The President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, has advised Catholics to learn from the
Oriental Churches and understand that liturgy is not just a community
celebration but a "cosmic event".Addressing the "Societas Liturgica" Congress at Würzburg which met from 5-10 August to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Cardinal Koch said that rediscovering the original form of the liturgy as it was celebrated in the first centuries of Christianity was all-important for ecumenism.
The Oriental Churches understood the liturgy as a "cosmic event", Cardinal Koch said.
He advised Catholics to adopt this view, and hoped the Würzburg Liturgy Congress would lead to "further stimuli which will certainly not only bear fruit for liturgists but also for ecumenical discussions"