Head of Phanar announces joint Easter celebration with the Pope in 2025

Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Francis, Archbishop Ieronymos. Photo: sib-catholic.ru

On September 3, 2024, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople announced a joint Easter celebration with Catholics, which is to take place in May 2025, according to the Romfea publication.

In his concluding speech at the Synaxis of the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew informed the hierarchs that "in the current ecclesiastical year, at the end of May 2025, an official celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council will take place in Nicaea (Bithynia) with the participation of His Holiness Pope Francis."

The Patriarch recalled that this year's Synaxis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was dedicated to this historic anniversary, reflected in the selection of the central theme of this year's Synaxis, taken from the Vespers of the Sunday of the Holy and Divine Fathers of the First Council in Nicaea, which addressed the regulation of the date of Easter: "Following their Divine decrees, we worship, in faith... the one Godhead, the consubstantial Trinity."

The press service of the Ecumenical Patriarchate stated that "in the spirit of this unity, the desire was unanimously expressed that next year, Eastern and Western Christianity celebrate Easter together, so that this would not be a fortunate coincidence, but the beginning of establishing a common date for its celebration every year, in accordance with the Easter of our Orthodox Church."

However, Metropolitan Damaskinos of Didymoteicho, Orestiada, and Soufli, the first among the Metropolitans of the New Lands, opposed this proposal. The details of his speech are unknown, as the press service reported that "the work of the meeting was concluded with the usual final word."

Earlier, the Union of Orthodox Journalists reported that on November 23, 2023, Patriarch Bartholomew stated that the road to the unity of all Christians is irreversible.

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