Let the Tune Ring True

From war-wasted northern Norway came a ringing call to religious arms. Said Bishop Arne Fjellbu of the Norwegian State Church (Lutheran), in his first official statement since he returned from exile (TIME, Jan. 22):

"Although we have achieved freedom from our exterior enemies, the church will not ease up in this fight. We still have many enemies. The devil, the world and our own lust have assumed great power. . . . Liberation was accompanied by the burning and destruction of houses and homes, of everything the people needed to sustain life. In many places churches . . . have been destroyed. The free Norwegian soil has become the scorched earth. . . . Every head of a Christian family is a pastor in his own home. . . . The [ministry] must feel . . . that in every hut he has helpers. . . .

"You have lost much, and been sorely tried. But you have also received much. The sun of liberty first shone over this part of the country. It is we, up here, who are privileged to start the new Norway. It is we, up here, who must call the tune. If it rings weakly, at least it must ring true and pure. Then it will blend, one day, with the great symphony which shall well out over the land."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.