Die Bedeutung der Konzilserklärung »Nostra Aetate« für die Beziehungen zwischen der katholischen Kirche und dem Judentum in Russland, Weißrussland und der Ukraine

Abstract

Summary The 50 year anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the attitude of the Church towards non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate (NA) dated 28 October, 1965, offered an opportunity for remembrance and examination regarding the Christian-Jewish relationship in Europe. What insight comes then from a look at the East Slavic countries that had previously been a part of the Soviet Union: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine? Reception of the NA was markedly delayed in these countries. Their churches »missed« the Council; to a large extent, they lacked a regular hierarchy and command structure at the time of the Council. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were faced with a (re)building of all church structures. It would be years before they were ready to appreciate the reality of the Council and its Declaration NA, and years before the relationship with the Jewish community could be examined. NA was not available in the form of official translations until relatively late in this period: 1996 in Ukrainian translation, 1998 in Russian, and 2009 in Belarusian translation. In conjunction with this new accessibility of NA came an institutional anchoring of efforts with regards to its reception, as well as dealing with the Christian-Jewish relationship. In summary, it can be said that the delayed reception of NA nevertheless created great potential in the three countries, offering the Christian-Jewish relationship unique perspectives into the future.