“An important step towards reconciling the churches”

Dr. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chair of the German Bishops’ Conference, have called their joint pilgrimage to the Holy Land “an important step towards reconciling the two big churches in Germany”. At the same time, they called on the religions and society in the Holy Land to embark on a path of freedom and understanding. To conclude their journey, the EKD and German Bishops’ Conference issued a joint “message for Christ”, underlining the significance of the pilgrimage for the Reformation anniversary, and concluding: “Our common mission for our country is not yet completed. We are confident that the Christusfest in 2017 will become a credible witness to God and will strengthen us beyond this special anniversary year in our journey towards full visible unity.”

Cardinal Marx told journalists in Jerusalem, “On the way to our common roots we experienced how our ecumenical unity has gained in depth and strength.” He continued: “In encountering the holy sites we sensed how deeply we as disciples of Jesus are united in following him.” They had also been reminded, however, that Catholic and Protestant Christians had done a lot of harm to one another in the past 500 years. “Together we pray that God will heal these painful memories,” Marx added.

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm called the journey an “unforgettable experience”, through which Protestant and Catholic participants had gained an even better understanding of the others’ tradition: “We have learned to look with the eyes of the other. That is a very strong basis for the ecumenical spirit of the Reformation anniversary,” declared the Lutheran bishop of Bavaria. “In celebrating the Eucharist and Lord’s Supper we also sensed that reconciled diversity is an ambitious goal. It is painful when the deeply-felt fellowship cannot be expressed at the Lord’s Table.”

The participants in the pilgrimage likewise experienced the unresolved conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as painful. At the same time they expressed appreciation of the contribution of the Christians living in the Holy Land to the common good and to a peaceful coexistent between Jews and Muslims. “We also embarked on this pilgrimage to Israel in order to be called to repent,” they reported. According to the message, it is the churches’ mandate, “together to oppose any form of anti-Semitism and racism that poisons our relations and threatens peace. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has many losers on both sides. The continuing violence shows the fragility of the peace that this country so urgently needs.”

The delegations were also moved by the fact that, only a few kilometres from Lake Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee), in Syria and also in Iraq, people were suffering and dying. Bedford-Strohm and Marx noted: “We prayed for them in our services, continue to think of them with great concern and maintain bonds of solidarity with them.”

On their pilgrimage through the Holy Land, the joint delegation - nine representatives each from the two churches - visited biblical sites on Lake Gennesaret, on the way to Jerusalem and on arrival there. They also held talks with political and church representatives. They were received, for example, by Reuven Rivlin, president of the State of Israel, and Issa Qassassieh, Palestinian ambassador to the Holy See. This morning the delegation visited the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and mourned the millions of Jews murdered in the Shoah. The joint pilgrimage of the German Bishops’ Conference and the EKD Council ends on Saturday evening with an ecumenical service in the Abbey of the Dormition in Jerusalem.

You can find the Joint Message concluding the ecumenical pilgrimage to the Holy Land as a PDF below. Further information such as inputs and pictures are available at www.dbk.de/themen/oekumenische-pilgerreise.

Jerusalem, 21 October 2016

EKD Press Office
Carsten Splitt