Pope Leo XIV with
heads of Churches and Christian Communities, at the Church of Mor Ephrem in
Istanbul (ANSA)
Looking to Jerusalem and Jubilee of 2033, Pope Leo
highlights Christian path of unity
Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I are
joined by ecclesial leaders representing the vast majority of the Christian
world for an ecumenical encounter to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the
Council of Nicaea.
By Christopher Wells - Istanbul
The commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the
first Ecumenical Council continued on Saturday with a private ecumenical
encounter at the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem in Istanbul.
Joining Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
were representatives from the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox
Churches, and other Christian world communions and Ecumenical Organizations,
including the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, the Baptist
World Alliance, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the World Council of
Churches.
The meeting began with a hymn invoking the Holy Spirit as
the heads of Churches and Christian Communities took their places at a round
table designed to facilitate their discussion.
The encounter continued behind closed doors, with brief
interventions by each leader, followed by a discourse by Pope Leo.
Heads of Churches and
Christian Communities in Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church (ANSA)
Proclaiming the Good News of the Incarnation
According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office,
Pope Leo highlighted once again the value of the Council of Nicaea and Friday’s
celebration of the anniversary of the Council, which was centered on the Gospel
of the Incarnation.
The Holy Father asked for prayers for future meetings and
moments like the one just celebrated, including with those Churches that were
unable to be present, and assured the assembled Church leaders of his own
prayer for that intention.
Pope Leo went on to emphasize the primacy of the
evangelization and the proclamation of the “kerygma” – the proclamation
of the Good News – while recalling that division among Christians is an
obstacle to the witness they bear.
Looking to Jerusalem and the Jubilee of the Redemption
He invited everyone to journey together on the spiritual
path leading to the Jubilee of Redemption—the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus’
Passion, Death, and Resurrection—in 2033, with a view to returning to
Jerusalem, to the Upper Room, where Jesus washed the feet of His disciples at
the Last Supper and later, at Pentecost, sent the Holy Spirit upon them.
It is a journey that leads to full unity, the Pope said,
recalling his own motto, In Illo uno unum (In the One, we are
one).
At the conclusion of the event, the Patriarchal Vicar of the
Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, Metropolitan Filüksinos Yusuf Çetin led the
group in the recitation of the Our Father.
Pope Leo XIV with
heads of Churches and Christian Communities, at the Syriac Orthodox Church of
Mor Ephrem (ANSA)
Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church
Before his departure from Mor Ephrem, Pope Leo left a
message in the Book of Honour: “On the historic occasion in which we celebrate
1,700 years since the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, we gather to renew our
faith in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, celebrating the faith we share
together. I wish many blessings on all who have gathered here and on all the
communities they represent.”
The Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Ephrem was inaugurated in
2023 after a decade of construction and various delays due to the Covid
pandemic and an earthquake.
It is the first new Church built in Türkiye since the
founding of the Republic in 1924.
Mor Ephrem Syriac
Orthodox Church (AFP or licensors)
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