Like more than 50 other sites in Germany, Dresden Frauenkirche is also a Cross of Nails Centre. The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation is prayed here regularly. Every Friday the guests at midday prayer are invited to say the Litany of Reconciliation together. The plea for forgiveness – not only for others, who could easily be proclaimed as guilty, but also for oneself – is at the heart of the prayer.

Many encounters take place in the Frauenkirche based on the aspect of reconciliation. It is the church’s way of helping to keep faith alive, to reunite contrasting and opposing forces and to sustain hope for reconciliation!

The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation

ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN
SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD

The hatred which divides nation from nation,
race from race, class from class,

FATHER FORGIVE

The covetous desires of people and nations
to possess what is not their own,

FATHER FORGIVE

The greed which exploits the work of human hands
and lays waste the earth,

FATHER FORGIVE

Our envy of welfare
and happiness of others,

FATHER FORGIVE

Our indifference to the plight of
imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,

FATHER FORGIVE

The lust which dishonours the bodies
of men, women and children,

FATHER FORGIVE

The pride which leads us to trust
in ourselves and not in God

FATHER FORGIVE

BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER,
TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER,
AS GOD IN CHRIST FORGAVE YOU.