A monastery of women, one of those founded in the Czech lands during the time of the Przemyslides, was called by its founders "Porta coeli" � the Gate of heaven. Maybe we could put it in other words: It was through the gate of that monastery that a spiritual path was embarked, leading beyond, toward God, the creator of heaven and earth. And it was through this gate that the Presence of God entered into the human community living behind the gates of the monastery. God was the aim of the prayers which resound in these ancient spaces until our days. It was the spiritual and terrestrial work of those religious orders which significantly contributed to the networking of ancient Europe, to the creating of fundaments of European Christian civilization.
The search for and the discovery of a way to God is no less necessary today. Human mind and human activities are too busy with �common day� matters; life of all society has become too materialized and �rationalized�. It is the contemplative orders who by their mission and efforts point out the way to transcendent and eternal values. Without these values the life of human community would be deprived of an order and a higher sense, and European civilization of its identity.

Jiri Kuthan