WCC NEWS: Webinar to explore common Easter celebration to strengthen Christian unity

In 2025, one of the few years when Christians of all traditions will celebrate Easter on the same date – 20 April – a webinar being organized by the World Council of Churches on 13 February will explore how churches might renew the search for a common Easter date as a sign of their unity in faith. At the Palestinian village of Iqrit. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 23 January 2025 “Eastern and Western churches have used different calendars to calculate the date of Easter since the 16th century, and only rarely do they coincide,” said Prof. Rev. Dr Martin Illert, WCC programme executive for Faith and Order, who is organizing the webinar.  “This year is one of the few occasions when all Christians will celebrate Easter together, and this webinar will explore how we can renew the search for a common date for Easter as a sign of Christian unity,” he said. This webinar will bring together people from different traditions – Coptic, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran – to explore how a shared celebration of Easter can unite Christians worldwide in their common faith in the resurrected Christ. This year also marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea of 325 CE, the first ecumenical council gathering the whole of Christendom, which addressed the need for a common celebration of Easter since churches of that time often used different dates. “We hope that the anniversary of Nicaea will help create a momentum so that in the future all Christians can celebrate Easter together,” said Illert. The different dates for celebrating Easter go back to the reform of the calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Since that time, Western Christians have come to calculate the date of Easter on the basis of this newer Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern churches have continued to use the older Julian calendar.  Webinar information Date: 13 February 2025, 16:00 CET Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RuLP2e18RBWCvWyzgAPrVA#/registration Panelists:  Fr Prof. Dr Arsenius Mikhail, St Athanasius and St Cyril Coptic Orthodox School, Newport Beach, California, USA. H.E. Metropolitan Prof. Dr Job (Getcha), Metropolitan of Pisidia and Dean of the Institute for Orthodox Theology Higher Studies at Chambésy, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr Johannes Oeldemann, Johann-Adam-Möhler-Institut für Ökumenik, Paderborn, Germany Rev. Dr Tomi Karttunen, Executive Secretary for Ecumenical Relations and Theology, Lutheran Church of Finland. Moderator: Rev. Prof. em. Dr. Sandra Beardsall, moderator of the WCC-Nicaea-Steering-Group, Saskatchewan, Canada. View the Event  Download the Flyer for the Webinar  Frequently Asked Questions about Easter See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland

Free webinar on biblical lament: Mourning our losses together

Mourning our losses together Join a free webinar from AMBS Mourning Our Losses Together During COVID-19: The Good News of Biblical Lament Tuesday, June 23, 2–3 p.m. EDT (Registration required) The list of losses during this global COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow. How do we respond? Explore the three-act movement of biblical lament as a faithful response to God. Register now to attend live or to watch the webinar recording later. Register for this free event AMBS is steeped in a centuries-old Anabaptist peace tradition. Study on campus or at a distance with experienced faculty mentors who are reflective practitioners and scholars. Grow in our global learning community that values creation care spiritual growth intercultural competence and undoing racism as core to Christian witness and the church's ministry of reconciliation Be empowered for creative, transformative and holistic Christian leadership. Learn more Email Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Rooted in the Word, Growing in Christ

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WCC NEWS: Webinar on Season of Creation: “New Rhythms, New Hope”

As a new Season of Creation celebration guide was released, a 8 June webinar on “Jubilee for the Earth: New Rhythms, New Hope” offered reflections from diverse Christian traditions that illuminated a way forward through caring for our planet.

The webinar was organised by the World Council of Churches, Anglican Communion Environmental Network, Christian Aid, European Christian Environmental Network, Global Catholic Climate Movement, Lausanne Creation Care Network, Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and World Evangelical Alliance.

Five panelists and more than 800 participants sparked a rich online discussion that continues to enlighten people across the world.

“The COVID-19 context inspired us to slow down and reflect on how this new life should be connected to the rest of the creation,” said Rei Lemuel Crizaldo, a panelist from the Philippines who serves with Micah Global. He shared how churches in the Philippines are practicing life-giving agriculture in their backyards, cultivating a deep spirituality as well as feeding communities. He stressed that churches should pay attention to the ones who have been safeguarding Mother Earth for hundreds of years - indigenous people.

Bringing a perspective from Costa Rica, Ruth Padilla deBorst gave the inspiring example of Casa Adobe as an alternative community striving to live in just conviviality with one another and with the nature. “We have to abandon the status quo and resist the spirit of consumerism” which has shaken the balance of the web of life, she said. “Living justly together as part of a planetary community requires a counterculture reaction…We need to reflect on vital questions such as: what is life for? What is good life?”

Representing the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Fr Joshtrom Kureethadam thanked God for providing the Biblical concept and practice of jubilee as a strategy for restoring right relations with nature. “It is about kairos which is an invitation for ecological conversion,” he reflected. “The celebration of jubilee should begin with the acknowledgment of our sins against the land, sea, air…and all creation.” He suggested that church action for jubilee should be “creative action that is led by the Holy Spirit… concrete, practical, and visionary…[as well as] participative.”

Martin Kopp with the Protestant Federation of France shared “nine and half theses” on the jubilee theme. Emphasising the primary responsibility of wealthy nations and wealthy people to make necessary changes in lifestyles and consumption, and calling for radical changes in prevailing economic systems, he proposed the critical need to embark on an economy of de-growth. “While the COVID-19 crisis has upended many lives, the unprecedented government actions to address the crisis also reveal that jubilee is possible,” he said.

The fifth panelist, Ruth Valerio, director of global advocacy at Tearfund, based in the United Kingdom, gave a prerecorded input. “Life is to be lived in community” where “all people are equal,” she said. If we are going to see jubilee for Mother Earth, “we cannot return to black skies by business as usual...We must reboot the economy.”

Season of Creation 2020 Celebration Guide, “Jubilee for the Earth,” now available – WCC news release 28 May 2020

Download the Season of Creation 2020 celebration guide

Learn more about Season of Creation

WCC's work on Care for Creation and Climate Justice

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania.

Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press
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