Once a year, Christian churches get together to pray for unity among the different denominations, following the theme of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, that “they may be one so that the world may believe” (John 17:21).
This practice started in 1908, with the establishment of a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The week began with what was then the Feast of the Confession of Saint Peter on January 18th and concluded with the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25th – the same dates that we keep to this day.
Typically congregations and parishes get together, and perhaps exchange preachers or arrange special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services, to explore our common identity as Christians. For details of events in and around Malaga, click here.
This year’s theme, proposed by the ecumenical community at Bose in Northern Italy, is the story of Martha’s confession of faith in Jesus as narrated in John 11:17-27. We in turn are called to address Jesus’ provocative question to Martha: “Do you believe this?”
Also this year we celebrate 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea in 325AD – the first time the early church got together to thrash out a major theological issue. Presided over by the then BIshop of Cordoba, Bishop Hosius, its main acheivement was the settlement of the christological issue as to the divine nature of Jesus as Son of God and his relationship to God the Father, as against the Arian heresy, that Jesus was merely a good man. For more on the First Council of Nicaea, click here.
