Week of prayer for Christian unity

in Montreal

In January at the beginning of the calendaristic year, Christians dedicate a special time of a week in which they pray particularly for unity. Unity is the sign of God's presence and the invitation that Christ makes to us.

This year, due to the special situation of the pandemic, Christians could not meet physically as a sign of the desire for unity to pray, but they tried virtually to continue to testify about the fulfillment of the word of Christ in these conditions.

This year's theme was love and its fruitful power: “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit” (John 15: 5).

The week of prayer for Christian unity organized as always in Montreal by the Canadian Center for Ecumenism through the director Adriana Bara was held this time virtually. The event was attended by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church – His Eminence Christian Lepine - Archbishop of Montreal, His Grace Alain Faubert, Vicar-Bishop, representatives of the Armenian Church, the Anglican Church and many believers. On behalf of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada, His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was present and pronounced several prayers in the final part of the evening.

A few days earlier, the hierarch of Canada also participated virtually with a reflection on the week of prayer for Christian unity addressed to members of the Monastic Fraternity of Jerusalem in Montreal.

“In this week of prayer for Christian unity, we are in an ecumenical move to participate in prayer beyond the restrictive limits of the physical distance we all face. (...). In order to advance the cause of Christian unity and overcome historical divisions, we must first rediscover the presence of Christ Himself — the object of our common faith — as a factor of unity for all Christian traditions. This rediscovery will allow us all to maintain a relationship of synchronic dialogue with the Lord present among us now and here. This can be done by understanding and promoting our ecumenical approach, as ‘a vast movement of metanoia and renewal of our understanding, reasoning or consciousness as a movement of conversion from deviation to the fullness of true faith, from self-sufficient confessional witness to true service, from competition to cooperation, from hatred and suspicion to love and trust.’[1] This will allow an opening to the Lord Himself, towards the other and towards oneself accompanied by a true and authentic obedience. (...)

We are invited to get closer to each other, taking into account a renewed language, which includes and understands the important elements of each tradition (...). Therefore, the polyphonic key[2] would be a mind concerned both with the harmonious and symphonic aspect of the ensemble and with the specific details of each tradition that would allow them to express themselves and clarify their aspirations, concerns and expectations. The approach to unity thus resembles a unitary musical partition which, although comprising multiple and different arrangement or notes, remains, on the whole, a unitary and harmonious work. (...)

St. Paul's invitation to the Colossians helps us to move forward: ‘Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies’ (3:12). Compassion for another introduces us to his experience. (...) Compassion allows us to share experiences, lived feelings, thus creating a communion that makes us more patient and understanding towards others. It brings us together and makes us act more and more as a common body in a harmonious and unitary way.

The love of Christ and for Christ first brings us closer to Him and makes us His disciples and later compassion brings us into a communion and mutual knowledge which in turn makes us act in a harmonious and united way as one body.”

The week of prayer for Christian unity is a special time given to meditation on the need for communion through prayer in the desire to fulfill the word of Christ that calls to unity.

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[1] cf. HB Patriarch DANIEL. Confessing the Truth in Love. Ed. Trinitas: Iași 2001, p 232

[2] of which Nicolae Steinhardt speaks