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Your Holiness, Your Beatitudes, Your Eminences, Venerable Hierarchs and Clergy, Representatives of Christian Churches, Communions and Organizations throughout the world,
Brothers and sisters in Christ:
‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!’ (Psalm 132[133]:1)
We are deeply moved that you have all responded positively to our humble invitation to honor through this joint pilgrimage the memory and legacy of the First Ecumenical Council held here, at Nicaea, seventeen-hundred years ago. Despite so many intervening centuries, and all the upheavals, difficulties, and divisions they have brought, we nevertheless approach this sacred commemoration with shared reverence and a common feeling of hope. For we are gathered here not simply to remember the past. We are here to bear living witness to the same faith expressed by the Fathers of Nicaea. We return to this wellspring of the Christian faith in order to move forward. We refresh ourselves at these inspired waters of rest (Cf. Psalm 22[23]:2), in order to become strong for the tasks that lie ahead. The power of this place does not reside in what passes away, but in what endures forever. In Nicaea, history bore witness to eternity, to the fact that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is true God of true God, consubstantial with the Father (ὁμοούσιος τῷ Πατρί). Enshrined in the Nicene Creed, such expressions distill and present to all the faith of the Apostles.
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, the name Nicaea derives from the Greek word for victory (νίκη). When the fallen world thinks of victory, it thinks of force and domination. But as Christians, we are ordered to think differently. Our paradoxical sign of victory is the unconquerable sign of the Cross. This is ‘foolishness’ to the nations, a sign of defeat, but for us, it is a supreme manifestation of the wisdom and power of God. We do indeed celebrate victory in this place, but it is a victory not of this world, and ‘not as the world gives’ (cf. John 14:27). The Holy Spirit fittingly chose this place to grant the Church a heavenly and spiritual victory. The Apostle John tells us: ‘this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith’ (1 John 5:4). As Christians, the Apostolic faith which was expressed at Nicaea is our victory. By this faith the tyranny of sin is abolished in our lives, the bondage of corruption is loosed, and earth is raised to heaven.
The Nicene Creed acts like a seed for the whole of our Christian existence. It is a symbol not of a bare minimum; it is a symbol of the whole. Having the fervor of the faith of Nicaea burning in our hearts, ‘let us run the course’ of Christian unity ‘that is set before us’ (cf. Hebrews 12:1); let us ‘hope to the end for the grace’ that is promised ‘at the revelation of Jesus Christ’ (cf. 1 Peter 1:13); and, finally, ‘let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Trinity consubstantial and undivided’.[1] Amen!
1. The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
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Photo: Nikos Papachristou
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