10th edition of the Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches for Reconciliation, Unity and Peace, beginning from Jerusalem, at the Syriac Catholic Church of St. Thomas, Jerusalem
THE 10th EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER OF ALL CHURCHES, A GREAT INTERCESSORY PRAYER FOR OUR TIME, WILL BE HELD ON MAY 18, 2013, VIGIL OF PENTECOST (GREGORIAN CALENDAR) AT THE SYRIAC CATHOLIC CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. IT IS ORGANISED IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHURCH.
In these times of changes and challenges both in the East and in the West, the urgency of an intercessory prayer for our time is more evident than ever. In this tenth edition of the Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches, which will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2013, at 6 pm Holy Land time, in the Syrian Catholic Church of St Thomas in Jerusalem, the “Mother Church” of Jerusalem once again calls all Christians and Christian communities in the world to pray for reconciliation, with God and with one another, for unity and for peace.
The Extraordinary Prayer of May 18, 2013 is organized by the Syriac Catholic Church in close collaboration with the sister Syriac Orthodox Church. It will be based on the profoundly spiritual Pentecost rites of the antique Syriac tradition and held in Aramaic, the language used by Christ himself, and also the liturgical language still used by the Syriac Churches. Some of the prayer’s invocations will be prepared by Christians of Syria, the region where the Syriac Church originally developed from the Patriarchate of Antioch: they will in this way entrust the great difficulties of the present times to the prayer of the whole Christendom. The Extraordinary Prayer will also be an occasion for invoking reconciliation and expressing mutual forgiveness; it will be a faithful invocation to the Holy Spirit and to the Mercy of the Holy Trinity for our time, beginning from Jerusalem.
As for the preceding editions of the Extraordinary Prayer, all Jerusalem Churches and all Christian communities, and especially their pastors, are invited to personally participate to the celebration. The prayer will be broadcast live or in differed mode by Christian TV channels in the Middle East, Europe, North and South America and possibly in Asia and Australia in six languages, in order to allow Christians and all persons of good will around the world to join, in a spiritual communion with the Jerusalem prayer. It will be followed by a documentary on the hosting Church.
The Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches was born during a Vigil of Prayer at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem between few clergy representatives and lay worshippers in 2005, and is based on the inspiration of the urgent necessity of an intercessory prayer for our time involving all Churches, beginning in and proceeding from Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, in fact, all Christian Churches are present, as nowhere else. As the birthplace of the Church from the blood and the water that flowed from the side of Christ on Golgotha - according especially to Orthodox theology - and the original place of the effusion of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Holy Town has an extraordinary spiritual vocation to be a living spring of ecclesial communion. The lack of communion in the Church in fact is not only a counter-testimony to Christ’s message, but it is also, and especially, a negative spiritual reality, which weakens her spiritual strength.
The Extraordinary Prayer is characterized by an irresistibly joyful spirit. Since 2009, starting with the first broadcast prayer then organized at the Syrian Orthodox Convent Church of St. Mark in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Church, using, each time, the words of one of the Christian traditions represented in the Holy City, publicly calls all nations in the name of Christ to “repentance for the forgiveness of sins, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24, 47).
THE 10th EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER OF ALL CHURCHES, A GREAT INTERCESSORY PRAYER FOR OUR TIME, WILL BE HELD ON MAY 18, 2013, VIGIL OF PENTECOST (GREGORIAN CALENDAR) AT THE SYRIAC CATHOLIC CHURCH OF JERUSALEM. IT IS ORGANISED IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE SYRIAC ORTHODOX CHURCH.
In these times of changes and challenges both in the East and in the West, the urgency of an intercessory prayer for our time is more evident than ever. In this tenth edition of the Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches, which will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2013, at 6 pm Holy Land time, in the Syrian Catholic Church of St Thomas in Jerusalem, the “Mother Church” of Jerusalem once again calls all Christians and Christian communities in the world to pray for reconciliation, with God and with one another, for unity and for peace.
The Extraordinary Prayer of May 18, 2013 is organized by the Syriac Catholic Church in close collaboration with the sister Syriac Orthodox Church. It will be based on the profoundly spiritual Pentecost rites of the antique Syriac tradition and held in Aramaic, the language used by Christ himself, and also the liturgical language still used by the Syriac Churches. Some of the prayer’s invocations will be prepared by Christians of Syria, the region where the Syriac Church originally developed from the Patriarchate of Antioch: they will in this way entrust the great difficulties of the present times to the prayer of the whole Christendom. The Extraordinary Prayer will also be an occasion for invoking reconciliation and expressing mutual forgiveness; it will be a faithful invocation to the Holy Spirit and to the Mercy of the Holy Trinity for our time, beginning from Jerusalem.
As for the preceding editions of the Extraordinary Prayer, all Jerusalem Churches and all Christian communities, and especially their pastors, are invited to personally participate to the celebration. The prayer will be broadcast live or in differed mode by Christian TV channels in the Middle East, Europe, North and South America and possibly in Asia and Australia in six languages, in order to allow Christians and all persons of good will around the world to join, in a spiritual communion with the Jerusalem prayer. It will be followed by a documentary on the hosting Church.
The Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches was born during a Vigil of Prayer at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem between few clergy representatives and lay worshippers in 2005, and is based on the inspiration of the urgent necessity of an intercessory prayer for our time involving all Churches, beginning in and proceeding from Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, in fact, all Christian Churches are present, as nowhere else. As the birthplace of the Church from the blood and the water that flowed from the side of Christ on Golgotha - according especially to Orthodox theology - and the original place of the effusion of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Holy Town has an extraordinary spiritual vocation to be a living spring of ecclesial communion. The lack of communion in the Church in fact is not only a counter-testimony to Christ’s message, but it is also, and especially, a negative spiritual reality, which weakens her spiritual strength.
The Extraordinary Prayer is characterized by an irresistibly joyful spirit. Since 2009, starting with the first broadcast prayer then organized at the Syrian Orthodox Convent Church of St. Mark in Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Church, using, each time, the words of one of the Christian traditions represented in the Holy City, publicly calls all nations in the name of Christ to “repentance for the forgiveness of sins, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24, 47).