Rev. Botrus Mansour delivered a striking intervention, Saturday, November 29th, before senior global church leaders — including Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople — warning that Christians in the Holy Land and surrounding region are living under mounting pressure, asking urgent spiritual questions amid violence and upheaval.
Mansour, addressing a high-level ecumenical assembly, recalled that the early Church confronted direct assaults on the identity of Jesus Christ, culminating in the Council of Nicaea’s declaration: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”
Mansour, who was born and lives in Nazareth, pointed to Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue of Nazareth, announcing good news to the poor, freedom for captives, and liberation for the oppressed, as the inseparable link between Christ’s identity and His mission.
“This is the Christ our wounded world needs today,” he said, emphasizing reconciliation, healing, and peace that “surpasses all understanding.”
He said those same fundamental questions have resurfaced today.
“Our communities face war, fear, and ignorance.”
Mansour stressed that the challenge to the identity of Christ is not theoretical for Christians in the Middle East. “In our communities, these questions are painfully real. Our people face war, fear, and ignorance every day,” he said. “Many ask with deep anguish: Where is Christ in all of this?”
This existential cry, he explained, arises from communities trapped between conflict and uncertainty, as they witness violence and political manipulation overshadow the teachings of Christ.
Representing 600 million evangelicals
Speaking as Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, which represents more than 600 million evangelicals in 150 countries, Mansour reaffirmed his movement’s grounding in the Nicene faith: “Jesus Christ is fully God, fully man, risen Lord and Savior of the world. The Nicene Creed remains our anchor.”
He linked the current moment — the 1,700th anniversary of Nicaea — with the approaching 2,000th anniversary of the Resurrection in 2033, saying the global Church feels stirred toward renewed mission.
A call for unity and courageous witness
Rev Mansour urged church leaders to view this historical moment as a call to unity and courageous proclamation, emphasizing that the faith must be lived out amid hardship, not insulated from it.
“The Nicene Creed roots our identity not in culture or politics, but in Christ Himself,” he said. “As we approach these significant anniversaries, we are called again to stand together and to bring the good news to all peoples — including those asking today: Where is Christ?”
He closed with a reading from Colossians 1:19-20, underscoring Christ’s reconciling power “making peace through his blood.”

Below is the full text of Rev Mansour’s intervention

Your Holiness, Your Eminences, Your Beatitudes, Your Excellencies, dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

It is a deep honor to stand with you in Istanbul, where 1700 years ago the Church gathered at Nicaea to answer one decisive question—a question that echoes Jesus’ words at Caesarea Philippi: “But who do you say that I am?”

The Nicene Council was the Church’s united response to an attack on the very identity of Jesus Christ. The bishops proclaimed with one voice:
“God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”
They affirmed what Peter confessed: He is the Christ, the Son of the living God—fully divine, fully able to save.

Seventeen centuries later, the identity of Christ is still challenged—sometimes reduced to a moral teacher, sometimes stripped of authority, sometimes disconnected from His mission of salvation and reconciliation.
There are attacks on Christ as Savior when the cross is emptied of its power;
and attacks on Christ as Lord when His teachings are overshadowed by violence, nationalism, or division.

In the Holy Land—my region—these questions are painfully real. Our communities face war, fear, and deep wounds. Many ask: Where is Christ in all of this?
We answer not with political commentary but with the faith of Nicaea: with Christ who reconciles, who heals, who breaks down dividing walls, whose peace surpasses all understanding.

And we remember Nazareth, where Jesus entered the synagogue and revealed His identity and mission. He read from Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to proclaim good news to the poor… freedom for the captives… to set the oppressed free.”
Then He said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled.”
In Nazareth, Jesus showed that His identity as the Son is inseparable from His mission to heal, restore, liberate, and reconcile.
This is the Christ we confess today—and the Christ our wounded world needs.

I also speak as the Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, representing more than 600 million evangelicals in 143 countries. Our movement stands firmly on this Nicene faith: Jesus Christ is fully God, fully man, risen Lord, and Savior of the world.

And as we commemorate 1700 years since Nicaea, we also look toward another milestone:
The 2000th anniversary of the Resurrection in 2033.
Across the world, Christians are sensing a call to renew our witness so that by that anniversary every person may have the opportunity to encounter the gospel—not out of triumphalism, but in obedience to the Risen Lord who sends us to all nations.

The Nicene Creed grounds this mission. It anchors our unity not in politics or culture, but in the identity of Christ Himself.

So may this anniversary call us again to unity, to courage in proclaiming Jesus as Savior, to obedience in following Him as Lord, and to renewed commitment to bring the good news to all peoples as we approach 2033.

I close with the words of Colossians 1:19–20:
“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself… making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”

To Him be glory forever. Amen.