhaps this would be bombastic news, but would it shake Japan and Poland the baptism in 966 accepted by Mieszko I.?

While is he an emperor to the Japanese?By God?Officials?Lord over life and death?

Constitution Japan says that the emperor is the primary power source in the country, and everything that happens in the country happens through him. However, there is a gap between the provisions of the Constitution and political practice.

If you have read, for example, the Constitution of Great Britain, because this country, despite widespread opinion, has a constitution, but not in the form of a booklet, but a library, you would learn that the queen exercises the leading power in the state, that she appoints it for the prime minister, whoever he wants, she is the supreme commander of the army, etc. Britain, however, has an entirely different political reality.

Is emperor to the gods for the Japanese? First, you need to be clear about your understanding of divinity. Not for nothing, as I mentioned before, the first missionaries compared the Japanese religion to the religion of the ancient Romans, especially with that „really“ religion of ancient Rome before it became similar to the religion of the ancient Greeks.

I can say that it was a huge problem, especially for Christians who did not know how to react. In 1921, Crown Prince Hirohito was introduced to Pope Benedict XV. then, the question of the emperor’s divinity appeared. At the time, Hirohito said it was known from a European perspective that it was nonsense, but it could not be denied so that ordinary Japanese people would not be offended.

So, was ecumenism already in full swing then?

No, please. Benedict XV was an old-school man who did not want to harm Christians in Japan. Therefore, he accepted this rhetorical reversal.

Pope also counted on the fact that he would be able to get along with Dobra with such gestures as a message to members of the imperial family and convert them to Christianity. The problem turned out to be more complicated when people from the environment of Emperor Hirohito asked if the Emperor-Christian could perform Shinto rites.

Here, the question must be asked: Who is the ruler? It is well known that there is no such thing as a secular king because if someone is titled a secular king, as in Scandinavia, he is not a king, just a jester who does not believe himself to be a king. Swedes, at least, are consistent when they banned the coronation because it isn’t a secular ceremony.

In Japan, it’s completely different. Certainly not during enthronement coronation) is performed in several rituals.

Why enthronement and not coronation?

Because the ruler of Japan does not have a tiara, there are three types of cover heads and other insignia. So the question arises whether the Christian can participate in something like this, and what it would all mean for him. The answer is not simple.

Miscellaneous persons from the imperial family were suspected because it was never officially announced, from the fact that they converted to Christianity. Still, it always concerned extended family, empress, or imperial wives. 

An example is Empress Michiko, who abdicated with her husband on April 30, 2019. It is interesting to mention that she is a former student at the School of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She represented the school as a single at congresses of Christian schools in Europe. But she was Christian? No one officially asks this question in Japan.

The problem for Christianity in Japan, what it is after all in the West: growing indifference. 

Once upon a time, I read on one of the eastern portals that one of the emperors openly said that he converted to Christianity. Japanese media had to explain to people that it meant nothing because the emperor was god and could say what he wanted and convert to what he wanted…

This situation never happened because no emperor, even though he converted to Christianity, did not publicly admit it, and no one asked him about it.

Were there but such rumors?

Of course. Rumors were regularly repeated at different times and concerned at least two rulers and one empress.

Let’s start with Hirohito – the most famous ruler of Japan. They say that his mother was a Christian woman, but the evidence in this matter is circumstantial and inconclusive. Of course, this should have happened long after the Hirohite’s birthday and her husband, Emperor Taisho, died in 1926. It seems, however, that this alleged evidence is wishful thinking.

Unless this is about Hirohito, his conversion should be evidenced by events from the American occupation. Then, as a result, he would say I am – for personal reasons, including shock caused by defeat in war and by subsequently executing some of the imperial ministers as war criminals, he had the emperor is said to be interested in the conversion.

Next, the rumors concerned Hirohito’s successor – Emperor Akihito. His relations with a profoundly religious person, even if his religiosity was specific, because I mean the American commander MacArthur, were minimally complicated. The fact is that Akihito was under the supervision of an American educator – a Protestant from a group of Quakers – a deeply religious person.

But even if it had happened, neither Hirohito’s nor Akihito’s conversion to Christianity was officially announced. 

Why?

Usually, there are two reasons for the adverse decisions of the Japanese rulers. The first is that if the emperor did it, it would explain that he did it out of fear and that it was collaboration and humiliation on his part. He praised democracy and the occupation, and now he praises Christianity.

Second, the lost war strongly threatened the throne’s position. V If a converted emperor were to sit on the throne, it could cause too much upheaval for the very institution of the Japanese monarchy.

Is it is known that Hirohito corresponded with Pope Pius XII, thanks to which they began to spread more crazy rumors on this topic. We know that he visited Nagasaki – the center of Japanese Christianity and at the same time, the city was destroyed as a result of a nuclear attack. It is also known that he suggested they pray together at meetings with his son’s Christian teacher, but do we know if he turned? We don’t know. Probably nah.

And what do we know, Professor?

Hirohito had two sons – Akihita, who recently resigned, and Prince Masahito. Unless it is about the prince, there is some evidence. Still, unfortunately, it is not convincing that during his stay abroad, he became a Christian and regularly believed that he practiced. It was never announced in Japan ex-cathedra.

Fortunately or unfortunately for the system in Japan, religion is relegated to a background completely different than, e.g., in the British royal family. There, it is clear that the consequence of conversion to Catholicism is the loss of the right to the throne, which is quite amusing because discussions remain as to whether an atheist can be the head of the Anglican Church. However, if we consider contemporary Protestantism, the answer can be heard more and more often: „Why not?“

It is also certain that Emperor Akihito married a Christian woman, even though he tried to deny it. 

What do you mean by that?

V in 1959, Akihito married a person from the people. In the future, although Empress Michiko came from a wealthy family, she was from a family without aristocratic titles, and in addition, she was a Christian – horror of horrors. It went about the first such case in Japan’s history.

Negotiated about it in the parliament as much as possible, but a representative of the imperial court said it was no problem because despite her parents being Christians, Michiko was not baptized, so the fears were irrelevant. 

It is. However, it is doubtful that Christian parents in the thirties did not have their daughter baptized when the empress came into the world. Why wouldn’t they have done that? Maybe they were already counting then because she would become the bride of the heir to the throne?

Her affiliations among Christ’s followers are evidenced by much circumstantial evidence, e.g., an audience with Pope John Paul II in which the Empress kneels and kisses his ring, so he makes a gesture before which Pope Francis was recently reluctant about hygiene reasons. 

Except for Michiko’s question, which, according to her, was the most crucial event in the history of Japan, she answered without hesitation: Visit the Holy Father in our country.

In connection with this, we can assume that the empress converted to Christianity your man – Emperor Akihito?

Even if that were to happen, I repeat: these questions are not asked by anyone in Japan. Drama consists of even if the emperor ( the former emperor!) Akihito became a Christian; it would not impress anyone more. It would be a great shame for the Japanese government and the imperial court, but nothing more.

But after all, the current Japanese government is breaking all kinds of taboos. Some time ago, the constitution was voted on, according to which the Japanese armed forces can participate in foreign missions, which caused fierce disputes in the local parliament because it meant a change of more fifty-year ban…

No these are no taboo topics, only politically sensitive issues. Tabooed the topic is, for example, finding an answer to the question of whether Japan committed aggression during World War II or whether he surrendered at Yasukuni Shrine in respect of war criminals.

You are talking about political gestures that can be beneficial or unhelpful. 

According to you, the Japanese government would react if the future Emperor Naruhito said: Am I Catholic?

That would be a problem for her. Mainly because some politicians of the so-called debating class would start thinking out loud about who the emperor is, what the monarchy is, and what the state is.

The Japanese constitution does not clearly say that the emperor is the head of state. Even with a bit of malice, it is also possible to conclude that, in reality, this is not the case. It is written there that the emperor is a symbol of the state and the unity of the nation, but such problematic questions arose, for example, whether the emperor has the right to receive credentials from ambassadors (a receives…), i.e., when he is not the head of state in the technical sense of the word.

Indeed, whether the emperor-Christian can perform all Shinto rituals would be debatable. Even so, we have a problem – on whose behalf does it do it? Is it state celebrations or his private activity?

But why is it so important? After all, a person has the impression that Japan is essentially a secular state…

Aj Sweden is a secular state, but the king there is the head of the local church. The church is limited to tax collection there, but let’s imagine it would happen in Sweden if the king became Catholic or the monarch converted to Catholicism. Bol would also be the head of the Lutheran Church, or he would have to replace him in this one. Are there any civil servants? Or would the Catholic king of Sweden continue to appoint bishops, archbishops, and pastors? System in Sweden, such issues are not dealt with and avoided. Equally, the Japanese system also avoids them. If the emperor is Catholic, he should keep it to himself. If he doesn’t believe in Shinto rites, so let him not believe, but let him speak loudly about it doesn’t speak.

Let’s introduce that on January 1, 1946, by order of General MacArthur, Emperor Hirohito said he was wrongly considered a god. „I’m a person like any of you,“ he declared. How was it interpreted? Japanese hardcore traditionalists first said that the emperor never said he was a descendant of the gods, except that he was not. Mon, the second – emperor, can be wrong because it is only his opinion.

Do you think there is a chance to convert Japan? What do you think they can do about these hierarchies? What can the Church do?

Something different needs to be done than before. Must stop telling people empty passwords like: „Basically, we all believe in the same God, so you don’t have to be a Christian to be they were saved. So don’t come to me asking for baptism, because not only I’m not worthy to give it to you, but I seem to be he did something inappropriate that I brought you to faith“.

Like this, many priests and hierarchs advance toward Muslims who want to live in France and, therefore, come to churches. There are dozens of cases of frightened priests asking them: „Why don’t you like Prophet Muhammad, who was a wonderful person? Yours intentions can harm ecumenical dialogue…“.

Equally, it’s in Japan. 

But what’s next? I don’t know. Fortuna is variable, and God is Love. Even though in the sixteenth century, Christianity had promising prospects in Japan, it was all over persecutions, pogroms, apostasy, and descent underground for hundreds of years.

In the 20th century, Christianity had good prospects in China, but communists came. However, it cannot be ruled out that during the day, hour, or even minutes, everything will not radically change, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will eventually win.

It seems that the best solution will be to stick to the words of Scripture, that we should be hot or cold but never lukewarm. If we believe that the salvation of Japan is not, it is our business. The only thing that unites us is the protection of the landscape and the environment; we can’t get far, especially when the Japanese are the only ones killing alongside the Norwegians „na scientific purposes“ whales, which significantly decreased in the eyes of Pope Francis.