Chapel for Europe: Ecumenical Roundtable on Christian Unity
In the context of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a round table discussion took place at the Chapel for Europe, in Brussels, on “How Do We Understand Christian Unity in Practice?”, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. The panel included Rev. Fr. Sorin ȘELARU, the Director of the Representation Office of the Romanian Patriarchate in Brussels.
The event was organised by the Rose Castle Foundation and moderated by Canon Sarah Snyder, its founding Director. The panel included a representative of each of the major Christian traditions: Father Manuel Barrios PRIETO, the General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Rev. Frank-Dieter FISCHBACH, General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), and Father Sorin SELARU.
In his intervention, Fr. ȘELARU highlighted how complex and fragile the matter of Christian unity is in today’s context, not only from an ecumenical perspective, but also concerning the inter-Orthodox situation, a direct concern in this regard being the catastrophic war in Ukraine. Henceforth, the understanding of Christian unity and its actualisation must be a continuous interest for every Christian in the light of both the inter-Orthodox situation and the wider society, which tends to become increasingly secular, pluralistic, divided, and polarised. At the same time, Fr. ȘELARU underscored the theological-spiritual basis of Christian unity, which distinguishes it from any other sort of human unity. The unity of the Church is grounded in God Himself, Who is One and Three at once; the Holy Trinity, understood as unity and communion rooted in love. Christian unity is a matter of love of God and of the ‘other’. Each Christian is responsible for the visible unity of the Church because, to reiterate Jesus’ words, love is central to Christian identity: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
The speakers equally emphasised the importance of the principle of synodality when it comes to Christian unity, especially as 2025 marks the 1700th celebration of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325).
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