IZNIK, Turkey — Pope Leo XIV joined Orthodox patriarchs and ecumenical leaders Friday in commemorating an important moment in Christian history, gathering at the site in Turkey of an unprecedented A.D. 325 meeting of bishops to pray that Christians might once again be reunited.
Leo, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and other Christian leaders met on the shores of Lake Iznik, the site of the Council of Nicaea that produced a creed, or statement of faith, that is still recited by millions of Christians today.
Leo flew by helicopter to Iznik from Istanbul to take part in an ecumenical prayer to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicaea meeting, the highlight of his visit to Turkey. He arrived just after the Muslim call to prayer rang out from a nearby mosque.
The Nicaea gathering happened at a time when the Eastern and Western churches were still united. They split in the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope. But even today, Catholic, Orthodox and most historic Protestant groups accept the Nicaean Creed, making it a point of agreement and the most widely accepted creed in Christendom.
As a result, celebrating its origins at the site of its creation with the spiritual leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and other Christian representatives marked a historic moment in the centuries-old quest to reunite all Christians.
A prayer for unity
In Iznik, the Christian leaders prayed at the lakeside archaeological excavations of the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophytos in a service featuring alternating Catholic and Orthodox hymns.
The stone foundations of the basilica, which were recently uncovered by the receding waters of Lake Iznik, are believed to be on the site of an earlier church that hosted the council 1,700 years ago.
The participants included Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. Also on hands were priests and bishops from Orthodox Greek, Syrian, Coptic, Malankarese, Armenian, Protestant and Anglican churches, with Leo and Bartholomew trailing a procession out on a raised walkway over the ruins.
Speaking Friday before arriving, Leo said the creed wasn’t merely a doctrinal formula, but the “essential core of the Christian faith.”
“Therefore, its development is organic, akin to that of a living reality, gradually bringing to light and expressing more fully the essential heart of the faith,” he said.
A brief protest before Leo arrived
Christians are a minority in predominantly Sunni Muslim Turkey, and ahead of the prayer in Iznik, around 20 members of a small Turkish Islamic party staged a brief protest, saying the encounter posed a threat to Turkey’s sovereignty and national identity.
Under a heavy police presence, Mehmet Kaygusuz, a member of the New Welfare Party, read a statement denouncing what he said were efforts to establish a “Vatican-like Greek Orthodox state” in Turkey. The group dispersed peacefully shortly after.
Leo arrived in Turkey on Thursday, emphasizing a message of peace as he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It’s a message he’ll bring to Lebanon on Sunday, the second and final leg of the trip for history’s first American pope.
Iznik resident Suleyman Bulut, 35, acknowledged his town’s deep historical and spiritual significance for Christians and said he had no issue with them coming to honor their heritage.
“Muslims (too) should go and visit places that belong to us in the rest of the world, in Europe,” he said.
But Hasan Maral, a 41-year-old shopkeeper said he felt uncomfortable with visit. “The pope coming here feels contradictory to my faith,” he said.
A boost for Turkey’s tiny Catholic community
Leo began his first full day in Istanbul by encouraging Turkey’s tiny Catholic community to find strength in their small numbers. According to Vatican statistics, Catholics number around 33,000 in a nation of 85 million, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.
“The logic of littleness is the church’s true strength,” Leo told them in English. “The significant presence of migrants and refugees in this country presents the church with the challenge of welcoming and serving some of the most vulnerable.”
He received a raucous welcome at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, where he was greeted with shouts of “Papa Leo” and “Viva il Papa” (Long Live the pope).
Leo later visited with a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a nursing home in Istanbul.
“He was so simple. We just felt he was at home. He felt very much at ease. Everybody got what they expected: a blessing, a kind word. It’s just enormous,” said Sister Margret of the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home.
On Saturday, Leo continues with his ecumenical focus, meeting with Bartholomew and other Christian leaders. But he’ll also visit the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque, and will celebrate a late afternoon Mass in Istanbul’s Volkswagen Arena.
He travels on Sunday to Lebanon, the second and final leg of his trip.
