Zenit
The Christian communities of Jerusalem will gather this weekend to launch a campaign to promote prayer for reconciliation, unity and peace in the Holy Land.

The first prayer event will take place Saturday evening in Jerusalem at the Syrian Orthodox Church of St Mark. It will be held in Aramaic and presided over by Archbishop Mar Swerios Malki Mourad, the Syrian Orthodox patriarchal vicar for Jerusalem.

The campaign is titled “Extraordinary Prayer of all Churches for Reconciliation, Unity and Peace, Beginning in and Proceeding From Jerusalem.”

“All Christian communities of Jerusalem and all Christians everywhere in the world are invited to take part in this great intercessory prayer to the Father for our time,” a statement on the event’s Web site notes.

The campaign intends to host a prayer event once a month in various Churches, but encourages all Churches in the world to dedicate an hour each Saturday to praying for peace in the Holy Land.

“For the Christian, the division of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, profoundly conditions the general lack of peace,” the organizers explain. “The Mother Church of Jerusalem calls, therefore, the whole Church to an extraordinary action of prayer for the grace of reconciliation, unity and peace, beginning in the Holy City.”