Peace prayer for Christchurch

The House of One in Berlin has invited to an interreligious prayer for peace for the victims of the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Wednesday evening. "We - Jews, Christians and Muslims - want to pray side by side, because we are all part of a human family," emphasized Pastor Gregor Hohberg. "Our answer is prayer, not revenge". 50 people died in the attack on two mosques on Friday.

From the tower of the Parochial Church the song "Oh head full of blood and wounds" sounded at 6 pm. As soon as the music had stopped, Imam Osman Örs appeared before the sixty or so people who had gathered in the church to commemorate the murdered people in New Zealand, but also those who had been killed last year during a divine service in the synagogue of Pittsburg, as well as numerous Christians, such as Copts in Egypt, who fell victim to the blind hatred of individual people.

Friday had become a day of mourning

Candles do not burn in the austere, unadorned room of the Parochial Church with its naked brick walls. "At this devotion, at this funeral service, the Muslims are in the foreground this time," said Imam Kadir Sanci. Therefore not only the usual candles were missing, but also all instrumental music. "The Friday prayer, a day of joy for Muslims worldwide, had become a day of mourning. Sanci reads from the Koran in Arabic, then in German. Rabbi Andreas Nachama prayed singing in Hebrew and Pastor Gregor Hohberg spoke a "Our Father" for the deceased.

The Imams concluded with a lamentation for the dead by Yunus Emre, a Turkish mystic (1240-1321). Among the mourners were State Secretary Gerry Woop from the Cultural Senate and Lala Süsskind from the Presidium of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.