I’ve just come from the initial prayer service for the World Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. As an Ecumenical Accompanier, I was invited to attend to represent EAPPI and the World Council of Churches. The service was held in one part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre:   Anastasis Chapel, Calvary, Greek Orthodox Office of “Apodeipnon” (Compline).

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“The call for unity this year comes to churches all over the world from Jerusalem, the mother Church. Mindful of its own divisions and its own need to do more for the unity of the Body of Christ, the churches in Jerusalem call all Christians to rediscover the values that bound together the early Christian community in Jerusalem, when they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and prayers. This is the challenge before us. The Christians of Jerusalem call upon their brothers and sisters to make this week of prayer an occasion for a renewed commitment to work for a genuine ecumenism, grounded in the experience of the early Church. They also ask us to remember them in their precarious situation and to pray for justice that will bring peace in the Holy Land.”

What an honour…to stand with others including so many clergy of various denominations, evident in the array of habit and dress…in such an old place…