Europeans suffer amnesia on at least two crucial developments in the story of Europe.

Firstly, Europeans have forgotten the singular role of the story of Jesus in making Europe ‘Europe’,  and in laying a common foundation of values and understandings of human dignity and sanctity, and meaning of life.

Secondly, Europeans suffer memory loss concerning how the peace was won after World War Two, and how European unity was catalysed through Christian forgiveness and reconciliation.

This memory loss surfaced in a cluster of events I attended this week around the European Prayer Breakfast in Brussels held in the European Parliament with several hundred attending.

The keynote speaker of the Prayer Breakfast itself addressed the Biblical concept of freedom, for example, which has shaped the struggle for justice through the centuries.

Dr Christiaan Alting Von Geusau contrasted the popular liberal view of freedom – as just doing what we like, ‘so long as no-one gets hurt’ – with the largely forgotten biblical understanding of choosing to do the right thing – doing what we ought.

Former UN secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld, he said, described the popular view as ‘slavery to passions’, a false freedom.

True outer freedom is not possible without a carefully calculated inner freedom, he continued, the choice to do good, not evil; to serve others, not to act selfishly; to accept responsibility for our own actions, not to blame others; to encounter others in dignity, even our political opponents, not as enemies. 

“For that is what Jesus would do,” concluded Dr Geusau.

Nicaea

In a smaller gathering of representatives from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant streams, I joined a Together for Europe delegation to discuss how to address this European amnesia by commemorating two key anniversaries coming up in the new year.

One is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 325, when for the first time, representatives from virtually every corner of Christendom came together to share their faith and traditions.

Some even came from Scythia, covering much of today’s Ukraine. The resulting Nicaean Creed was a unifying force for the Church, east and west… until the Great Schism of the 11th century, when the Catholic and Orthodox Churches mutually excommunicated each other over an argument concerning the Holy Spirit!

That split resulted in nine centuries of mutual mistrust and emnity between east and west. A spiritual faultline still today runs down the western border of Russia and right through modern Ukraine.

This tragic rupture in the Church is the backstory to the current conflict between these two nations. Moscow perceives Kyiv as betraying the eastern cause by aligning with the west.

The New Year, 2025, offers a special opportunity for highlighting that first council as a significant marker in the spread of the Christian faith among the peoples of Europe, eventually from Armenia to Iceland.

Europe’s identity as ‘Christendom’, a unity with much diversity, distinct from her pagan Eurasian roots, led to self-perception as a ‘continent’, despite in reality being merely Eurasia’s western peninsula.

Easter next year will be celebrated on the same date by the Eastern and Western churches, offering the opportunity for joint celebrations.

Schuman

The other commemoration is the 75th anniversity of the Schuman Declaration.

For in a three-minute speech on May 9, 1950, the French Foreign Minister surprised the world with a plan for cooperation between reconciled former enemies to rebuild post-war Europe on the Christian foundations of peace, equality, solidarity and human dignity.

The process of unification that followed was a major factor in the fall of communism, and in turn inspired the hopes of Ukrainians to become a free, peaceful, democratic EU member.

We in the Schuman Centre, together with local Christian leaders, are already preparing for the State of Europe Forum to be held around this anniversary, May 9 and 10, in Warsaw, Poland, as the capital of the country that will hold the EU presidency at the time.

We plan a Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast on the 9th, a European Studies Day and a public commemoration of the Schuman Declaration and its significance for modern Europe.

On the following day, a forum will reflect on Europe today in the light of Schuman’s vision for Europe as a community of peoples deeply rooted in Christian values. Save these dates. Information will be posted eventually on stateofeuropeforum.eu when confirmed.

Following the Prayer Breakfast, I addressed 80 young Christian professionals over dinner on the question: what lessons in European history should we never forget?

After explaining why we should never forget these two developments, one 1700 years ago, the other 75 years ago, a young educated Italian woman seated at my table, said: “I’m shocked! I’ve never heard these stories.”

Thus illustrating my point about European amnesia. 

Jeff Fountain, Director of the Schuman Centre for European Studies. This article was first published on the author's blog, Weekly Word.