Joint Prayer in Nicaea: An Orthodox Response on the 1,700th Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council

On the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, many Christians around the world were moved to see representatives of different confessions gather in that ancient city. Some expressed great enthusiasm at the sight of a “common prayer,” imagining it as a symbol of unity or as a step toward healing centuries of division.

But for the Orthodox Christian—especially for those striving to remain faithful to the unbroken Tradition of the Church—such events raise serious concerns. The issue is not sentimentality, nor a lack of love, but fidelity to the Holy Canons, which speak with clarity and authority about prayer with those outside the Orthodox faith.

1. The Holy Canons Forbid Joint Prayer With Heretics

The Apostolic Canons and the Ecumenical Councils repeatedly forbid clergy or laity from engaging in common prayer with heretics or schismatics.

For example:

• Apostolic Canon 45: “Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon who has only prayed with heretics be suspended.”
• Apostolic Canon 65: “If any cleric or layman enter into a synagogue of Jews or heretics to pray, let him be deposed or excommunicated.”

These canons were not written in a spirit of hostility, but in a spirit of spiritual protection—to preserve the purity of the Orthodox faith and to prevent confusion among the faithful.

Joint prayer is not a neutral gesture. In the mind of the Fathers, it is an expression of unity in belief. To pray together is to confess a common faith. And since false belief harms the soul, the Church does not allow even the appearance of unity where real unity does not exist.

2. Are the Papists Still Heretics?

Some today claim that Roman Catholics (what the Fathers often called “Latins”) are no longer heretics, or that modern disagreements are mere “misunderstandings.” But the Orthodox Church has never reversed her doctrinal judgment regarding the errors introduced by the Papacy.

Historically, Rome fell away through:

• The Filioque (adding to the Creed)
• The doctrine of papal supremacy and infallibility
• The innovations surrounding created grace, scholasticism, and later distortions
• The abandonment of the Patristic understanding of Original Sin, baptism, icons, and other teachings
• Modernist and ecumenistic developments that have moved even further from Holy Tradition

These are not minor adjustments but dogmatic divergences. According to the standards of the Ecumenical Councils, persistent dogmatic error is precisely what the Fathers meant by heresy.

Therefore, from a traditional Orthodox perspective—especially from the standpoint of the True Orthodox Church, which has not compromised its confession—the Roman Church remains in heresy.

To say this is not to condemn individuals, many of whom live piously according to what they have been taught. Rather, it is an honest statement about doctrine, not about personal moral worth.

3. Love Without False Unity

Modern ecumenism often tries to replace theological truth with emotional gestures. But true Christian love is not sentimentality; it is the desire for the salvation of the other.

The Fathers showed love for heretics not by pretending differences did not exist, but by calling them to repentance and truth. St. Mark of Ephesus at the Council of Florence is the clearest example: he spoke with firmness, respect, and unshakeable fidelity to Orthodoxy.

We must imitate his spirit—not hostility, but clarity without compromise.

4. Why the Nicaea Event Matters

Nicaea is not just any city. It is the birthplace of the Nicene Creed and the site where the Fathers defined the Orthodox confession against Arianism. For clergy and representatives of different confessions to engage in joint prayer there sends a confusing message:

• It implies unity where there is none.
• It ignores the clear Canons of the Church.
• It dishonors the witness of the Fathers, who defended the faith at great personal cost.

What the world needs today is not symbolic gestures, but restored fidelity to the very truths proclaimed at Nicaea.

5. The Orthodox Path Forward

The Orthodox response must be both firm and compassionate:

• We acknowledge the longing many feel for Christian unity—but unity cannot be built on compromise or doctrinal ambiguity.
• We pray for all people, privately and personally, as the Gospel commands—but not in common worship with those outside the Orthodox faith.
• We bear witness to the fullness of Truth without pride, remembering that we too must strive toward repentance and holiness.
• And we remain faithful to the Holy Canons, which protect the boundaries of the Church just as the walls of Nicaea once protected the city.

The true unity of Christians will come only when all return to the faith of the Fathers, the faith of the First Ecumenical Council, the faith of the Orthodox Church.

Until then, we must guard the Faith without compromise, for it is not ours to change, but only to preserve.