Ecumenical initiative asks for unit to celebrate Easter together

The first ecumenical council, the meeting of Christian bishops held in the year 325 in Nicea (today İznik, in Turkey), laid the foundations for reaching consensus within the Church through an assembly that would represent all Christianity.

This event marked a key moment in the history of Christianity, of which this year 17 centuries are fulfilled, and in which, among other decisions, the way to calculate the date of Easter was established.

However, over the centuries, the modifications to the calendar generated discrepancies between the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, differences that still persist. While the Catholics of Latin Rite follow the Gregorian calendar, in the East the tradition of calculating the liturgical dates according to the Julian calendar.

The difficulties of calendar change

“The calendar change process, which began in 1582 with Pope Gregory and was completed to some extent in 1923 with the adoption of the new calendar by some Orthodox churches, was not exempt from difficulties,” he explains in an interview with ACI Press Kostas Mygdalis, consultant of the Orthodox Interparliamentary Assembly (AIO).

“It caused controversies between the faithful and between the churches and the state authorities, consolidating polarized divisions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Christians, heretics and fans, who still persist,” he adds.

Mygdalis is also one of the key figures of the interconfessional working group Pasqua Together 2025, which seeks to promote the common celebration of Easter between Orthodox and Catholics.

Pope Francis received the members of this ecumenical initiative in September and expressed his desire to agree on a common date for the celebration of Easter between Catholics and Orthodox.

Interestingly, this year both Easter – Catholic and Orthodox – coincide on the same date, on April 20, due to the concordance of the Julian calendars (used by the Orthodox) and Gregorian (followed by Catholics and other Christian confessions).

A step towards Christian unity

For Mygdalis, the joint celebration of Easter in 2025 should not be considered only a calendar agreement, but an opportunity to place Christ in the center of the Christian faith.

“Time has arrived to make a strong call to the churches to unify the Easter date,” he says.

In addition, it emphasizes that the central message should be the need for unity in the world: “The world needs unity. A common date for Easter is a step towards this unit. ”

However, he warns that “the administrative structures of the churches, composed almost exclusively of clergymen, seem reluctant to address this issue, perhaps for fear of generating new extremisms and divisions in a world that already faces multiple challenges.”

He also points out that “the dialogue between the Christian churches advances so slowly that, for the common faithful, it seems an unsuccessful process.”

For Mygdalis, the effort to celebrate together the resurrection of Christ must be part of a “pilgrimage of reconciliation and unity” that will continue beyond 2025. It emphasizes that the importance of the resurrection is not only theological, but also existential: “without the Resurrection, all the suffering of the world is absurd. ”

A unit mandate from Nicea

“The celebration of Easter on a common date is not only necessary, but a unit of unity established by the first ecumenical council of Nicea, whose 1,700 anniversary we commemorate this year,” he emphasizes.

“Through the initiative Pasqua Together 2025, we seek to demand that the churches that comply with the provisions of the council of Nicea: to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the pillar of the Christian faith. It is unacceptable that this division continues, ”he emphasizes.

Towards the Jubilee of 2033

Beyond the Easter of 2025, the JC2033 initiative was also mentioned, which proposes an ecumenical path around 2033, when 2,000 years of the resurrection of Christ will be held. It is suggested that the unification of the Easter date in 2025 could be a first step towards a greater unity in that historical celebration.