May our Holy Father one day be granted an invitation to visit Moscow

Once while driving from Syracuse to Albany NY, someone told me of a stunning Russian cathedral sitting amidst farm fields -- so I swung down to the hamlet of Jordanville.  Here is a video of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Monastery.

Pope John Paul wrote:

"Monasticism has always been the very soul of the Eastern Churches: the first Christian monks were born in the East and the monastic life was an integral part of the Eastern 'lumen' passed on to the West by the great Fathers of the undivided Church.

The strong common traits uniting the monastic experience of the East and the West make it a wonderful bridge of fellowship, where unity as it is lived shines even more brightly than may appear in the dialogue between the Churches.

Monasticism shows in a special way that life is suspended between two poles: the Word of God and the Eucharist."