Feature story
The Taizé Community, composed of about 100 brothers, is an ecumenical Christian monastic community named for Taizé, a village in Burgundy, France.
The village, all but abandoned during World War II, was rediscovered in 1940 by a young man from Switzerland who left Geneva by bicycle in search of a place where he could be in prayer and solidarity with those who were suffering.
He found a house in Taizé, where he was, at first, alone. Then he began listening and praying with people fleeing for their lives in times of war. He welcomed political refugees and people being persecuted as part of a chain of “safe houses.”
After being driven, along with others, out of France by the Gestapo, he stayed back in Geneva, where he lived, prayed, and built the Taizé Community we know today. The first Taizé brothers were from different Protestant churches and, after the second Vatican Council, it become possible for Roman Catholic brothers to join the community.
Br Matthew described how moving it was for the current Taizé brothers to visit the cathedral in Geneva where that young man—Br Roger—and two other Taizé brothers prayed.
“You can see the holes that they bored in the wall, so they could put up a rod and curtain, so they could pray discreetly,” he said. “We visited also where Br Roger lived, and saw the window he looked out of toward the lake. You can see the Mont Blanc when it's clear.”
Common witness
While visiting the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Br Matthew spoke about the passage in John 17 in which Jesus prays for unity among his disciples—“a unity which would enable Christians to be at peace in the human family,” said Br Matthew. “In the Taizé community, Christian unity would never be a goal in itself but would lead towards common witness to the gospel and a common witness in the human family.”
From the earliest founding of Taizé, there was a close collaboration with the World Council of Churches. “There was a Brother Christophe who worked here,” said Br Matthew.
Two decades after its founding—and after the Taizé Community had opened itself up to brothers from even more faith traditions—young people started to visit Taizé in growing numbers throughout the 1960s.
"Nobody knows why—they just kept going, and it seemed like it was something the Holy Spirit was saying: offer a space for prayer, a space for reflection for these young people,” said Br Matthew.
While Taizé prayers were and still are in a traditional monastic style, there is always a desire to render the worship accessible, explained Br Matthew.
“Many people today even think of Taizé as the name of a composer!” he said. “But then they discover it’s a little village hidden in the hills of Burgundy."
The beloved songs of Taizé began out of a pastoral need, he added. “When you have large assemblies of young people, you have to find ways to help them worship together, ways to take words from scripture, words form church fathers, and to replay them over and over again,” he said. “It’s a very ancient way of praying.”
Why do Taizé songs often bring us feelings of peace? “It’s the opening of that space within, so we can welcome the words,” said Br Matthew. “I think it’s the experience of many young people, when they come to Taizé, that there’s nobody leading the worship, because it’s a worship that doesn’t meed much explanation, and where very quickly you can feel included.”
The biggest desire in the Taizé Community, he added, is for people to find a space where they can meet with Christ.
“Many of the young people we welcome are soldiers,” he said. “They are not church mice. It’s a great privilege to share the journey with them, to listen, not to give them answers but to let the answer come from within.”
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Photo:
Ivars Kupcis/WCC
A heart of reconciliation
Is Taizé a movement? Br Matthew says no.
“We encourage people to return to their home church to continue their life in prayer, to deepen that faith—and that’s not easy today, to be honest,” he said. “To create a parallel movement would be to go against this movement of reconciliation.”
While many people know the Taizé Community because of their work with youth, or because of the music, Br Matthew noted another important side to Taizé: solidarity. “If we pray, truly then we are opened up to the situations of the world, the situations of suffering—and our community was founded in a time of war,” he said. “We have brothers who live in small fraternities in different parts of the word.”
Some of these—such as in Bangladesh—have existed for more than 50 years. “What is the Holy Sprit saying to us today?” asked Br Matthew, who added that, today very much in the hearts of the Taizé Community are Ukraine, the Middle East, and Myanmar.
“We don’t have anything to offer except the presence of prayer,” he said. “We can pray together. We can listen. We can share a little bit in their lives.”
Through visits to places in which people are suffering, the Taizé Community helps people understand that, even if they are in difficult situations, at the are not forgotten.
“We continue welcoming young people but we do not forget these other situations in the world today,” said Br Matthew. “We offer a presence of prayer and hospitality. As a community we would like to be in those places where nobody wants to go.”
