Section 29

Church in Europe after 1914

Catholic constituency had been increasingly active in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.

A revival of Roman Catholic piety was furthered by the liturgical movements.

Roman Catholic theology and Protestant and Orthodox theology reflected the perilous state of the world.

The Roman Catholic Church was still the largest of the sects of divisions in the Christian Church.

Church and Communism in Europe

Communism could bring a coherent ideology spread by modern propaganda with no regard for truth, supported a totalitarian regime.

The Roman Catholic Church had as weapons simply its faith and its ecclesiastical organization unsupported by police or armies.

Although it broke with Moscow, the regime of Tito in Yugoslavia embarrassed the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican formally stood against any form of external pressure and insisted that conversion must be by voluntary adherence to the faith.

Testing of Protestantism

The creative ferment in 19^th Century Protestant theology and Biblical scholarship was the most marked.

The coming to power in 1933 of Hitler was even more a menace to Protestantism than to Roman Catholic Church.

What was called the German Faith Movement attracted several groups who expressed this trend.

At times Roman Catholics and Protestants cooperated in their resistance.

Ecumenical Movement

Between two World Wars and after World War II the Ecumenical Movement grew.

In May 1933 representatives of number of bodies convened in Utrecht and drafted the World Council of Churches.

It could not legislate for the churches, but it was intended to facilitate common study and action.

It was officially constitute din a great assembly at Amsterdam in 1948.

Continental Protestantism

After 1914, accelerated by the world wars and the revolutions which began in that year, the draft away from Christianity continued.

A minority were deeply committed to the Christian faith.

A proportion of the population, was reported to be without a vital church connection.

Yet for the majority active participation in the church declined.

Storms in the Balkans

A million and a half Greek Orthodox refugees from Anotolia and Asia Minor deluged the country.

The Orthodox faith was professed by a majority of the population.

In Yugoslavia the Patriarchate which had been suppressed by the Turks in 1766 was reconstructed.

The Orthodox Church was headed by a Patriarch and a Holy Synod.