SINCE the opening of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent torrent of change in the Eastern Bloc, experts have advanced scores of theories to explain the rise of freedom. Economists cite the inherent inefficiency of central planning, while the Right credits the Reagan military buildup with forcing Gorbachev to back down. The press, enamored of Gorbachev, credits his foresight and "vision" with Eastern Europe's new found freedom.

Many Catholics see the election of Pope John Paul II and his support of Solidarity as the catalyst that gave Poles and other Eastern Bloc peoples the moral stamina to carry on the struggle. The persecuted religious leaders of the East Bloc certainly helped keep their people from despair. Indeed, the rejuvenation of organized religion in the formally atheist nations of the communist bloc foreshadowed the larger defiance of general strikes and mass protests.

Still, most see the effect of the Christian churches as a political phenomenon rather than a spiritual one--as a substitute for less permissible forms of social organization and opposition to the government. It was the churches' presence, and not their prayers, which worked against communist governments.

A SMALL Catholic sect thinks otherwise. Realpolitikers may have trouble accepting their explanation, but the members of the Fatimite movement believe that the weight of its prayers tipped the scales in favor of freedom.

The Fatimite movement is composed of Catholics who believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to three children six times in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The last time she appeared, 70,000 people had gathered to pray with the children.

The children predicted that imminent changes in Russia would lead to the spread of totalitarian, atheist, antihuman regimes throughout the world. To stave off this spread, the children warned, the people of the world must undergo an inner conversion and commit themselves to the selfless act of praying for others.

For Catholics this meant individual prayer "for the conversion of Russia" and for the avoidance of war. The children told church officials that if the Pope, in union with the world's bishops, consecrated the world and Russia to Mary of Fatima, Russia would "be converted" and "a great period of peace" would follow.

Although the Vatican pronounced the apparitions genuine, the Pope was slow to react to Fatima. Fatimites imply that the evils of Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany and the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia could have been avoided if only Catholics and the pope had responded more quickly.

Groups have sprung up around the world to evangelize the Fatima message. Members of these groups say that prayers--and the intervention of Our Lady of Fatima--have caused the changes in Eastern Europe.

Several popes "consecrated the world" in response to the children's requests. But only after the latest consecration, in 1984, did Sister Lucia, the only surviving apparitionist, say the pope had done it correctly. Other Fatimites agree.

"I am not saying that Russia is already converted, but we are seeing great signs of the beginning of the conversion of Russia promised by our Lady of Fatima," said Father Robert J. Fox of the U.S.-based Fatima Family Apostolate.

HAVE the prayers of several million people had anything to do with the changes in Europe? That question will remain unanswerable for those unconvinced of papal infallibility. But, as with the "Z" article on the communist breakup, the message is more important than the author's identity. Even those wary of religious fervor can learn from the Fatima message and the actions of its adherents.

The Fatimites recognize something that most of the modern world has missed. The idea that each person's actions are important to the good of all and that we can somehow help others whom we will never know has been lost in the twentieth century's selfish individualism.

Neo-conservatives and worshippers of the cult of the individual were wrong to forget the value of traditional notions of responsibility to our fellow humans. Communists were just as wrong to believe that this responsibility is incompatible with individual autonomy.

Perhaps if more people had listened to the Fatimites, the American excesses of the Cold War would not have happened. Although she condemned the evils Russia perpetrated, the Lady would not condone the use of violence to topple inhumane regimes. According to Sister Lucia, when the Lady at Fatima was asked what she thought of the United States, she just smiled. God and his saints do not take sides.

Americans should take some important lessons from the Fatimites. The attitude implicit in praying for strangers is altruism in its truest sense--caring for neighbors regardless of who or what they are. Every victim of war, famine or cruelty in this century is evidence of our continued refusal to be humane "unto the least of these."

A person's simple humanity ought to be enough to command respect and care from every other member of society. It rarely is. Sophisticated observers may scoff at the Fatimites for relying on myth and superstition, but they cannot scoff at the selflessness and humanity that Fatimite beliefs fostered.

Concentrating on the good of others (rather than the accumulation ethic of bettering one's self at the expense of others) is still lacking in this country. We may have the most just system of government ever, but we are a far from perfect society.

Yet progress, if there is such a thing, cannot come simply by attempting to artificially create a new person, a heaven on earth or a perfect welfare state. These can never replace humane attitudes towards others. The willingness to make personal sacrifices for the good of all, along with a social ethic that encourages that willingness, is the only path to true social justice.

That is the message of Fatima to all of us.