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)