Prof. Dirk Lange speaking at a recent European Church Leadership Consultation in Riga, Latvia. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2026 comes to us from the ancient and always vibrant witness of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Church shares with all Christians its deep theological, liturgical, and spiritual heritage. This Week of Prayer is unique as we are invited into a spiritual dynamic that has animated the Armenian Christians for almost two millennia and shapes our hope for unity today.
The Biblical text from Ephesians 4:1-13 recalls the same theme of the LWF Assembly in Krakow (2023): ‘One Body, One Spirit, One Hope’. Just like the Assembly, it focuses on the unity of the one body, in one Spirit, grounded in one hope that guides our lives in the midst of the struggles, the upheavals, the uncertainties of our current context. Wars continue to rage and peace seems to elude us. Rulers impose their agendas with ever more forceful violence, disrespecting the freedom and rights, even lives, of people.
Light from Light for Light
In this context of instability, when ideologies present themselves as theology, when idols of many kinds impose themselves as gospel, the Armenian Apostolic Church shares its liturgical witness: a beautiful prayer that turns our eyes away from these rulers, these leaders of violence, these perpetrators of fake news and lies, to the true source of life and light, towards Christ, Light from Light for Light.
This theme of the Week of Prayer, rooted in the Nicene Creed, that confession of faith that challenged misleading theologies in its own day and challenges us to do the same today, this theme shapes Christian communities into one Body as we pray and sing together. The liturgy becomes a source of renewal, a source of hope, an orientation towards unity.
Unity at heart of our identity
As the commentary accompanying the proposed prayers for this Week states, “Unity is a divine mandate at the core of our Christian identity, more than simply an ideal.” Unity is at the heart of our identity as baptized people. Unity is not, as the commentary continues, an absence of difference or even conflict, but a profound “spiritual bond reflecting the unity of the Holy Trinity.” In our praying together, we are touched and reflect the communion, the light and truth of the Holy Trinity in the midst of our disoriented world. Our eyes are turned to you, O God (Psalm 123) as the prayer emphasizes. “Oculi nostri ad Dominum Jesum, oculi nostri ad Dominum nostrum” as the beautiful Taizé song renders it.
We give thanks for the witness, the perseverance and gospel joy amid the struggle of the Armenian Apostolic Church. In this week, let us gather together with our fellow pilgrims from many different ecclesial traditions and communions, and in worship together, turn our eyes towards Christ, Light from Light, and be shaped into one Body, through the one Spirit, in one Hope.
LWF encourages all its member churches to celebrate the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is held in the northern hemisphere from 18 to 25 January and around Pentecost in many churches of the global south. The resources, available here in six languages, are jointly published by the World Council of Churches and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.
