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JERUSALEM, January 28, 2011 - Jerusalem Christians of all denominations have come together for fellowship and prayer during the week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 22-30).
This special week of ecumenical prayer has been commemorated throughout the world for 103 years and in Jerusalem for decades. However, this year the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity requested that the worship materials for the world-wide celebration be prepared by Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem, remembering the first Pentecost, the focus of the week was on the unity through “the Apostles’ teaching, the breaking of break, fellowship, and prayer” (Acts 2:42).
For nine days crowds gathered at a different church each afternoon beginning on Saturday when Catholics and Protestants attended the “Apodeipnon” (compline) of the Greek Orthodox at the place of Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This was followed by services at the Greek Catholic and Armenian churches the following two afternoons.
On Tuesday afternoon January 25, the prayer was hosted by the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the old city. The Franciscan news service wrote that the sanctuary “was packed and a very warm welcome was given to Christians of all the different rites. The choir’s accompaniment to the whole meeting was highly evocative."
Bishop Munib A. Younan focused the message for the day on the Apostles’ teaching from the early Jerusalem church noting the transformative power of education in today’s society. He compared this ecumenical program to a beautiful Middle Eastern carpet, where the various colored strands come together through the Holy Spirit as the artist creating a design originating in the Apostles’ teaching. “All eyes of the world are on Jerusalem,” he said. “I pray they will look at our beautiful carpet and say, ‘Look how much the Christians love each other.’”
During the rest of the week, this diverse and inspired community made their way to services at the Latin Catholic Church, the Upper Room, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Church, and finally on Sunday January 30 to St. George’s Anglican Cathedral.
In presenting the 2011 Christian Unity Week, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity together with the World Council of Churches underline the peculiarity of Jerusalem: “The current community experiences many of the joys and sorrows of the early church; its injustice and inequality, and its divisions, but also its faithful perseverance, and recognition of a wider unity among Christians. The churches in Jerusalem today offer us a vision of what it means to strive for unity, even amid great problems. They show us that the call to unity can be more than mere words, and indeed that it can point us toward a future where we anticipate and help build the heavenly Jerusalem.”
As part of the week’s ecumenical focus, Bishop Younan also took part in a panel discussion filmed by France 2 Television to be broadcast on January 30 in a two and a half hour special program including the unity service from Jerusalem’s Greek Catholic Church.
Click here to read Bishop Younan's sermon from Tuesday's service at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.
JERUSALEM, January 5, 2011 - The ELCJHL is pleased to invite our friends around the world to partner with us in a new and exciting project! With your help, it is our goal to equip each of our four k-12 schools with new English-language resources. Visit our bookstore to donate a book to the ELCJHL Libraries Project: Opening a World of Possibilities!
JERUSALEM, January 3, 2011 - Bishop Younan released a statement today denouncing the recent violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Younan speaks strongly in his statement, saying:
“Here in the Middle East, where the three monotheistic religions affirm the core values of love of God and love of neighbor, it is utterly impossible to carry out such acts of violence with a valid claim that they are done in the name of religion. Such acts are only done in the name of hatred and division.”
Bishop Younan also affirmed the recent statement on the situation released by Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, which stated: “this is a criminal act that can never be justified in any religion.”
Younan calls for local Christians to “remain united in our mission and diakonia, continuing to promote moderation, mutual understanding, interfaith dialogue, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation”. He also calls the global church to “hear the cries of suffering from its Christian sisters and brothers in the Middle East… [and] stand together with them…”
Younan closes offering “condolences for all who have loved ones who have been injured or killed, including the targeted Christians, Muslim bystanders, and security personnel…” and a prayer for comfort.
Full text of the statement follows below, or download the statement:
A Statement Denouncing Violence Against Coptic Christians in Egypt
It was with profound shock that we received the news of the devastating New Year attack on Coptic Christians while at worship in Alexandria, Egypt. In my Christmas Eve sermon, I addressed our concern for the growing tensions for Christians throughout the Middle East. The memory of the killing of six Coptic Christians in Nag Hammadi at last year’s Christmas Eve Mass is still fresh, and increasing threats and incidents of violence have continued over the last months. This suicide bombing is a clear escalation of violence to which all political and religious leaders must bring an end. We cannot allow the political conflict in the Middle East to become a religious battle, for all of us will be the losers.
We condemn this act of terror, and all violence that aims to create confusion and division. We denounce all extremists who would co-opt religion and misuse it as a dividing force between people who have lived for a long time as one nation.
Here in the Middle East, where the three monotheistic religions affirm the core values of love of God and love of neighbor, it is utterly impossible to carry out such acts of violence with a valid claim that they are done in the name of religion. Such acts are only done in the name of hatred and division.
We affirm Muslim scholars at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University in their statement that: “this is a criminal act that can never be justified in any religion.”
For this reason, we ask all religious leaders, people of faith, and people of conscience—Christians and Muslims alike—to stand in this moment and, with a unified voice, to clearly denounce such attacks and to expose any hollow claims upon religion.
We join with world leaders in calling on the Egyptian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. We call upon all world leaders to support moderation in the Middle East and to actively work for justice and peace in the region.
The global church, must hear the cries of suffering from its Christian sisters and brothers in the Middle East. It must stand together with them by developing a unified strategy for Christians in the Middle East, which supports their continued presence and witness as an alternative to increasing emigration.
We local Christians must remain united in our mission and diakonia, continuing to promote moderation, mutual understanding, interfaith dialogue, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. This is the martyria [witness] of the Church in the Middle East. We should not allow extremists to keep the Middle East hostage, for we are, as Christians in the Middle East, an integral part of the fabric of our society.
The Evangelical Family in the Middle East Council of Churches, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and the Lutheran World stand with the Coptic Orthodox Church, with Pope Shenouda III, and with the Egyptian people in offering our condolences for all who have loved ones who have been injured or killed, including the targeted Christians, Muslim bystanders, and security personnel who were there to offer protection.
We pray that all who are suffering or in danger will find warmth and comfort at the manger side this coming Coptic Orthodox Christmas (January 7th), hearing the words of the angels anew proclaiming: “Fear not!” (Luke 2.10).
Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan,
President of the Evangelical Family in the Middle East Council of Churches,
Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.