Christian Unity and Dialogue
Church Communions unite to celebrate Resurrection
This Easter, the Anglican Communion is one of 12 Christian World Communions to issue a letter marking a joint celebration of Easter 2025 and the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea.
The message seeks to bear witness to the Resurrection of Christ and has been signed by General Secretaries and ecumenical representatives of the Communions involved.
It calls for Christians to work for the unity of the Church, praying for “the Holy Spirit to move our Communions to live and walk together, in obedience to the call of Jesus’ that all his disciples may be one.”
It also offers words of hope “at this time of great political instability in the world, when so many live with fear, suffering, persecution, famine, and other forms of instability and vulnerability.” All Christians are called together to proclaim the good news of “repentance and forgiveness of sins … to all nations” (Luke 24:47–48).
The statement embodies the Communions’ conviction that “that the Lord calls us to agreement, and unified witness,” in a year when the coincidence of Christian calendars will see all Christian churches, West and East, celebrate the Day of Resurrection on Sunday, April 20.
Historically, the date of Easter has differed between Eastern and Western churches. The Gregorian calendar, used by most Western churches, differs from the Julian calendar, which is the basis for calculating Easter in some Eastern Orthodox churches.
Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew have publicly advocated for a shared Easter date, seeing it as a step towards greater unity among Christians.
2025 is also significant as the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, formulated by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD (and later revised at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD).
The Nicene Creed presents the most authoritative statement of trinitarian Christian faith.
Speaking in support of the statement, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Right Reverend Anthony Poggo, said: “2025 is an important year, in which we celebrate a joint Easter and celebrate the Nicene Creed as a universal statement of faith for all Christian people. The Anglican Communion joyfully stands with fellow Christian World Communions in calling Christians globally to prayer, to common witness and to the unity of God’s Church.”
The statement reads in full as follows:
‘You are witnesses of these things.’ Luke 24:48
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world,
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
As representatives of 12 Christian World Communions, present in every nation on earth, we are moved and grateful to speak with one voice and one heart about our Lord’s resurrection, which we have witnessed and profess together.
Together, from East and West, North and South, in this year of our Lord 2025, we have been given by God the great gift of a shared date of Easter. Devout Christians have prayed for generations that this may be possible. Though we have not yet achieved agreement on the date of Easter in perpetuity, we have no doubt that the Lord calls us to agreement, and unified witness, so that the world may believe (John 17:21).
As a further summons, God in his mercy has enabled us this year to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and its Creed. We are humbled and amazed that we can, on this Easter, profess together the fact that:
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
In the light of these gifts, we call upon the Holy Spirit to move our Communions to live and walk together, in obedience to the call of Jesus’ that all his disciples may be one. We hope to hear his ‘words’ anew, just as when he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and ‘opened their minds to understand the scriptures,’ namely, that the Messiah must suffer and rise, ‘and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations’ (Luke 24:44–47). At this time of great political instability in the world, when so many live with fear, suffering, persecution, famine, and other forms of instability and vulnerability, we would seek together to be ‘witnesses of these things’ of God, accomplished by our Lord and Saviour (24:48). For this purpose, we pray over and over again with eager expectation and hope that we may all be one, ‘clothed with power from on high’ (24:49).
May the Lord grant us his Spirit of cooperation and obedience, forgive us our sins, and use us as his instruments of reconciliation and healing in the world.
And may God bathe our hearts and minds in the cleansing light of his resurrection from the dead. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
The Very Revd Fr Hrant Tahanian
Ecumenical Officer
Armenian Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia
The Right Revd Anthony Poggo
Secretary General
Anglican Communion
The Revd Elijah Brown
General Secretary & CEO
Baptist World Alliance
Tina Bruner
General Secretary and Executive Director
Christian Church and Churches of Christ
Bishop Maximos of Melitene
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain
Ecumenical Patriarchate
The Revd Christoph Amstad Schuler
Ecumenical Officer
International Old Catholic Bishop’s Conference/Old Catholic Church
The Revd Anne Burghardt
General Secretary
Lutheran World Federation
The Revd Jørgen Bøytler
Unity Board Administrator
Moravian Church Worldwide Unity Board
The Revd César García
General Secretary
Mennonite World Conference
The Revd David Wells
Vice–Chair
Pentecostal World Fellowship
Commissioner Jane Paone
Secretary for International Ecumenical Relations
The Salvation Army
The Revd Reynaldo Ferreira Leão Neto
General Secretary
World Methodist Council
Shared on behalf of the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue