Marking 1,700 years after the Council of Nicaea codified the Nicene Creed, the authoritative expression of faith in Western and Eastern churches, Christians of varied denominations gathered at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre to recite the creed and pray for the healing of divisions during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
“Christians around the world are celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea in modern-day Turkey,” Archbishop J. Michael Miller told the gathering of John Paul II pastoral staff and members of various Christian denominations.
The council resonates even today because it sought to preserve Church unity, nearly 300 years after the death of Christ, he said.
“Despite the troubled events of its preparation and, above all, the subsequent long period of reception, the First Ecumenical Council was an event of reconciliation for the Church, reaffirming her unity around the profession of her faith,” he said.
“By the grace of the Spirit, they unanimously approved the Creed that most Christians still regularly recite,” he said.
Quoting Pope Francis, the Archbishop expressed his hope that the event “will inspire all believers in Christ the Lord to testify together to their faith and their desire for greater communion.”
Providentially, the significant anniversary in the history of the Church falls on a year when Christian churches will celebrate Easter on the same day – April 20, which hasn’t happened since 2014.
“To this day, different approaches to determining Easter’s date prevent celebrating the fundamental event of our faith on the same day,” he said. Many Christians hope that 2025 will be the year their leaders take a “decisive step towards unity by fixing a common date for the celebration of Easter.”
Citing the concluding document from the recent synod on synodality, Archbishop Miller remarked on the significance of a unified approach to the Easter date. “How beautiful it would be if this marked the concrete start of an always common celebration of Easter!” he said. The achievement would “give greater missionary strength to the proclamation of him who is the source of life and salvation for the whole world.”
The prayer event, one of nearly a dozen similar events across the Lower Mainland, saw prayers recited, Christian leaders and clergy reading from the Bible, and hymns sung with musical accompaniment provided by pastoral staff.
Notable delegates at the event included Archbishop John Stephens of the Anglican Diocese of Westminster, who was recently elected as Metropolitan for the Province of British Columbia and the Yukon; Very Reverend Chris Pappas, Dean of the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral; Reverend Matthew Senf from the B.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; and Father Matthew Francis of the Orthodox Church in America, from Holy Apostles Church in Chilliwack.
The previous day, at the other end of the Fraser Valley, dozens of Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and United Church members gathered for a prayer service at St. Ann’s Church in Abbotsford. The prayer event was preceded by a luncheon with homemade soup from the St. Ann’s Catholic Women’s League.
“We pray that all will be one,” said Deacon Larry Gorman during his homily.
“We Christians, we who are from different theological customs and traditions, believe that we all have something in common. It is faith – faith and love for those around us,” all of whom are “made in the image and likeness of God our maker,” he said.
“If faith can raise the dead and conquer all fear, surely faith will bring us the miracle of unity.”
Retired Vancouver Catholic Women’s League president and St. Ann’s parishioner Sherray Duran told The B.C. Catholic that despite the differences among the denominations, there is hope – the theme of this year’s Jubilee.
“We are all Christians!” she said in an interview at the luncheon afterward.
“Catholics are different from Orthodox. Catholics [are different] than Lutherans and Protestants. But this is supposed to be unity,” she said.
“More than anything, it’s about accepting others,” she said. “There are a lot of Lutherans who are better Christians than most Catholics.”
What matters is our “common thread,” she said, “it’s our belief in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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