RECONCILIATION IN SOUTH EAST EUROPE

Healing of Memories (HoM)
Bridge between Churches, Cultures and Religions

Ecumenical and Interreligious Process

in religious-cultural border areas between Eastern and Western European cultures and religions

healing of memories - reconciliation Reconciliation in South East Europe Churches Church

The way of reconciliation is the readiness to forgive and the disposition to accept forgiveness. The precondition for this is a sensible reappraisal of “deep historical streams” that feed sentiments, attitudes and reactions, which can therefore influence situations and developments. Such deep historical streams shape the identity of nations and regions. For a longer period of time they unconsciously provide the samples and patterns for memories and attitudes, by which recent experiences are interpreted and classified.

The Foundation Reconciliation in South East Europe (RSEE) is working in the Spirit of the Charta Oecumenica. The European common ecumenical dialog shall be taken up with the goal to overcome the injuries and misunderstandings between majority and minority cultures and religions that originated over centuries especially in the cultural “border areas” of Western and Eastern Europe.

Healing Memories is a process of generations that includes:

  • Partial process A: walking together through history
  • Partial process B: taking share in the pain of others
  • Partial process C: preparing the future together

The Foundation promotes processes of Healing of Memories (HoM) in South Eastern Europe as a border region between the historical East-Roman and West-Roman religious and cultural history as well as the widely unknown South East European culture and religious traditions.

Main aims of the foundation are, to advance:

  • reconciliation processes between churches, cultures and religions
  • the intercultural and interreligious dialogue in South Eastern Europe, and so to counter the estrangements between Western and Eastern European Culture
    (abridgement from the Foundation’s ordinance 3 and 4)

The Foundation therewith continues a basic request of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly: to make a contribution to the reconciliation of the peoples of Europe.