I. Our to God is possible because God turns to us. Central and Eastern Europe, the historical events of the year 1989 marked a a change which regard as God's to us in a caring way. God freed' peoples from terror and dictatorship, God opened closed borders, God released countless numbers of people from bondage and political-ideological oppression, God made it possible for of all churches and confessions to practise their religion without interference. Overnight a completely new situation arose in these European countries. these people, this turning of history was the occasion for great optimism. Everyone thought: now it's all over and done with, and we can enjoy our freedom and savour all the joys of a new But there was another question for Christians: was God's to his children followed by their turning, their conversion, to God? God, what makes a difference is not the historical turning, but rather ours, our conversion towards the God to whom we owe thanks for the historical event, who made it happen and thereby showed us the fullness of divine love. It is not enough for us to say, Everything has changed, because at the same time we are being asked: Have we changed? As the prophet called to his people: Turn to me and be saved (Isaiah 45:22), meaning the real, the which is not just deliverance from outward constraints, but rather the healing of our entire lives, the creation and the world. This is what the Bible calls salvation, for which we look to our Lord Jesus Christ and which came to us through his appearance on this earth: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16). When we put the question this way, we must begin by taking a look at the past. It is not that in these countries Christ was denied or God was forgotten everywhere, so that the churches must now set up missions or themselves become the objects of mission. It is not the case that, as is claimed in some circles, the official churches in Central and Eastern Europe were only puppets of the state and collaborators with the regime, and that the true Christians were or had to be underground. However, there were great differences in the actual circumstances of the churches in different countries. In the state ideologies, religion was regarded as a relic of past times which would become superfluous naturally as humankind progressed. Accordingly the churches were sometimes merely tolerated, sometimes actively opposed and their activities suppressed, in many places even persecuted. But there were spaces for freedom, which individuals and groups tried to keep open and to expand as well as they could in their situations. In this straggle to create as much space as possible to ensure the survival of the church, there were various conceptions and methods. Besides adaptation and compromise, there were many churches and individual persons, church leaders or people in positions of responsibility who practiced passive resistance or reserve. There were also attempts within the context of human rights issues (for example in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in the programmes of international bodies (like the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches) and other movements to find backing, support and encouragement and thus keep the church from falling apart or being threatened. The Pope and Vatican policy towards the East, as well as the Protestant ecumenical organizations through their official interventions or secret diplomacy, likewise supported this goal. Through all these efforts, cracks gradually appeared in the hard ideological shell of Marxist critique of religion and hostility towards the churches, and after a long perestroika process came the unexpected collapse of a system which had rotted from the core. …