Pope Leo XIV. on Friday, on the shores of Lake Iznik in Turkey, he participated in an ecumenical meeting organized on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of one of the most important councils of early Christianity. As reported by the AFP agency, the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and other church dignitaries were also present at the ceremonies, writes TASR.
- Pope Leo XIV. participated in the ecumenical meeting in Iznik.
- The meeting commemorated the 1700th anniversary of the important Council of Nice.
- The Pope called for the unity of the church and the rejection of violence.
- The Nicene Creed is a pillar of the Christian faith.
- Orthodoxy is divided as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
In his address, the Pope recalled that the Council of Nicea united the early church by rejecting the Arian teaching questioning the full divinity of Jesus Christ. According to the Pope, the anniversary of this council is “a rare opportunity to ask ourselves who Jesus is for each of us personally.” He also expressed the desire to overcome the ongoing division in the church and revive its unity.
A call to reject violence
The Pope also strongly opposed the use of religion to justify violence. “We must strongly reject the use of faith as a pretext for war, violence or any fundamentalism. The paths to follow are fraternal meeting, dialogue and cooperation,” he stressed.
Patriarch Bartholomew also spoke about the need for unity in his speech. He recalled that despite the theological differences that led to the great schism between Rome and Constantinople in 1054, both sides continue to conduct dialogue, prepare joint events and celebrations.
Nicene Creed
The act took place on a wooden stage overlooking the ruins of a 4th-century basilica where hundreds of bishops gathered in 325 to formulate and adopt the Nicene Creed, which remains central to Christianity today. AFP added that in sunny weather, the clergy prayed together in different languages, with the choir singing church hymns a cappella in English, French, Greek, Latin and Turkish.
Fragmentation of Orthodoxy
The Pope’s first apostolic journey takes place at a time when Orthodox Christianity is more fragmented than ever before; the Russian invasion of Ukraine also played a part in this. The Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow have been in schism since 2018, when Constantinople granted autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Moscow. The Moscow Patriarchate declared that Constantinople had no right to such a step, and severed Orthodox church communion with it. However, the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate also continued to operate in Ukraine, although to a lesser extent, until the Ukrainian government banned it during the war.
History of papal visits
Pope Leo is the fifth pope in history to visit Turkey: after Paul VI. in 1967, to John Paul II. in 1979, to Benedict XVI. in 2006 and to František in 2014.
AFP, citing Turkish media, reported that the police in Iznik on Thursday detained Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in Rome in May 1981.
Agca, who was released from prison in 2010, told the media: “I hope that in Iznik or Istanbul we will be able to sit down (with the Pope) and talk for two or three minutes.”
