The historic commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council harkened back to a time of Christian unity, but the burden of the past weighs heavily in efforts to restore it.

The patriarchal and synodal Divine Liturgy is led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria concelebrating, and in the presence of Pope Leo XIV.

Patriarch Bartholomew welcomed Pope Leo, drawing attention to the close relationship he had shared with Leo’s predecessor, Francis.

This is Leo’s first papal pilgrimage abroad, and that it is to visit Bartholomew carries the weighty symbolism of his determination to push forward the dialogue between the two Churches

Pope Leo XIV reminded attendees that the Council of Nicaea took place in 325 AD, noting that it continues to call all Christians.

The Pope's trip coincides with what he has called a Jubilee Year, marking 1,700 years since the First Ecumenical Council

The primates of major Christian Churches will gather in what was ancient Nicaea (modern-day Iznik), in a symbolic gesture recalling one of the most defining moments in early Christian history: the era of an undivided Christianity in the 4th Century

Momentum for reopening the institution appeared to strengthen after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Sept.

On 28 November, Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will join hands at the site of the Ecumenical Council, Iznik of modern Turkey

The pontiff will join the Orthodox leader for a joint pilgrimage to Nicaea during his first apostolic journey to Türkiye and Lebanon this November

The announcement came from Patriarch Bartholomew himself, immediately after his meeting in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump, on Monday.

Pope Leo XIV will arrive at the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Phanar See in Istanbul after the commemoration of the 1,700-year-old anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea

"We look at the new pontiff with Christian hope. I intend to come to his enthronement and propose developing dialogue between the East and the West,"

There will be no honeymoon here between the pope and the American leader one may safely say