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The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, recently concluded a meeting of the Synod of Bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by mentioning Pope Francis’ expected “participation” in ceremonies marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
A notice from the Ecuminical Patriarchate said that Bartholomew spoke about the “official celebration of the completion of 1,700 years from the convocation of the First Ecumenical Council, with the personal participation of His Holiness Pope Francis.”
Hopes for a Catholic-Orthodox summit at Nicaea in 2025 date to at least 2014, when Bartholomew, on his return from a meeting with Pope Francis in Jerusalem, told Asia News about the plans for a meeting in the place where the Church -- not yet divided by schism -- had its first real ecumenical council.
Bartholomew told the news outlet that he and Pope Francis "agreed to leave as a legacy to ourselves and our successors a gathering in Nicaea in 2025, to celebrate together, after 17 centuries, the first truly ecumenical synod, where the Creed was first promulgated."
So far, the Holy See has not announced any plans or dates for Francis’ trip to Nicaea, which is now known as Iznik, about 81 miles southeast of Istanbul.
In June, while an Orthodox delegation was visiting the Vatican for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis expressed his desire to visit the area of Nicaea in 2025.
“It is a trip I wholeheartedly desire to make,” the Pope said.
This past May, Bartholomew said during a visit to Lisbon, Portugal, that a mixed Orthodox-Catholic commission is working on preliminary arrangements for the meeting.
A common date for Easter?
Nicaea is one of seven ecumenical councils recognized by Eastern Orthodox Christians. From May 20 to July 25, in the year 325, more than 300 bishops from various Patriarchates and Churches gathered in Nicaea. The Creed that was drawn up then is similar to the one that is recited today at Mass, and from that city it has its name: the Nicene Creed.
It affirms, among other things, that Jesus “is of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father,” contrary to what the Arian heresy was claiming at the time.
The council also stipulated a uniform way to calculate the date for Easter each year. But over time, Eastern and Western Churches have followed different methods for setting the date. Occasionally, there is a year when the date coincides, and that will happen in 2025 – on April 20.
In his Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee of 2025, Pope Francis affirmed that the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is an "invitation" to all the Churches to make progress "towards visible unity." He also raised the possibility of finding a common date to celebrate Easter.
