Stockholm gathering recalls centenary of 1925 conference that called for peace

Christians gathered in Sweden for a week of activities recalling the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work which gathered in Stockholm in 1925 after the First World War and was a milestone on the path to founding the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948.

A high point was the 24 August service at the cathedral in Uppsala, where the archbishops of the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden have their seat, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Stockholm, conducted by Swedish Archbishop Dr Martin Modéus and the cathedral dean, Very Rev. Matilda Helg.

Three people wearing religious garbs stand at the altar in a full church. — 24 August 2025, Uppsala, Sweden: Archbishop Dr Martin Modéus of Church of Sweden (centre), Very Rev. Matilda Helg (right) and Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York (left) pictured at the altar during an ecumenical prayer service in Uppsala Cathedral under the theme “Time for God’s Peace.”

Here participants heard an appeal for peace: “In this time, God calls us – as churches, as siblings in faith, as fellow human beings – to be bearers of God’s peace.”

The service rounded off an Ecumenical Week in Stockholm from 18 to 24 August on the theme “Time for God’s Peace” to recall and be inspired by the 1925 conference, which gathered 600 church leaders to work for peace after the carnage of the First World War, and its main organizer, Swedish Archbishop Nathan Söderblom.

The week’s activities, organized by the Christian Council of Sweden, included services, workshops, roundtable discussions, keynote lectures, concerts, book presentations, a summer academy for younger and emerging theologians, as well as a youth festival, “Reach peace,” with hundreds of participants.

Young people doing various activities in an open outdoor space, some drawing, some chatting, etc. — Young people gather at a Festival for Peace – hosted by the Christian Council of Sweden as part of an week of ecumenical anniversary celebrations – under the title “Heart Stockholm” in Kungsträdgården, in the Stockholm City centre, on 23 August.

“The message of peace runs like a common thread through the entire gospel and the message of peace was at the centre 100 years ago, when Nathan Söderblom convened a groundbreaking conference after the First World War, when the world lay torn apart; former enemies met for the first time,” said Rev. Dr Sofia Camnerin, the Christian Council’s secretary general in a keynote address at the beginning of the week.

A woman preaches at a pulpit in a church, people listening from the pews. — Christian Council of Sweden general secretary Rev. Dr Sofia Camnerin of the Uniting Church in Sweden delivers a keynote speech at the Immanuel Church in Stockholm on 19 August.

At an Ecumenical Celebration in the Filadelfiakyrka Pentecostal church, WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay recalled how the 1925 conference gave birth to the Life and Work movement, “one of the main ecumenical streams that led to the creation of the World Council of Churches in 1948.”

A man speaks at a pulpit on a large stage, with people pictured in the foreground listening. — WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Jerry Pillay speaks at the Ecumenical Celebration held in the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm, on 22 August.

The Ecumenical Week was also an opportunity to honour Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931), who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930 for his commitment to Christian unity and helping to create the conditions for peace between nations to become a reality.

“It is exactly 100 years ago, in 1925, that Archbishop Söderblom organized and convened the unprecedented Ecumenical Congress in Stockholm, inviting Protestant and Orthodox to pray and work together for the foretaste of God’s kingdom on earth,” said His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in his address at the Filadelfiakyrka church.

“This milestone is remembered this year along with the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, which gathered in the year 325 to unite Christians around the faith in the Son of God who is of one essence with the Father,” said Patriarch Bartholomew.

View from of above of large room full of people looking at a man speaking on stage. — His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I gives his address at the Filadelfiakyrka church.

At a reception at the Stockholm Concert House, where most Nobel prizes have been awarded since 1926, Söderblom’s biographer, Archbishop emeritus Dr Jonas Jonson, recalled how Söderblom, against all the odds, was able to organize the 1925 conference of representative church leaders.

“At Stockholm, Orthodox and Protestant churches met in council for the first time. Barriers of nationalism and distrust were torn down,” said Jonson.

Guests belonging to other faiths also joined in the Ecumenical Week.

“We need each other: Muslims in their diversity, Christians in their diversity, Jews in their diversity, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs. We need each other as people of faith and as believers,” said Dr Azza Karam, a Muslim who serves as the founding president and CEO of Lead Integrity, in a 21 August keynote address.

“It is time for us to take action together, to save lives and to save this planet,” said Karam.

A woman speaks from the pulpit of a church, with people in the pews listening and a choir gathered behind her, all dressed in white. — Dr Azza Karam delivers a keynote speech at an interfaith gathering in the Engelbrekt Church, Stockholm.

Swedish Archbishop emerita Antje Jackelén warned that in today’s world, Christian faith is being hijacked to justify blatant injustice against the poor, migrants, people of colour, Palestinians, and others who are dehumanized.

“This is a litmus test for the leadership of the church and all Christians,” she said in an address. “Justice and peace must embrace when the different branches of the church talk about each other and work together.”

People sit in the pews of a full stone church. — People gather for an interfaith gathering in the Engelbrekt Church on the theme “Coming Together” in Stockholm, Sweden.

Later in the week, she joined other Christian leaders, including Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the WCC central committee, and the Archbishop of York, Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, primate of England, to explore the role of churches in a world urgently in need of God’s peace.

View of panel of people on a podium inside a church. — Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee, speaks at a roundtable conversation held at the Immanuel Church in Stockholm on ”The Church’s Responsibility for God’s Peace.”

At another event, Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, WCC programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace and Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, general secretary of ACT Alliance, reflected on ecumenical diakonia in a polarized world from Stockholm in 1925 to the present day-

"From the ruins of war in 1925 to the poly-crises of 2025,” said Mtata, “the journey of ecumenical diakonia continues. The world is different, yet the call is the same: to embody God’s love in a wounded world.”

Leading up to the Ecumenical Week, about 70 students from Sweden and other countries took part in a Summer Academy, following a four-week online course under the auspices of University College Stockholm, on the theme “Ecumenical Peacebuilding in Times of War: The Legacy of Stockholm 1925.”

Group of young people walking and talking outdoors, one of them in a wheelchair with a support dog. — An Ecumenical Summer Academy entitled “Ecumenical Peacebuilding in Times of War. The Legacy of Stockholm 1925” is organized at the University College Stockholm.

About 30 of the students were able to come to Stockholm for a five-day in-person phase.

They took part in the activities of the Ecumenical Week, asking questions of keynote speakers and panellists, and offering prayers for peace at a service at Stockholm Cathedral on 22 August.

People pictured inside a church with arms folded in prayer. — A group of young people – some of them participants in both Reach Peace and a Summer Academy held under the auspices of University College Stockholm on the theme “Ecumenical Peacebuilding in Times of War: The Legacy of Stockholm 1925” – pray during a service at Stockholm Cathedral on 22 August.

The following day, the WCC’s Pillay joined thousands of other participants at a peace festival at the Kungsträdgården gardens in Stockholm city centre, where hundreds of people enjoyed a wide array of different of experiences offered as part of the festival.

The day also saw an address by His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, the Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, while Julia Rensberg, a young Sami Indigenous woman from Sweden serving on the WCC central committee, spoke of the dangers of the climate crisis.

Man dressed in religious garb speaks on a big stage. — His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, the Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church speaks at the Kungsträdgården gardens in Stockholm city centre.

In 1925, the Roman Catholic Church did not participate in the Stockholm conference and kept its distance from ecumenical endeavours, but a century later Catholic participants included Cardinal Anders Arborelius of the Roman Catholic Church in Sweden, and Archbishop Flavio Pace of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

“While the Catholic Church was not represented at that first gathering,” Pope Leo XIV stated in a message to the centenary celebrations, “I can affirm, with humility and joy, that we stand with you today as fellow disciples of Christ, recognizing that what unites us is far greater than what divides us.”

Like Patriarch Bartholomew, Pope Leo recalled how in 2025 the Christian world is also celebrating the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the first attempt to reach consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, and leading to the Nicene Creed, affirming the Christian faith in the triune God.

Man speaks on a large stage with a photo of the Pope projected behind him. — His Excellency Archbishop Flavio Pace of the Roman Catholic Church delivers a message from Pope Leo XIV of the Roman Catholic Church to the ecumenical celebration held in the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm.

“That Council stood as a courageous sign of unity amidst difference – an early witness to the conviction that our shared confession can overcome division and foster communion,” said Pope Leo.

The closing service at Uppsala Cathedral recalled the Nicaea anniversary when before the altar, Patriarch Bartholomew recited the Nicene Creed in Greek.

This echoed the final service of the 1925 conference in Uppsala when Patriarch Photios I of Alexandria also recited the Nicene Creed in Greek, this time on the 1600th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

“For one sacred moment,” said a German participant after the 1925 service, “the ages that separate Stockholm and Nicaea seemed wiped out.”