Ecumenism in Jerusalem
The Very Rev'd Canon RIchard Sewell, Dean of St George's College, Jerusalem
Throughout my ministry I have been committed to the idea of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It’s not always been easy to fulfil that intention in the bitter cold days and nights in the middle of January. A few diehards from the Churches Together group might show up for daily prayers. It was almost the devil’s own job to convince the faithful to turn out for the joint service on the Sunday evening. But often they did, then warm feelings and friendships benefitted from praying together and seeking to make real our hopes for a deeper unity.
My experience of this regular week of the Church’s year has been transformed by living in Jerusalem, which is home to almost every Christian denomination known to God. It takes place one week later than in the UK because Armenian Christmas is on January 19 so, the Week has to follow the festival but when it does get started it turns into one of the highlights of the year. I know that’s hard to credit, but it really is. The colour, diversity and liturgical intensity is so engaging that it’s a rich experience for anyone privileged to be able to share in it. Each evening, a service is hosted by one of the major denominations and then the smaller ones rotate year by year. The first evening of praying together is always hosted by the Greek Orthodox in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We experience the service of vespers, spoken and sung in Greek. The beauty of the chapel lifts the soul and draws worshippers into the mysterious unity of the Trinity.
Ecumenical services in Jerusalem
This year, services followed in my own Anglican Church - the Cathedral of St George the Martyr - the Armenian Cathedral of St James the Great, The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, the Latin (RC) Church of St Saviour’s, the Cenacle (or Upper Room) with the Dominicans, St Mark’s Syriac Orthodox Church and finally, the Melkite Cathedral of the Annunciation. Even just the list of hosts conveys the richness of the experience. The reality of worshipping together in extraordinarily beautiful and ancient churches and sharing in their unfamiliar yet profoundly moving worship.
Almost every evening the church was pretty much full, with up to 200 people attending. The entire experience is deepened by the hospitality offered following the services. It gave me the opportunity to talk with Coptic clergy, Catholic nuns from the Congo and Sudan and young volunteers from Germany. The feeling was universally warm and friendly. Jesus prayed for the unity of believers, ‘that they may be one’, in Jerusalem, in the Upper Room, so we, the Christians of Jerusalem, should be seeking to embody that unity. But we have failed in the past and we continue to fall short of this prayer of Christ. The Week of Prayer though offers a vision of what we could be. Of course, praying together for one week is not sufficient, but it’s a good place to start.