From January 18 to 25, 2018, Bucharest hosted an annual ecumenical prayer under the title “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”. “Thy right hand, O God, has been glorified in strength; thy right hand, O God, has broken the enemies” (Exodus 15:6)-this was the motto and slogan selected for this year.

As reported the Press Divan of the Armenian Diocese of Romania to Hayern Aysor, among the participants of the Ecumenical Prayer were representatives of the Armenian Diocese of Romania, including representatives of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Germany, the Anglican Church, the Calvin Protestant Church, as well as the Greco-Catholic and Roman-Catholic Churches.

The ecumenical prayer week was divided under the following procedure:

18 January-unified prayer at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church where the right to speak and preach was reserved for the Romanian Orthodox Church

19 January-unified prayer at Calvin Protestant Church where the right to speak and convey a message was reserved for the German Lutheran Church

20 January-unified prayer at the Holy Archangels Armenian Apostolic Cathedral where the right to speak was reserved for the Roman Catholic Church. Among the attendees of the ecumenical prayer were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Sergey Minasyan; Consul Ashot Grigoryan; President of the Union of Armenians of Romania Varujan Vosganian; Minister of Religions of Romania Victor Opasky; representative of leader of the Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel and Vicar of the Archbishopate of Bucharest, His Grace, Bishop Timotey Prahoveanu; Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, His Grace Ioan Robu; Bishop of the Greco-Catholic Church, His Grace Mikhai Fratsil; Vicar of the German Lutheran Church, His Grace, Bishop Daniel Zichelli; representative of the Hungarian Calvin Protestant Church, Priest Zsold Bella; representative of the Vatican in Bucharest, Priest Fernando Reis; Dean of the Justinian Patriarch Theological University of Bucharest, Priest Stefan Buikiu, as well as priests and clergymen representing various churches.

Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, His Grace Ioan Robu and Minister of Religions Victor Opasky gave their speeches. In his speech, Opasky attached special importance to the role and importance of Christian churches within the society and reminded that 99% of the Romanian population is Christian. In his speech, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Romania, His Grace, Bishop Tatev Hakobyan highlighted the fact that the year 2018 is an extremely important year for Romania since this year Romanians will hold grand celebrations dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the unification of Romania and, in this context, all Christian churches in Romania must actively participate in this major event, praying for peace, justice and the prosperity of the Romanian State.

21 January-Prayer and Divine Liturgy at all the above-mentioned churches

22 January-unified prayer at Greco-Catholic Church where the right to speak was reserved for the Anglican Church

23 January-unified prayer at the German Lutheran Evangelical Church where the right to speak was reserved for the Armenian Church, namely the Armenian Diocese of Romania. The message of Primate of the Diocese, His Grace, Bishop Tatev Hakobyan was presented by Priest Grigor Holka. In his speech, His Holiness particularly stated the following: “God is not only the Creator of the universe, all visible and invisible phenomena and man who is considered the person who has created everything, but also, with His Creative Hand and Powerful Right Hand, He always blesses and protects His creation. David said the following about God: “…His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him” (Psalm 97:1). After crossing the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites glorify God, saying the following: “Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy” (Exodus 15:6). The right hand of the Lord symbolizes Jesus. Marcus the Evangelist writes the following about the Ascension of Christ: “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God” (Marcos 16:19).The Bible contains many reminders of the right hand of God as a symbol of many realities, including the creation by God (Isaiah 48:13), the power of God (Exodus 15:6, Psalm 21:8), honor and homage (Psalm 44:10, Matthew 25:34, Job 7:55), personal blessing (Genesis 48:14), fraternal love (Galatians 2:9), enmity (Psalm 108:6, Zakaria 3:1), etc. Having said that, alongside all of these meanings, what stands out is the understanding of the right hand of the Lord as a symbol of power, authority and force, as punishable, but protective and defensive. At the same time, the Holy Book teaches us that God is love, and there is no fear in love, we should not be afraid of anything because God loves us. The love of God is especially talked a lot about in the New Testament, like in the paper of John the Apostle: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:8-9), “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:16-18)…Let our unified prayer become an occasion for us to become stronger and become closer to the Lord by being in touch with the Body and Blood of Christ. Our wish and call is for the name of the Lord to be glorified through our acts, for man to be able to take steps towards God, towards the peace of God, being in harmony with the Creator, nature and with himself, enjoying the blessings and gifts of the Powerful Right Hand of the Lord, as well as feeling the presence of the Protective Right Hand in life. Amen.”

24 January-unified prayer at the Anglican Church where the right to speak was reserved for the Protestant Church

25 January-unified prayer at the Romanian Orthodox Church where the right to speak was reserved for the Greco-Catholic Church.

The week of the ecumenical prayers ended with the confidence to meet again and with the wish that the Merciful and Almighty God cleanse the world of all types of evil and tragedies, granting love, peace and harmony.