“Imagine that the world is a circle, that its center is God, and that its rays are people’s different ways of living. When those who want to approach God walk towards the center of the circle, they draw closer to one another at the same time as to God. The closer they come to God, the closer they come to one another. And the closer they come to one another, the closer they come to God.” (Dorotheos of Gaza, Instruction VI)
And in living the week of prayer for Christian Unity, what do the Christian men and women of Jerusalem want to do other than to draw a little closer to God and to one another?
For Dorotheos of Gaza (the same Gaza of which there is so much talk in present-day news, and which was often at the heart of prayer during the entire week), the community is a real body in which each member exercises a particular function; in one of his letters he wrote: “We must do what is said of Father Anthony: he gathered the good that he saw in each of the people he went to visit and he kept it: of one the gentleness, of another the humility, of yet another the love of solitude. Thus it came about that he bore in himself the qualities of each person. That is what we also must do, and for that, we must visit one another.” (Letter 1, 181)
So during this week, we visited one another. The presence of so many Christian denominations in Jerusalem makes it possible to experience the diversity of the Churches and of their ways of expressing themselves throughout the year, but especially during this week for Christian Unity, as the prayer together takes place in a different Church every evening.
This year, as in the previous years, every Church on the program prepared a specific liturgy with the characteristics of its rite, more or less enabling the participants, who were always equally numerous, to take part. At the end of the prayer, the participants were happy to meet for a time of friendship, even if the language barrier or timidity at times prevented an exchange with brothers and sisters from other Churches.
As for symbolism, the Oriental Churches certainly gave us an example. At every prayer, they gave the other Churches an active part. Without doubt, this made even more regrettable that the prayer in union with the Greek Orthodox remains just as distant, for although we could assist at their “Apodeipnon” office (Compline) at the altar of Calvary, nothing was said about what united us. However, we should mention that throughout the week a priest from the patriarchate came to all the prayers.
“We should have an ecumenical prayer once a month”, the Melkite patriarchal vicar, Mgr. Joseph Zerey said at the last prayer.
Will this desire be followed up? What is certain is that the week for unity when the Greek Orthodox Church unites us to its prayer will be beautiful!
Mab
And in living the week of prayer for Christian Unity, what do the Christian men and women of Jerusalem want to do other than to draw a little closer to God and to one another?
For Dorotheos of Gaza (the same Gaza of which there is so much talk in present-day news, and which was often at the heart of prayer during the entire week), the community is a real body in which each member exercises a particular function; in one of his letters he wrote: “We must do what is said of Father Anthony: he gathered the good that he saw in each of the people he went to visit and he kept it: of one the gentleness, of another the humility, of yet another the love of solitude. Thus it came about that he bore in himself the qualities of each person. That is what we also must do, and for that, we must visit one another.” (Letter 1, 181)
So during this week, we visited one another. The presence of so many Christian denominations in Jerusalem makes it possible to experience the diversity of the Churches and of their ways of expressing themselves throughout the year, but especially during this week for Christian Unity, as the prayer together takes place in a different Church every evening.
This year, as in the previous years, every Church on the program prepared a specific liturgy with the characteristics of its rite, more or less enabling the participants, who were always equally numerous, to take part. At the end of the prayer, the participants were happy to meet for a time of friendship, even if the language barrier or timidity at times prevented an exchange with brothers and sisters from other Churches.
As for symbolism, the Oriental Churches certainly gave us an example. At every prayer, they gave the other Churches an active part. Without doubt, this made even more regrettable that the prayer in union with the Greek Orthodox remains just as distant, for although we could assist at their “Apodeipnon” office (Compline) at the altar of Calvary, nothing was said about what united us. However, we should mention that throughout the week a priest from the patriarchate came to all the prayers.
“We should have an ecumenical prayer once a month”, the Melkite patriarchal vicar, Mgr. Joseph Zerey said at the last prayer.
Will this desire be followed up? What is certain is that the week for unity when the Greek Orthodox Church unites us to its prayer will be beautiful!
Mab