THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR EASTERN CHRISTIANS 2023
Sunday 14 may 2023
What is the Eastern Christians’ Day?
An International Day of Communion prayers.
Eastern Christians: Syriacs, Copts, Maronites, Greek-Melkites, Greek-Catholics, Romanians and Ukrainians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Syro-Malankars, Syro-Malabars, Chaldeans, Armenians and Latins gathered in prayer.
A day of meeting
Discover the origins of Christianity and going to meet Christians from different Eastern Catholic Churches.
Lord, on this Day of Eastern Christians, I implore you to look at all countries at war and particularly Ukraine, Armenia, Syria, Ethiopia …
Raise up among our brothers and sisters of the East, peacemakers and artisans of hope. We are praying.
Intent of prayers for the Eastern Christians Day
How to celebrate the day in France?
I join by praying: Lord, on this Day of Eastern Christians, I implore you to look at all countries at war and particularly Ukraine, Armenia, Syria, Ethiopia…raise up among our brothers and sisters of the Middle-East, peacemakers and artisans of hope. We are praying.
I share the prayers intentions in my parish to be read at the universal prayer on Sunday.
I offer to integrate oriental rituals in the Dominican mass of my parish such as the use of incense and oriental songs.
I organize a quest for my parish to support Eastern Christians.
I ring the bells of my church to support Eastern Christians.
I order the sticker and the posters and distribute them around me.
meet Eastern Christians and discover the richness of their churches.
It’s possible to participate in celebrations in our parishes and to associate our oriental brothers and sisters.
I inform myself about the presence of an eastern community in my area. I invite it or go to meet it.
I participate in an eastern mass.
I inform myself of the events in my area.
I discover the richness of oriental churches on the site of L’Œuvre d’Orient.
I share in live, with the entire community of Christians, in France as well as in the East, on L’Œuvre d’Orient’s social media: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
How to celebrate the day of prayer in Eastern nations?
Pray for France and for peace
Lord, on this Day of Eastern Christians, we are praying for our brothers and sisters of France. Support them in their faith, allow them to become artisans of hope and peacemakers throughout their respective countries and the world.
I share my intent of prayer with the dominical mass and relay it to the members of my community.
Why is does Eastern Christians’s Day on the 6th Sunday of Easter?
Sunday after Sunday, during Easter celebrations, Eastern and Western Christians listen to the Apostles and are therefore witnesses of this first evangelization.
Those lectures remind us the origin of Eastern congregations and the history of the first Middle Eastern Christians, those that have converted us. Today, they resist in their homeland to transmit this same faith to their (offspring). children ?
“We pray for peace in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Africa, and everywhere across the globe, where Christians suffer from violence, war and conflicts. May the Lord not only grant us to win “a war” but to gain a definite victory “over the war.”
His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk.
Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
How could I not respond to your call, for a communion of prayers, on this Day of Eastern Christians? With all the Christians of France, we believe that nothing will waiver our hope. Let neither war, persecution, terrorism prevent us from being sowers of hope.
Sister Pascale and the religious from Notre-Dame of Good Service – Lebanon.
How to assist Eastern Christians? From Monsignor Gollnisch, General Director of L’Œuvre d’Orient.
- Living as a Christian
Eastern Christians ask me frequently: “Are there any Christians left in France?” Before thinking “about doing something on their behalf”, we must ask ourselves if we are coherent )with ourselves in our Christian lives.
- Learn by getting to know
Three oriental dioceses exist in France (Maronite, Ukrainian, and Armenian) as well as numerous parishes that follow a variety of rites: participate in liturgy, give them a voice, and meet them; it’s the time to discuss their history which is also ours.
- Defend their cause
If all Catholics of France emailed their respective deputy to request them to defend the cause of Eastern Christians, it would be an incredible support!
- To decenter oneself from “Latinism”
Being Catholic, doesn’t necessarily mean being Latin. Eastern Christians are part of the universality of the Catholic Church, and it is essential to associate them.
Fellowship and Aid to the Christians of the East (FACE)
Patron: His Eminence Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald, M.Afr. Pastoral Advisor: Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP Chairman: John Adam Fox
Registered Charity Number:178592 Address: 5 Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7BX facecharityuk@gmail.com www.oeuvre-orient.fr
How to celebrate this day? We ask you to say this prayer with us on the International Day of Prayer for Eastern Christians – the Sixth Sunday of Easter – on 17th May 2020. Give the prayer intention to your parish priest so that it may be read out at the Prayers of the Faithful during Mass on the Sixth Sunday of Easter. Share the prayer with your family and friends.
How can you help Eastern Christians? BEAR WITNESS TO CHRIST. Often Eastern Christians ask: are there still Christians in the United Kingdom? Perhaps, before wondering what we can do for them, we should ask ourselves whether we truly bear witness to Christ as faithfully as they do. GET TO KNOW THE EASTERN CHRISTIANS. There are several Eastern Churches in the United Kingdom, not least Armenian Catholic, Chaldean, Coptic Catholic, Eritrean Catholic, Maronite, and Ukranian Catholic. Participate in their liturgies, meet them (your brothers and sisters in Christ), and share your common origins. BE AN ADVOCATE OF THEIR RIGHTS AND DEFEND THEIR CAUSE. Be encouraged to write from time to time to your Member of Parliament, asking that the British Government remain vigilant to the predicament of Eastern Christians in the Middle East and resolute in defending their cause. BE FULLY CATHOLIC. To be fully Catholic means thinking of the whole Church. Eastern Catholics are also part of the Universal Catholic Church, in chich the Eastern Catholic Churches are in communion with the Bishop of Rome. It is incumbent upon us to share our faith with Eastern Christians in whatever way we can, not least by charity.
Oeuvre d’Orient and FACE For more than 160 years, the Catholic charity Oeuvre d’Orient has been supporting Eastern Christians in the Middle East and sustaining the survival of Christianity in the Biblical lands. Oeuvre d’Orient currently manages over 1500 long-term projects in humanitarian aid, education, healthcare and social aid, evangelisation and pastoral support, across 23 countries of the Middle East, India and North Africa. FACE – as the British sister branch of Oeuvre d’Orient – delivers grant aid directly to projects organised by the local dioceses and religious congregations of the Eastern Catholic Churches – to the benefit of all, of all faiths and none. If you would like further information on the mission of FACE, or would like to support its work by way of voluntary service or a donation, please contact: facecharityuk@gmail.com
