Last week’s program on RAI Radio 1, a weekly Protestant radio Protestant Hour broadcast by the Italian Radio Network RAI explored the significance of the fact that this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is taking place during the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. What follows was written for that program by Luca Negro, pictured below, a former president of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, and a friend to many in the American Waldensian Society.
According to the Gospel of John, before raising his friend Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said to Martha, one of Lazarus’ two sisters: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die, will live; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Do you believe this? This question is the theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is taking place this week in every country in the world. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is sponsored by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Vatican’s office for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
The theme for 2025 is linked to the fact that this year is the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, which took place in 325 A.D. in Nicea in present day Turkey. According to the organizers of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, “the fact that this is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea and of the creed formulated during that council provides an extraordinary opportunity to reflect on our shared Christian faith.” Indeed, the creed formulated during that council, the Nicene Creed, is still used in worship by almost all Christian churches. The early Christian church, which was just beginning to emerge from three centuries of secrecy and persecution, had just begun to experience how difficult it is to express the same faith in different cultural and political contexts. Agreeing on the various statements about Christian faith that are contained in the Nicene Creed meant that local Christian communities were able to recognize each other as sister churches, each respecting the diversity of the others.”
That’s why this year’s conjuncture of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea is an opportunity to affirm unity in diversity, to celebrate our shared faith, and to respect and appreciate the richness of every Christian tradition. Moreover, this year’s conjuncture of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity provides an opportunity that goes beyond merely celebrating an important text from the past but that invites us to find current words that speak to the challenges posed by our time.
May this happen for us this year, just as, according to the Gospel of John, Martha was challenged to move from a general confession of faith in the resurrection “on the last day” to believing in Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of God who has to come into the world” and the participants in the Council of Nicaea were able “to strive to find the right words to express the mystery of the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of their Lord in its entirety.”
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed each year from January 18 to January 25.
