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The Timeless Demand for Unity, 

the Prayer of Christ, the Milestone of Nicaea

Most Reverend Archbishop Rinalds of Riga,

Reverend Representatives of the other Christian Churches and Confessions,

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today, the grace of the Merciful God has gathered us in this magnificent Cathedral. Not simply so that we may celebrate yet another liturgical gathering; but in order that we may experience the great mystery of the Church, exploring two foundational pillars of our faith, the highpriestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ and the historical legacy of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, whose 1,700th  anniversary we solemnly commemorate with awe and gratitude. The reading passage from the Gospel according to John today is not a random coincidence, but an instruction and divine exhortation towards unity and love. An invitation to listen to the anxiety and deepest desire of the GodMan for His flock, the Church.

Addressing the heavenly Father, the Lord says: “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me out of the world” (John 17:6). It is not a mere gnostic datapoint, the revelation of the name of God. This is, one might say, the unveiling of the truth concerning God as Father, as communion of love in the Holy Trinity, the revelation of a new mode of being, a way of life founded not on individual egoism, but on relationship, on communion, on selftranscendence through love. The disciples, and through them the entire faithful people, are called to partake in this revelation, to keep the Word of God and to know that everything the Son has comes from the Father.

At the threshold of His Passion, the Lord’s prayer turns toward the future of His Church in the world: “I am no longer in the world, and they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11). In that cry of anguish and hope the very essence of ecclesiology is condensed. The unity of the faithful is not presented as a human pursuit, a strategic survival plan or an administrative arrangement, but appears as a divine gift and calling, as participation in that very life of the Holy Trinity. The unity of the Father and the Son must be clearly mirrored in the unity of Christians. A unity not of confusion, but of love; not of erasure of persons, but of total inclusion in common faith and common cup.

That foundation of unity, that theological truth, was severely tested some three hundred years after that prayer. The Church, having at last emerged from persecutions and breathing the air of freedom, faced an internal threat far more dangerous than any external foe: the heresy of Arius. Arius, with his teaching that the Son is a created being, albeit the most perfect, and not true God, consubstantial with the Father, subverted the very heart of the Gospel. If Christ is not God, then the salvation of humankind becomes impossible, and the revelation of the Father’s name is false! The unity that the Lord sought from His Father is in peril because there no longer remains a common foundation, the common faith in the true God.

By divine prompting, at that most critical moment, Emperor Constantine convened in Nicaea of Bithynia in 325 AD the First Ecumenical Council. Three hundred and eighteen Godbearing Fathers, many of them carrying in their bodies the scars of persecution as trophies of the faith, gathered from across the inhabited world. Among them were prominent figures such as Saint Athanasius (then a deacon), Saint Nicholas, Saint Spyridon, etc. They did not gather as philosophers to discuss abstract ideas, but as shepherds to “keep” the flock “in the name” of the Father, just as the Lord had prayed.

The historical response of the Church to the highpriestly prayer is the Council of Nicaea. It is the empirical confirmation that the Holy Spirit leads the Church “into all truth.” And the Symbol of Faith produced by that Council is not merely a theological proclamation—but, one might say, the standard of Christian unity. The passport of every disciple of the Lord, the confession which unites us all into one body. The key of faith and the foundation of ecclesiastical unity became the word “homoousios.” Through that word the Fathers preserved the truth that Christ is “Light from Light, true God from true God,” and thus they established the possibility for us likewise to be “one” with Him and in Him.

Seventeen centuries have passed since that historic Council, and the question confronts us mercilessly: Where do we stand today in relation to the command and prayer of the Lord? Sadly, the history of Christianity has been marked by multiple divisions and schisms. The walls erected between us, often over theological differences but also due to cultural divergences, political expediencies and human passions, remain as an open wound upon the Body of Christ. The prayer “that they may all be one” echoes through the centuries as a continuous reproach to the divided Christendom.

Characterised by globalisation, but paradoxically also by the surge of divisive tendencies, by the challenge to all values and the promotion of an aggressive atheism, in an age such as ours the need for a common Christian witness becomes more urgent than ever. How can the world believe that the Father sent the Son when we, His disciples, remain divided? What is required of us is humility and much prayer, that the Holy Spirit may enlighten us to overcome all obstacles that keep us at a distance.

Unity is certainly not uniformity. The diversity of local traditions and cultures is wealth for the Church, provided unity in faith, in the sacraments and in canonical order is not violated. A path of repentance, humility and mutual understanding is the path toward unity. It is a cruciform journey that demands the overcoming of selfsufficiency and the seeking of the person of Christ in every brother, even if we are not yet in full communion with him.

My beloved brothers, today’s double commemoration calls us to a dual awakening. First: to return to the source of our faith, to the highpriestly prayer of the Lord, and to make it our own personal prayer; Second: to learn from the example of the Fathers of Nicaea, who with divine zeal and pastoral responsibility defended the truth as the sole guarantor of unity.

We pray and beseech that our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercessions of the holy 318 Godbearing Fathers, may enlighten us all, clergy and people, in the struggle for the restoration of the muchlongedfor Christian unity: “that the world may believe.”

In closing, we would like to wholeheartedly express our deepest gratitude to the Most Reverend Archbishop Rinalds of Riga, for his fraternal invitation and warm hospitality. His presence and work constitute a luminous example of pastoral ministry. We warmly thank the venerable representatives of the other Churches, whose presence honours our assembly and confirms our shared desire for rapprochement and cooperation. Finally, we thank all of you, the devout people of God, for your participation and your prayer, which constitutes the driving force of all ecclesiastical work.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.