Ecumenical prayer service to mark 1700th anniversary of Council of Nicaea
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., and the Catholic bishops of New Jersey will be among the assembly of Western and Eastern rite Churches participating in a statewide ecumenical prayer gathering to be held on Saturday, May 3, at 11 a.m. Participants in the “We Believe in One God” celebration will gather at St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold, NJ, for Morning Prayer and two homilies—one each from the Western and Eastern rites—and the praying of the Nicene Creed in both Greek and English.
The gathering has special significance during the 2025 Jubilee Year, according to Father Luke Edelen O.S.B., chair of the Archdiocesan Commission for Christian Unity:
“From the letter he wrote announcing the Jubilee of 2025, the Holy Father has emphasized two providential occurrences already in place during this special time of grace: the common date of Easter for Christians of the East and of the West and the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its Creed.”
Father Edelen emphasized that the celebration resonates with the theme that Pope Francis chose for the Jubilee. “The theme of the Holy Year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope,'” he told Jersey Catholic. “Each of these events is both a sign of that Christian virtue of hope and, at the same time, invites us who believe in Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, to go forward in hope as his witnesses because this is his prayer: ‘that all may be one'(Jn.17:21)—and Jesus does not disappoint.”
Two dates of significance
Earlier this year, Pope Francis expressed his desire that Western and Eastern Churches come to an agreement on a common date for Easter. The churches currently use two different calendars, leading to discrepancies. The dates coincide in 2025, however, as both churches will celebrate Easter on April 20, opening the opportunity for a breakthrough.
The “We Believe in One God” celebration takes on further significance because 2025 is also the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council in history. Held in Asia Minor in 325 A.D., the council produced the Nicene Creed, refined by the First Council of Constantinople in 381, expressing the core beliefs of the Church’s faith.
Discovering common ground
Among those invited to participate in “We Believe in One God” are members of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Eastern rite churches in communion with Rome, as well as other Christians who pray the Nicene Creed, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and members of the Reformed Churches.
Monsignor Sam Siriani, rector of the co-cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine, told the Trenton Monitor that he hopes the celebration will be yet another step in bringing Christians together. “I’m hoping people will recognize that while there are different ways of understanding an expressing our faith, that we have a lot of common ground,” Msgr. Siriani said.
He also would like the assembly “to show a united face or a more perfect face of Christ to the world… hopefully it’s a step in the right direction between healing the rift—the Great Schism—between the East and West.”
“We Believe in One God” starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 3. The Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine is located at 61 Georgia Rd. in Freehold Township, New Jersey.
