The Peace-Making of the Churches: The Result of Eighteen Years of Ecumenical Post-War Activities

Abstract

Nothing is more difficult for the Churches than to cope with Pentecost. This festival, registered in the calendar as that of the Holy Spirit, remained always a stepchild in the sequence of Christian festivals. Yet the Churches honestly attempted to give this festival a character of its own through liturgical forms and the sermon. But they have not achieved that this festival found a place in the hearts of people like, for instance, the celebration of Christmas. The Birth, the Death at the Cross, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ maintained their place in a dechristened world until the present day. Only, however, the Orthodox Church of the East could create some more reverence for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit among the believers than was the case in the West. Many theologians asked themselves what might be the cause of this, for there was no lack of occasions, on the basis of which the working of the Holy Spirit could have been made clear to the communities in the meaning of a coordinating or even unifying force among the Churches. The answer to this question is no record of fame for the Christians and the Churches: The effort to reveal the Spirit of Christ in the Church, the Holy Spirit, was always hampered by the striving for power, and with the breaking-up of the Church of Jesus Christ into separate, mutually antagonistic Churches and confessions.