Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “Give me water to drink” (John 4.7). It was around the figure of this woman that the Christians of Jerusalem gathered during the Week of Prayer for the Christian Unity. In turn, from January 24 to February 1, each church hosted an assembly of faithful for one hour of daily prayer. Because of the Armenian Christmas, celebrated on January 19, this event is celebrated with a lag time regarding the rest of the world. In spite of this situation, this occasion allows to bring together Anglicans, Armenians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Syriacs, Ethiopians, Byzantine-Rite Catholics, and in a lesser extent, Greek Orthodox.
Each community organizes a prayer in his own rite while paying a real concern for ecumenism and active participation of others. The prayer of Monday, January 26 in the Armenian Cathedral of St. Jacques has thus proceeded without electric light, lit only by the hanging candles and the votive candles of the congregation. That of Saturday, January 31 took place among Ethiopians, barefoot faithful on the carpets covering the church floor. The texts were read by representatives of other faiths and in different languages: Arabic, Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, English, German, Italian, etc.
The gestures symbolizing unity were numerous among Lutherans and Melkites. Everyone could share the bread and the wine, recalling the unity of all Christians in Christ. On Wednesday, January 28 at the Basilica of Gethsemane, the Franciscans prepared olive branches picked from the garden for the crowd: each branch finds its unity in the tree, like the different churches united in brotherhood and solidarity to the Christians persecuted for their faith. Additionally, as every year, the Thursday prayer was held in the Cenacle (which legally belongs to the Custody but where no worship is longer allowed). The announcement of the collective canonization of the "martyrs of the Armenian Genocide" by Reverend Fr. Koryoun Baghdasaryan during the Armenian prayer, recalled that regardless their confession, Christians have died and still dying for their faith.
The atmosphere of this week has been very friendly regarding the coexistence of local Christians. A snack frequently accompanies the time of prayer for discussions and informal exchanges. Fr. Stéphane OFM explains: "The local Christians coexist very well because they are a minority compared to Jews and Muslims. It is true that we, Franciscans, are more related to the churches in charge of the holy places and this week we have the opportunity to spend more time with others. It is good to meet, to accept each other around the prayer, as it is good to enjoy together: ecumenism is just as much conviviality as well as encyclicals!”
If the representatives of the various Churches of the Holy Land measure how Christian unity is important they also know that this is a delicate subject and a real challenge, evidenced by their preaching and sermons. "Do you know that everything that happens in the world (atheism, weakness in faith, wars, disasters ...) all this might also happen because of divisions in the Church UNE? Many of us are in indifferent, withdrawn into our churches, not interested in achieving unity" regretted the Melkite Archbishop Joseph Jules Zerey. "Today, on the week of prayer for Christian unity, Christ tells us:" you run after waters that do not quench your thirst. Come back to me and I will give you the Living Water, the Holy Spirit."
At the Church of the Redeemer, Reverend Carrie Ballenger Smith set the tone immediately: "I know that as a priest and Lutheran woman I represent several issues that hinder the unity of Christians. (...) But do not believe that the search for unity means the levelling of differences or the victory of one denomination over others. The world needs more of the Gospel than to prove us who is right.”
According to Father Custos, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, "in this difficult context of the Middle East, Christians must be recognizable, not because of their powerful actions and institutions (these are not the strategies that bring salvation, and besides we have no power!) but because of the mutual love visible through their actions. The same love God brings to men to the extent of sending His son to save them. In this context, divisions and jealousies are against the testimony of our Christian vocation”. He also emphasized the role of prayer: "Prayer is not the answer against the evil present in the world; this requires concrete and coordinated action. But it allows us to understand how we should behave in this fight against evil, which we believers face all the time. We should not have a consumerist approach to prayer. Its purpose is not to produce results but to make us discover an attitude, a state, a relationship. (...) Sometimes our loyalty to a group or a feeling of fear vis-à-vis the other outweighs the commandment of love. Today in Gethsemane, we renew our commitment to love and mutual support, common prayer, as did the early Christian communities under the commandment of our Saviour.”
Hélène Morlet
Each community organizes a prayer in his own rite while paying a real concern for ecumenism and active participation of others. The prayer of Monday, January 26 in the Armenian Cathedral of St. Jacques has thus proceeded without electric light, lit only by the hanging candles and the votive candles of the congregation. That of Saturday, January 31 took place among Ethiopians, barefoot faithful on the carpets covering the church floor. The texts were read by representatives of other faiths and in different languages: Arabic, Aramaic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, English, German, Italian, etc.
The gestures symbolizing unity were numerous among Lutherans and Melkites. Everyone could share the bread and the wine, recalling the unity of all Christians in Christ. On Wednesday, January 28 at the Basilica of Gethsemane, the Franciscans prepared olive branches picked from the garden for the crowd: each branch finds its unity in the tree, like the different churches united in brotherhood and solidarity to the Christians persecuted for their faith. Additionally, as every year, the Thursday prayer was held in the Cenacle (which legally belongs to the Custody but where no worship is longer allowed). The announcement of the collective canonization of the "martyrs of the Armenian Genocide" by Reverend Fr. Koryoun Baghdasaryan during the Armenian prayer, recalled that regardless their confession, Christians have died and still dying for their faith.
The atmosphere of this week has been very friendly regarding the coexistence of local Christians. A snack frequently accompanies the time of prayer for discussions and informal exchanges. Fr. Stéphane OFM explains: "The local Christians coexist very well because they are a minority compared to Jews and Muslims. It is true that we, Franciscans, are more related to the churches in charge of the holy places and this week we have the opportunity to spend more time with others. It is good to meet, to accept each other around the prayer, as it is good to enjoy together: ecumenism is just as much conviviality as well as encyclicals!”
If the representatives of the various Churches of the Holy Land measure how Christian unity is important they also know that this is a delicate subject and a real challenge, evidenced by their preaching and sermons. "Do you know that everything that happens in the world (atheism, weakness in faith, wars, disasters ...) all this might also happen because of divisions in the Church UNE? Many of us are in indifferent, withdrawn into our churches, not interested in achieving unity" regretted the Melkite Archbishop Joseph Jules Zerey. "Today, on the week of prayer for Christian unity, Christ tells us:" you run after waters that do not quench your thirst. Come back to me and I will give you the Living Water, the Holy Spirit."
At the Church of the Redeemer, Reverend Carrie Ballenger Smith set the tone immediately: "I know that as a priest and Lutheran woman I represent several issues that hinder the unity of Christians. (...) But do not believe that the search for unity means the levelling of differences or the victory of one denomination over others. The world needs more of the Gospel than to prove us who is right.”
According to Father Custos, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, "in this difficult context of the Middle East, Christians must be recognizable, not because of their powerful actions and institutions (these are not the strategies that bring salvation, and besides we have no power!) but because of the mutual love visible through their actions. The same love God brings to men to the extent of sending His son to save them. In this context, divisions and jealousies are against the testimony of our Christian vocation”. He also emphasized the role of prayer: "Prayer is not the answer against the evil present in the world; this requires concrete and coordinated action. But it allows us to understand how we should behave in this fight against evil, which we believers face all the time. We should not have a consumerist approach to prayer. Its purpose is not to produce results but to make us discover an attitude, a state, a relationship. (...) Sometimes our loyalty to a group or a feeling of fear vis-à-vis the other outweighs the commandment of love. Today in Gethsemane, we renew our commitment to love and mutual support, common prayer, as did the early Christian communities under the commandment of our Saviour.”
Hélène Morlet