Millennial Message [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION Ever since mankincl has been able to measure time, in whatever form it took, major anniversaries have counted as festivities for all peoples and ethnic groups. Taking account of and honouring traditions played just as important a part in public thinking as the search for an answer to the question of which way and how to go on. We belong to those rare generations who have lived through the turn of a millennium. A turn of millennium which for the first time became a simultaneous experience for almost the whole of mankind. On Januaiy 1, 2000 the whole world could watch the televised world transmission organised through the BBC which endeavoured to fol-low closely the unique diversity of the birth of the year 2000 all over the globe. We were able to see that very many nations were putting their faith in the rebirth of the harmonious relationship between man and living nature. We could observe that almost all over the world beauty has become important again, man's outer and inner beauty, the wonder and beauty of nature. We could alsó learn in that 26-hour transmission that perhaps the most important thing of all was for peo-ple to be on good terms with each other. The message of love, the kind word, the hope and demand for high and elevating morál princi-ples permeated that 26 hours. There has been and still is a lot of debate as to when the new millennium begins. This gives us an opportunity in the twelve months of this magicai year 2000 to collect good thoughts and strengthen the willpower to put the thoughts into action. For the old continent of Europe this anniversary is of especial importance, being the second millennium of the birth of European Christianity. Our beloved continent can look back on supremely rich natural, cultural, economic and above all morál traditions. One of the most significant achievements of the last brief fifty years is the living and developing European Union. The ideál of the European Union is to create a strong community from Europe's nearly fifty nations, a community capable of preserving the variety inherent in the culture and traditions of each nation that will be united in such a way that every nation will prosper according to the possibilities of its own development and progress. Now, on the threshold of the 21st century, every nation takes stock of its own traditions, that scale of values apparent in actions, thoughts and deeds with which it can enrich Europe. This tradition comprises that intellectual treasure of knowledge which, together with the morál values, could form the most important basis for the realisation of the future. This stock of knowledge and morál treasure makes it possible