TASHKENT (UCAN) -- Catholics, Lutherans and Armenians came together for a joint prayer to mark the 100th anniversary of Christian Unity Week.

The heads of the Roman Catholic, Evangelical-Lutheran and Armenian Apostolic Churches in Uzbekistan presided at an evening joint prayer service on Jan. 21 in Sacred Heart Church, the only Catholic church in Tashkent.

Despite the cold weather and the service taking place on a weekday night, 50 Christians from the three Churches turned up. The number might be small, but the Catholic and Lutheran communities number only about 500 each in the whole country, and the Armenian Church community less than that.

"The time of discord and division has passed," said Father Gevorg Vardanyan, leader of the Armenian Church in Uzbekistan. "Now we have the goal to survive staying in Christ, loving and forgiving each other."

The service included a prayer to the Holy Spirit, and readings from the Bible in Russian and German. The worshippers sang songs in Russian, German and Armenian.

Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz, apostolic administrator of Uzbekistan, credited the momentum for Christian reunification to the Holy Spirit. "May God help us look at people who are different from us with love," he told the congregation.

Lutheran Bishop Kornelius Wiebe said in his homily that all Christians "should unmask the world and its injustices together." Later he told UCA News that many Lutherans have left Uzbekistan, mostly for Russia.

The Catholic Church has established five Catholic parishes in the country, along with two mission stations, and the Lutherans also have seven communities in the country. Most Lutherans are ethnic Germans, while Catholics are ethnic Poles, Russians and people of mixed parentage.

The Armenian Apostolic Church has one community in Tashkent and another that gathers at an old Armenian church in Samarkand, about 300 kilometers to the southwest. According to Father Vardanyan, his community in the capital worships in a makeshift chapel in a private building but hopes to build a church. He is the only Armenian priest in Uzbekistan.

The Russian Orthodox Church, whose members comprise about 9 percent of the country's 27 million people, did not participate in the joint prayer service. The strained relations between that Church's Moscow Patriarchate and the Vatican also color relations in Uzbekistan.

Muslims form about 88 percent of the population.

Bishop Maculewicz told UCA News he hopes more Christians will join Unity Week services in the future.

Sacred Heart parishioner Janna Altuhova enjoyed the service and said she was surprised that so many people came to take part. "I thought there would be far fewer people," she said.

Another Catholic, Natalya Kim, 17, also found it nice that Christians have an opportunity to pray together at least once a year. "But it is not enough," she said. She is convinced Christians should do more, beyond just praying together, but acknowledges "this is the most difficult thing."

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