Week of Prayer for Christian Unity draws on Armenian traditions to call Christians ‘one body’
Resources to celebrate are available from World Council of Churches
As Christians worldwide are gathering for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25, they’re praying with words used by Armenian believers as far back as the fourth century, bridging centuries and denominations in shared devotion.
This year's resources, jointly published by the World Council of Churches and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, were prepared by the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The materials draw from historic Armenian prayers, petitions and hymns originating in ancient monasteries and churches, some dating to Christianity’s earliest organized centuries. "The Armenian Apostolic Church, recognized as one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, has played a pivotal role in shaping the spiritual and historical identity of the Armenian people for nearly two millennia," stated the resource's introduction: "Today, it stands as a beacon of faith, unity, and continuity for Armenians worldwide, providing insights that resonate within the broader global Christian community."
The 2026 theme comes from Ephesians 4:4: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling.” In a world marked by diverse and often divided Christian traditions, the passage reminds believers that they are part of Christ’s one body.
“The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity brings all Christian communities together in being one in Christ,” Dr. Dianna Wright, director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations in the Unified Agency of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said in a 2023 Presbyterian News Service article. “We're not in this work alone, but in it with our other religious siblings as well.”
Wright noted that especially today, it is important that the voice and action of the religious community stand up for its commitment to love and justice. “Let us pray throughout the year and commit to act in ways that show we are witnesses to God's love and care for all people,” she said.
The week’s resources include an ecumenical opening prayer service, biblical reflections, worship elements and daily Scripture recommendations available at the World Council of Churches website. Churches worldwide are invited to translate and adapt the materials for local contexts. The observance is celebrated Jan. 18-25 in the Northern Hemisphere and June 1-8 in the Southern Hemisphere.
Wright also noted that the observance provides strategic grounding at the year’s beginning, though the resources can be used throughout the year for Bible studies, session meetings and personal reflection.
“During this season, we are reminded that we are one body in Christ, united in one faith and one baptism,” said the Rev. Ellen Sherby, manager of International Ecumenical Liaisons for Global Ecumenical Partnerships at the Unified Agency. Her colleague, the Rev. Cheryl Barnes, manager for U.S.-based Global Ecumenical Liaisons, agreed.
“We are all invited to God’s mission in a dynamic web of relationships; all invited to join together at the ‘table’ of God’s mission, where we share together a common meal of companionship and service,” Barnes said. Together, Sherby and Barnes said this vision reflects Global Ecumenical Partnerships as a renewed expression of the PC(USA)’s global ministry. "We want Presbyterians to see both of us as leaders and to understand that the United States is part of global ministry," said Sherby in lifting up the close coordination that she and Barnes are striving towards as the International Ecumenical and U.S.-based Global Ecumenical Liaisons work together and with mid councils, mission networks and churches.
The PC(USA) has been a member of the World Council of Churches since 1948 and maintains active ecumenical partnerships globally, including relationships with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan and various Anglican communities. The World Council of Churches is just one of many ecumenical bodies where the PC(USA) sustains global partnerships. In October 2025, the Stated Clerk and Executive Director of the Unified Agency, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, and a PC(USA) delegation traveled to celebrate 150 years of the World Communion of Reformed Churches in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Membership in these ecumenical communions is just one of the ways that the PC(USA) embodies its vision of mission in partnership as envisioned in the 2003 policy statement of the 215th General Assembly.
According to this week's resource by the World Council of Churches, the roots of Armenian Christianity trace back to the Apostolic era. The Armenian Apostolic Church was established in the early 4th century, but its importance "transcends religious organization," for "it embodies national resilience, cultural heritage, and spiritual fortitude." The introduction to this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2026 stated that "in addition to offering spiritual guidance, the Church has safeguarded Armenian traditions, language, and values, especially during periods of adversity and foreign domination."
Armenian culture, language and religiosity has also contributed to various Protestant churches in the Middle East and North American since the Armenian Evangelical Movement was established 180 years ago in the Middle East. When Armenians immigrated to the United States in the 1880s, Armenian Presbyterian churches were established in Wooster, Massachusetts, and eventually as far west as Fresno, California.
The Rev. Ara Guekguezian, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of San Joaquin, draws on his ancestry and family’s experience as Armenian immigrants and church leaders as he works with new immigrant groups establishing churches in his presbytery. Guekguezian took his part-time mid council position after retiring from full time ministry as the pastor and head of staff of Pilgrim Armenian Congregational Church in Fresno, where he served for 15 years. His father, the Rev. Bernard Guekguezian, served as pastor of the First Armenian Presbyterian Church of Fresno when it was still a part of the PC(USA), and before that the Armenian Presbyterian Church in Paramus, New Jersey.
For Guekguezian, Christian unity is often experienced through liturgy rather than structure. Whether he is at a nondenominational, Congregationalist or Presbyterian church, he feels this Christian unity simply in the saying of the Lord’s Prayer in Armenian.
“I’ve worshiped in Armenian Protestant churches on four continents, and in every service the ‘Hayr Mer (Our Father)’ is said or mostly sung,” said Guekguezian.
“It’s a unique and special way to be, to be Armenian and to also be Presbyterian. It doesn’t always go together,” said the Rev. Joe Garabedian, the current pastor of the Armenian Presbyterian Church in Paramus, New Jersey. The congregation is currently the only PC(USA) church in the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America, whose membership largely consists of United Church of Christ churches with a few Nazarene and nondenominational congregations.
“We’re a rare breed that continues to survive and thrive,” Garabedian said, noting the support of the Presbytery of Northeast New Jersey provided as the congregation established itself in an area with few Armenian churches. He describes the relationship between the leadership of the Armenian Presbyterian Church and the presbytery as amicable and collaborative.
“We really appreciate the fact that they recognize the differences, for instance, that we’re not where they are in terms of the changes that they’ve made in ministry over the last century or so,” he said.
“We as an ethnic community coming out of the Ottoman Empire still hold to more traditional values and a traditional way of doing things,” said Garabedian, who moved his ordination from the Armenian Apostolic church to the United Church of Christ in order to accept a previous call to a congregationalist church. Like Guekguezian, Garabedian emphasized how Armenian Protestants are connected to each other and to the Armenian Apostolic church through hymns, prayers and creeds sung in Armenian. Armenian Evangelical and Apostolic churches are bound together through their cultural feast days like Vartanantz Day, which commemorates Armenian religious independence (c. 451 CE) and falls on the Thursday before Lent or early March and services held on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day internationally observed on April 24.
“Ultimately, we look forward to continuing both streams of reality — ministering in a Presbyterian-governed church, as well as trying to be Armenian in a place where assimilation is really the path that many smaller ethnicities experience,” said Garabedian.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity offers Christians all over the globe the chance to reflect on their cultural and denominational histories and the ways that religious and political movements have reshaped their communities and expression of Christian faith while being called through prayer to be one body with one Spirit called to one hope.
For worship resources and daily Scripture readings, visit oikoumene.org/events/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity. Resources (link below) honor the Jinishian Memorial on April 25. Jinishian reaches more than 100,000 Armenians each year in Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Georgia.
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