The beginning of the 1700th anniversary year of the Council of Nicaea is particularly suitable for this, said the Patriarch of Constantinople in his New Year's address.
"The first ecumenical council, which was convened in Nicaea in the year of our Lord 325, laid the foundation for the unity of Christians and defined the faith that we still uphold today," said the Patriarch.
This anniversary also brings to the fore the pressing issue of a common celebration of Easter among Christians, "an issue that is essential for the promotion of Christian unity".
Bartholomew hopes that the planned joint celebration with Pope Francis of the jubilee in May at the site of the Council in what is now İznik (Turkey) will provide important impetus for ecumenism.
The Patriarch also recalled that next December will mark the sixtieth anniversary of the lifting of the mutual excommunication by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras. Patriarch Athenagoras will be commemorated.
After their first meeting in 1964, the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch had declared the "cancellation of the memory of the curses of 1054" at the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965.
The separation of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches continues to exist.
2025 sees the common date of Easter
A common Easter date has been a concern of Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew for years. Years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarch named the agreement on a common Easter date as an important topic for the preparation of the Nicaea anniversary.
The Vatican reacted favourably to the initiative, and the Coptic Church also gave its approval.
The Moscow Patriarchate, however, does not consider the question of a date to be urgent. urgent.
Pope Francis had already offered the Eastern churches in 2015to adopt the Orthodox Easter date in order to resolve the issue.
The non-Catholic Eastern churches celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar, the Western churches according to the Gregorian calendar. This results in usually results in a different date.
In extreme cases, there are up to five weeks between the two dates, as was the case last year: while the Latin Church celebrated Easter on 31 March, the date of the Orthodox celebration is only 5 May.
Regardless of an agreement, Easter will be celebrated together in 2025 in any case: According to both calendars, the highest feast of Christianity will then fall on 20 April.