The Community Sant’Egidio hosted the 36^th edition of its annual “Spirit of Assisi” event in Rome from 23 to 25^th October. A three- day peace summited welcomed presidents, religious leaders, and various high-ranking authorities. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Representative of the Armenian Church to the Holy See and the Pontifical Legate of the Western Europe also was invited to taken part of the activities of this international gathering. The event was inaugurated on Sunday, October 23^rd at the “Nuvola” Congress Center in Rome with the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Sergio Mattarella. President Macron in his speech twice made suggestion that with the War in Ukraine we should not forget also the wars in Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Somalia.

On Monday, 24^th of October several Forums took place the Congress Center. Archbishop Barsamian was asked to participate and make presentation in one of the Forums titled  “A Shared Easter Date: No Longer a Dream, but a Necessity to Unite the World”.

In the beginning of his presentation Archbishop Barsamian expressed his appreciation to the Community of Sant’Egidio for organizing once again this International Meeting for Peace “The Cry for Peace – Religions and Cultures in Dialogue”. And he expressed his joy to be part of this Forum in which they were asked to discuss a very important topic “A Shared Easter Date: No Longer a Dream, but a necessity to Unite the World”.

He mentioned that the past few years have been very challenging to the world: Covid-19 Pandemic has shaken the entire humanity and the recent serious political conflicts have created an atmosphere of major treat to the world. For that, he stressed that there is an urgent need for unity.

He remined the audience saying “How the modern ecumenical movement during the last century has become a springboard to create an environment of mutual respect, openness and rapprochement among the churches which have been deeply divided by history, theology, culture and geography. And how in 1948 the World Council of Churches was established in Amsterdam and how the ecumenical movement destroyed the walls of isolation and open the gates for dialogue, cooperation, understanding and respecting each other and through which active interaction began”. He also reminted that the sixteen documents produced by the Second Vatican Council 60 years ago proposed significant developments in doctrine and practice: an extensive reform of the liturgy, a renewed theology of the Church, a new approach to relations between the Church and the world, to ecumenism, to non-Christian religions and to religious freedom, stressing that how in modern history, inter-church relations received a completely new development after the Second Vatican Council. And with such spirit the Christians can search new ways to bring healing to the divided world and find paths of reconciliation.

Speaking about “A Shared Easter Date” Archbishop Barsamian spoke about the importance of Christ’s Resurrection for all Christians saying “it is the foundation of our Christian faith.  Celebrating together on the same day of this important feast will be a very important step to realize our unity in our Risen Lord”. He also presented some of the recent positive developments in order to resolve this issue.

Archbishop Barsamian suggested that the year 2025, which coincides with the 1700^th  anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) might be an opportune time to reform the calendar.

He concluded his presentation saying “time has come to look with hope to a common Easter celebrated and witnessed in unity, in the East and the West, following the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. The time for Christians to proclaim: “Christ is risen! Indeed, he is risen!” and share their liturgical treasures and services might be nearer than we think, and the Church of the first millennium is coming to the rescue”.

The ttree days events concluded with a prayer service in Rome’s famous Colosseum, presided by Pope Francis. Before the service Archbishop Barsamian had the opportunity to greet the Pope. When he told the Pope about his coming trip to Armenia, Pope Francis said “I pray for Armenia”.