"Could we not all celebrate Easter, which is the centrepiece of our faith, on the same day?" ask World Council of Churches General Secretary Jerry Pillay and WCC Central Committee Chairman Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm in the text published in Geneva on Friday.
In their view, a common Easter date would be "a clear sign of reconciliation and a concrete expression of the unity for which Christ prayed". It would encourage people to work together for justice, peace and reconciliation.
Common Easter date is an exception
In 2025, all Christian churches will celebrate Easter on the same date (20 April). However, this is an exception.
As the Orthodox Church did not go along with the calendar reform under Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, the East and West generally celebrate Easter on different dates.
In their Easter message, Bedford-Strohm and Pillay lament the lack of peace: "Conflicts and wars between peoples and nations, tensions between people and violence against the powerless are on the increase. The world is not reconciled - and it is questionable whether it is even endeavouring to do so," they state.
According to the WCC representatives, despair often seems to be stronger than hope, and division more visible than community.
In this situation, the church is called upon to "bear witness courageously, joyfully and with one voice: To proclaim the resurrection is to resist the power of death."
According to Pillay and Bedford-Strohm, believing in the Risen One means communicating a living hope that "works in our lives, our actions and our world".
Around 350 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic churches and ecclesial communities in 140 countries belong to the World Council of Churches (WCC), which is based in Geneva.