Pope joins patriarchs from East and West at historic Christian site in Turkiye to pray for unity

Pope Leo XIV joined Eastern and Western patriarchs and priests Friday in commemorating an important anniversary in Christian history gathering at the site in Turkiye of an unprecedented AD 325 meeting of bishops to pray that Christians might once again be unitedLeo Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and other Christian leaders met on the shores of Lake Iznik the site of the Council of Nicaea that produced a creed or statement of faith that is still recited by millions of Christians todayStanding over the ruins of the site the men recited the creed which Leo said was of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making toward full communionIn this way we are all invited to overcome the scandal of the divisions that unfortunately still exist and to nurture the desire for unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed and gave his life he saidThe prayer marked the highlight of Leos visit to Turkiye and the main reason for his trip the first of his pontificateThe Nicaea gathering took place at a time when the Eastern and Western churches were still united They split in the Great Schism of 1054 a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope But even today Catholic Orthodox and most historic Protestant groups accept the Nicaean Creed making it a point of agreement and the most widely accepted creed in ChristendomAs a result celebrating its origins at the site of its creation with the spiritual leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and other Christian representatives marked a historic moment in the centuriesold quest to reunite all ChristiansThe Nicene Creed acts like a seed for the whole of our Christian existence It is a symbol not of a bare minimum it is a symbol of the whole said Bartholomew spiritual leader of the worlds Orthodox ChristiansAt the start of the prayer service he told the men they were gathering not just to remember the pastWe are here to bear living witness to the same faith expressed by the fathers of Nicaea We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward he saidRoman Emperor Constantine had convened the gathering of bishops from around the Roman Empire after he had consolidated control following years of civil war and political intriguesConstantine wouldnt formally convert to Christianity until the end of his life in 337 But by 325 he had already been showing tolerance and favor toward a Christian sect that had emerged from the last great spasm of Roman persecutionThe version of the creed that emerged from the council and recited today by Catholics begins I believe in one God the Father almightyThe service commemoration which featured alternating Catholic and Orthodox hymns took place at the lakeside archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of Saint NeophytosThe stone foundations of the basilica which were recently uncovered by the lakes receding waters are believed to be on the site of an earlier church that hosted the council 1700 years agoIn addition to Leo and Bartholomew the participants of the commemorative service included priests patriarchs and bishops from Orthodox Greek Syrian Coptic Malankarese Armenian Protestant and Anglican churchesIn his remarks to the men Leo said all Christians must strongly reject the use of religion to justify war violence or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticismInstead the paths to follow are those of fraternal encounter dialogue and cooperation he saidChristians are a minority in predominantly Sunni Muslim Turkiye and ahead of the prayer in Iznik around 20 members of a small Turkish Islamic party staged a brief protest They said the encounter posed a threat to Turkiyes sovereignty and national identityUnder a heavy police presence Mehmet Kaygusuz a member of the New Welfare Party read a statement denouncing what he said were efforts to establish a Vaticanlike Greek Orthodox state in Turkiye The group dispersed peacefully shortly afterIznik resident Suleyman Bulut 35 acknowledged his towns deep historical and spiritual significance for Christians and said he had no issue with them coming to honor their heritageMuslims too should go and visit places that belong to us in the rest of the world in Europe he saidBut Hasan Maral a 41yearold shopkeeper said he felt uncomfortable with visit The pope coming here feels contradictory to my faith he saidLeo began his first full day in Istanbul by encouraging Turkiyes tiny Catholic community to find strength in their small numbers According to Vatican statistics Catholics number around 33000 in a nation of 85 million most of whom are Sunni MuslimsHe received a raucous welcome at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit where he was greeted with shouts of Papa Leo and Viva il Papa Long Live the popeThe logic of littleness is the churchs true strength Leo told them in English The significant presence of migrants and refugees in this country presents the church with the challenge of welcoming and serving some of the most vulnerableLeo later visited with a group of nuns the Little Sisters of the Poor who run a nursing home in IstanbulHe was so simple We just felt he was at home He felt very much at ease Everybody got what they expected a blessing a kind word Its just enormous said Sister Margret of the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing HomeOn Saturday Leo continues with his ecumenical focus meeting with Bartholomew and other Christian leaders But hell also visit the Sultan Ahmed Mosque commonly known as the Blue Mosque and will celebrate a late afternoon Mass in Istanbuls Volkswagen ArenaLeo heads to Lebanon on Sunday for the second and final leg of his tripThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever