The Almudena Cathedral will host on the next November 20 an ecumenical celebration on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Church, which solemnly defined the divinity of Jesus Christ against the Arian heresy. The event, promoted by the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), will bring together representatives of the main Christian denominations present in Spain. They will pray together and present a common declaration, the fruit of patient dialogue not without differences.
Nicaea, foundation of the faith against confusion
Seventeen centuries ago, the Church was at stake for its identity. Arianism denied that Jesus Christ was consubstantial with the Father, reducing him to an exalted creature, but not divine. From that crisis, thanks to the courage of bishops like Saint Athanasius and to God’s providence, the Nicene Creed emerged, which Catholics recite every Sunday since then:
“Begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.”
That definition did not arise from a diplomatic consensus, but from a struggle for the truth. The conciliar Fathers did not seek a formula “acceptable to all”, but a clear affirmation that expelled error from the field of faith. That is the spirit that today seems to be forgotten when ecumenism is celebrated as an end in itself.
A commemoration with theological meaning
The Joint Declaration that will be read during the ecumenical event at the Almudena has been prepared by the Episcopal Subcommission for Interconfessional Relations and Interreligious Dialogue, chaired by Monsignor Ramón Valdivia, and approved by the Permanent Commission of the CEE.
According to COPE, the text wants to be a “sign of communion and hope”.
It is true that dialogue between Christians cannot be reduced to symbolic gestures. But it is also true that visible communion always begins with the humble search for what unites, and Nicaea—with its definition of Trinitarian faith—is the greatest point of encounter between East and West.
However, it is necessary to remember that the experience of the 20th century—and what we have of the 21st—demonstrates that that type of ecumenism tends more to relativize the truth.
As Benedict XVI warned, “the best form of ecumenism consists in living according to the Gospel”.
A sign of hope in times of division
In the midst of a context marked by religious and cultural tensions, the joint prayer in Madrid will be a call to unity in the essentials and to fidelity to the Creed that since Nicaea continues to be the common confession of all the baptized.
If the Almudena fills up on November 20, let it not be to celebrate a sterile dialogue, but to confess, once again and with a clear voice:
“God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”
Only thus will there be authentic unity, because only thus will there be authentic faith.