Eleuterio F. Fortino

The Jubilee of the Year 2000 which commemorates the two thousandth anniversary of the incarnation of the Word of God, involves all Christians, even though in their ordinary pastoral practices, the other Churches and ecclesial Communions are not accustomed to celebrating holy years. More and more people are convinced that because this Jubilee refers to Jesus Christ our one Lord, it should be made especially solemn, if possible with some event common to all Christians. An event that will testify to the world our common faith and intensify our relationships in view of reaching full communion.

The various Christian communities will commemorate the Jubilee according to their own theological options, pastoral sensitivity and liturgical customs.

Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente clearly presents this situation, which it respects, while proposing that we should reflect together about some celebration common to all Christians which will express our common faith and common commitment to spreading the Gospel in the world. «It would thus be quite helpful if, with due respect for the programmes of the individual Churches and Communities, ecumenical agreements could be reached with regard to the preparation and celebration of the Jubilee»(TMA 16). This prospect is being examined by competent bodies such as the Ecumenical Commission of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, which has among its members six fraternal delegates of other Churches and ecclesial Communions (Ecumenical Patriarchate, Copt-Orthodox Patriarchate, Anglican Communion, World Lutheran Federation, World Reformed Alliance, World Methodist Council) and a mixed sub-commission of the Mixed Work Group of the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. This reflection and research is also taking place in other Christian Churches.

The World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches (WCC), already in September 1994, during a meeting of its Executive Committee held in Bucharest, considered the prospect of the celebration of the millennium and asked Member Churches to consider the role of the WCC in celebrations for the Year 2000.

It has since become ever more apparent that the specific role of the WCC in this field is to make every effort to help the other Churches «to begin dialogue on projects for the year 2000 offering its services for exchange among those who are preparing celebrations or are interested in celebrations in 2000». Connected to this objective there is another, just as important, namely to encourage the Churches everywhere to express during preparation and the actual celebrations "their communion". The WCC is also reflecting on the nature of the celebrations and how to make communion among the Churches visible. The question posed is the following: «How could the Churches, celebrating the year 2000, illustrate and affirm their communion thus offering an act of significant testimony and a sign of hope?».

First of all the WCC stresses the need to give importance to the "pastoral" and "theological" preparation of believers "everywhere". For this purpose there are plans for seminars for "communities, schools and groups of various interests".

Some possible initiatives are indicated:

a) prayer: spiritual-liturgical preparation must be emphasized and common prayer is indicated as an appropriate event for the common celebration of the millennium, particularly at the local level;

b) texts: Christians should study together passages of the Bible to understand the Jubilee, it is suggested that Christians reflect together on the tradition and liturgical use of the Lord's Prayer (the Our Father) and proclaim together the faith contained in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed.

c) symbolic actions: there could be some symbolic actions, actions which show that the Churches are journeying towards full unity, such as: a celebration of our common baptism, a common profession of faith, some act to cancel the memory of ancient reciprocal anathemas. The WCC's doctrinal commission "Faith and Constitution" has been invited to explore other possible symbolic acts such as the celebration of Easter on the same date;

d) many events - one common event. The different Churches will celebrate the millennium in "different places and in many ways". A multitude of events is legitimate. But, the WCC affirms: «Nevertheless the idea of a meeting of all Christians, called for by the Pope's open invitation, is also one component of the celebrations. Here at least two fundamental questions emerge: a) how to guarantee the genuine ecumenical character of such a meeting, b) which would be the most appropriate place for such a meeting?».

Opinions on this theme in the ambit of the WCC seem to give "priority to the Holy Land". They say: «A celebration in Jerusalem, at the invitation of the local Church, would be a meeting of Christians in the same places that witnessed the incarnation of Our Lord».

Reflection and contacts continue.

After the last meeting of the WCC Central Committee a document "The WCC and the Year 2000" was sent for examination to the member Churches (Cfr World Council of Churches Central Committee 12-20 September Geneva 1996, p. 83).

More precise and specific indications could come from the WCC General Assembly in 1998 (Harare 4-22 September).

World Christian Communions

The World Christian Communions have said they do not intend to let this event pass without celebrating it in some manner. The Jubilee event involves in fact the entire Christian ekumene which founds its communion on faith in Jesus Christ. In fact "In this movement for unity, called ecumenical, participate all those who invoke the Trinity and profess faith in Jesus Christ Lord and Saviour (Unitatis Redintegratio 1).

Last year in June the WCC organised an informal meeting for representatives of the World Christian Communions for an exchange of information. Catholic representatives were also invited. This year in May there was a similar meeting to exchange information. From these contacts it would appear possible to arrange a common act of celebration involving all the different Churches and ecclesial communities.

This year the World Lutheran Federation and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches will hold their general assemblies, respectively in Hong Kong and in Debrecen in Hungary. These assemblies will also discuss celebrations for the Jubilee. For the moment, local Catholic Churches have been invited to work together with the other Churches in their area to consider the possibility of local common celebrations.

The Anglican Communion and the other Churches in England, including the Catholic Church have taken the initiative to "celebrate the millennium together" with common programmes already in preparation. They have also started a bulletin ("Millennium News"). The February 1997 issue gives these indications: "The task of the Churches for the millennium is to connect the year 2000, the name of Christ and the possibility of personal significance and public hope". The Churches in England already plan a symbolic act for the moment of passage from 1999 to 2000.

In the same bulletin we read: «The Churches of England ask everyone to make three simple acts at the very end of the 20th century. We would like to offer people the opportunity to observe a minute of silence, to light a candle and to say a prayer. Wherever you are - in Trafalgar Square or in a country village, at hom,e with friends or family - the Millennium Moment will be a time for healthy self examination».

The text continues: «Imagine the scene at 23.58 on December 31st 1999: the music stops; the excitement calms down. In silence each lights a little candle from the person next to them. Quietly each one can think of what is passing away and what is beginning. Then for half a minute, all those who wish to do so can join in a simple prayer. An unforgettable moment of communion, of deep personal reflection».

For the Anglican Communion in general we recall the common declaration signed by the Holy Father and the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Dr Carey, at the end of the latter's visit to Rome. A declaration which highlighted, among other things, a common celebration of the millennium.

The Pope and the Anglican Archbishop affirm: «We encourage Anglicans and Catholics to pray and witness together during the year 2000, with all their brothers and sisters. We make this appeal in a spirit of humility, aware that credible witness will be complete only when Anglicans and Catholics, together with all the other Christians, will have reached full visible unity which responds to Christ's prayer <That they may be one ...so that the world will believe>» (John 17,2).

The World Methodist Council was among the first to raise the question of a possible common celebration during the Jubilee year 2000. A final message issued by the World Methodist Conference (Rio de Janeiro June 12, 1996) contained this paragraph on the Jubilee: «In four years time the Christians of the whole world will celebrate 2000 years of grace since Christ was born for our salvation. The millennium which is about to end has been that in which divisions among Christians have grown. As Christians we have sought to obey Christ's command to go and preach the Gospel; but we also have exported our divisions and sometimes our competition. Celebrations for the year 2000 are a challenge to look ahead, to the third millennium. Will we persist in our divisions? Or will we be more profoundly converted to Jesus Christ responding more faithfully to what the Spirit is saying with ever more insistence to the Church, remembering Christ's prayer which he continues to address to the Father, <that they may be one>? This is the motivation most underlined by the Holy Father in his recent teaching, particularly in his Letter on the millennium and in his Encyclical on ecumenism».

The Orthodox Churches

The primates of the autocephalous, autonomous Orthodox Churches, convoked by Patriarch Bartholomew I, had a meeting in Patmos on 26 September, 1995. During that conference, they decided, among other things, to celebrate the year 2000. «The Orthodox Churches - we read in the final document - intend to organize all-Orthodox celebrations for the Jubilee of the Year 2000. During these celebrations the Church will lift up a doxology to the Lord of history, for all that he has given to his Church and to the world in these centuries». And this is not all. They will invoke the Lord's assistance for the new millennium. «The Orthodox Church does not intend to let this event pass without emphasis».

In a statement issued June 7, 1996, by the Secretariat of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarch, it was announced that the Ecumenical Patriarch has decided to "propose for the year 2000 a series of liturgical and cultural celebrations focusing on one of the major feasts on the Christian calendar". The feast of Our Lord's Transfiguration (August 6). The statement affirmed that no other feast could be more appropriate to express and commemorate the future glory, "glory which we will reach with perseverance and patience through much suffering in the present time". It added that "the purpose will be to promote our unswerving devotion and faith in our common Lord as well as our firm decision to continue to dedicate, with every possible means, ourselves to our service to God and to each other towards humanity and the world, for which the only-sinless One became man and was crucified". The statement concludes with this invitation: «From this holy centre we invite all who believe in Christ and who fight the good battle according to His will, wherever they are on the earth, to celebrate the whole day of August 6th 2000 with a solemn vigil, liturgical celebrations and other events, thus rendering glory to the eternal Lord born under the law to redeem those who were subject to the law».

The Ecumenical Patriarchate

The theme of the Jubilee was included in a common declaration made by Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at the end of the latter's visit to Rome (June 29th, 1995). After recalling the progress made in dialogue and thanking God "because with this common affirmation we hasten our steps towards a solution to the existing difficulties", the Pope and the Patriarch said: «This is particularly opportune on the eve of the third millennium when, 2000 years after the birth of Christ, all Christians will make an examination of conscience on the progress in the proclamation of his salvation in history and among men».

«We will celebrate this great Jubilee while still on pilgrimage towards full unity ... We invite our faithful to make this pilgrimage towards the Jubilee together spiritually. Reflection, prayer, dialogue, reciprocal forgiveness and mutual brotherly charity will bring us near to the Lord and help us to better understand his will for the Church and for humanity». The Ecumenical Patriarchate sent a delegate to the February 1996 meeting of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee and a permanent one to the Ecumenical Commission of that Committee.

His Holiness Bartholomew also referred to the Jubilee in his address to the Catholic delegation in Fanar for the annual Feast of Saint Andrew (November 30th, 1996). He said: «The year 2000 leads Christians inexorably to face the incorruptible judge of history...Great expectations of many people, particularly Christian men and women, are anticipated. Proper, above all else, is the expectation that the conclusion of the second millennium should culminate with a particular act by the Christian Churches, an act which will ensure hope for the people who refuse to accept the division which together we are carrying into the third millennium ... In this regard it is clear that the recollection of the lifting of the anathemas by our Churches thirty-one years ago nourishes in many such rightful expectation. At that time our believers realised that the grace of God and the necessary boldness acquired by means of that grace, made possible something which for centuries had been considered impossible».

The Patriarchate of Moscow

In a bilateral meeting between the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow (Moscow 17-17 December 1996), one of the matters discussed was the Jubilee of the Year 2000. The final communiqué said: «Since, for the celebration of the 2000th year since Christ the Saviour came into this world, both Churches have begun a process of preparation by means of special commissions set up for this purpose, the participants at this meeting consider it opportune that such commissions co-operate at bilateral and multilateral levels so that this Great Jubilee may become a visible expression of the common aspiration of the entire People of God to render glory to the Name of the One Lord whose sacrifice of redemption became the pledge of our salvation».

The Russian Orthodox Church's Jubilee Committee is chaired by Patriarch Alessio II himself and composed of bishop members of the Synod, presidents of ecclesiastical schools, officers of the department for external affairs and other departments of the patriarchal administration. When informing the Catholic Church of the institution of this committee, the speaker expressed the hope "that its representatives will be able to examine with you the prospects for co-operation and the possibility of harmonising plans for the preparation of the Jubilee".

Europe

The Churches in Europe have a particularly interesting programme for the preparation and celebration of the Jubilee.

In June 1997, 23-29, the Second European Ecumenical Assembly will take place in Graz, Austria. The theme of the meeting is "Reconciliation: gift of God and source of new life". Some 700 delegates, Anglicans, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, will attend the meeting, organized by the Conference of European Churches KEK and by the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe C-CEE.

Moreover the joint-committee of these two organizations, which met last January in Ratzburg (Germany), decided to convoke in 2000 another European Ecumenical Assembly to celebrate together the new millennium and to reflect together on the unity of Christians.

Observations

As yet no decisions have been reached about the precise form of common celebrations. This is something the different Churches and ecumenical organizations are working on. In the time that remains before 2000, in each concrete situation suitable ways are sure to be found to allow each Christian tradition to take its place beside the others in a symphony which will render glory to God.

In the meantime, as well as with theological and pastoral research, the Churches are preparing in prayer. The international mixed committee composed of representatives of the Catholic Church and of the World Council of Churches already two years ago decided to adopt as themes for the three-year period 1997-1998-1999, those proposed by the Holy Father for the preparation of the Jubilee. This means that the Catholic Church and the other Churches and ecclesial communities are reflecting and praying together on the profession of faith in the three Persons of the Holy Trinity and on the plan of salvation brought about in Jesus Christ.