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Mideast church leaders celebrate new unity
2003-010-6
1/21/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
The common bonds and the new unity that have developed among church leaders in the Middle East will be celebrated during the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18-25.
'Being a minority in the first place in a time of real difficulties, it seems the differences start to fade away,' said Bishop Riah Abu el Assal of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. 'For hundreds of years, Christians of different denominations closed the doors in the face of each other. Today we're all under the same roof--and the doors are quite open.'
The heads of the churches in Jerusalem meet monthly to discuss ministry in a very difficult climate. Three of them are Palestinians--Riah, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, and Bishop Mounib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church--who are deeply concerned that the flood of Palestinian Christians out of the region will continue, further diminishing the Christian presence. In 1967 there were 30,000 Christians in Jerusalem and the churches estimate that figure has dropped to 8-9,000 today.
'Ecumenical work in Jerusalem particularly has improved since the heads of churches banded together three years ago for Jubilee year activities,' said Father Athanasius, a Franciscan. He says that interchurch unity in Jerusalem is much better than it was 50 years ago, offering the spirit of cooperation at Church of the Holy Sepulcher as evidence.
'It's also important that churches work together to curb the violence for the sake of the pilgrims,' added Father Shemun.
The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches is responsible for the theme which this year is 'We have this treasure in clay jars' from 2 Cor. 4:7.
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