To earn trust as Christians, we must celebrate Easter on the same day as Catholics, - Patriarch Bartholomew

Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew continues to promote the idea of unifying the date of Easter celebrations with Roman Catholics. The head of the Phanar believes that in order to achieve unity, the Orthodox and Latins must return to the practice that was adopted at the First Ecumenical Council. He said this in an interview with Vatican News.

«At Nicaea, it was decided that it was important to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection on the same day throughout the known world. Unfortunately, historical circumstances prevented the Council’s instructions from being followed. It is not for us to judge what happened, but we understand that in order to be true Christians, we must celebrate the Resurrection of the Savior on the same day. Together with the late Pope Francis, we entrusted a committee to study this issue. A dialogue began. However, there are different points of view among the Churches. It is also our duty to avoid new divisions. For the Orthodox Church, what was established by the Ecumenical Council can only be changed by another Ecumenical Council. Nevertheless, we are all open to listening to the Spirit, who, we believe, has clearly shown us this year how important it is to unify the date of Easter,» — said the head of the Phanar.

Earlier, Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy head of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media of the Russian Orthodox Church, expressed his opinion on the prospects of uniting Orthodoxy with Catholicism and Protestantism. He argues that Christian denominations can work together on some general humanitarian issues, but true unification into one Church, given the doctrinal differences, seems completely unrealistic.