Professor Dr. Michel Abs

Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

At the start of each year, Christians gather to pray together for a week, commonly called the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This week, repeated for over a century, has become part of Christian life and relationships among Christians.

Anyone observing the process will realize that the Week of Prayer has expanded to reach additional churches and believers worldwide, clearly reflecting Christians’ longing to be one in Christ, as He commanded us when He was among us on earth.

Overcoming the divisions that Christianity has experienced for a long time is not easy, those divisions that persisted for lengthy eras, creating rifts among believers of one faith, though many elements of Christian doctrine have remained unified.

Praying together, expressing together the faith, values, emotions, and aspirations within us, is wonderful. Equally important is the growing shared Christian (ecumenical) effort—through the formation of national and regional church councils worldwide and ongoing dialogue among these member churches, which extends to the Catholic world. Notably, Catholic churches are members of many of these church councils.

“Do you believe this?” (John 11: 26)

The "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" starts, as it is one of the most awaited Ecumenical stations of the year, which includes a Prayer Octave that extends between 18 and 25 January every year. A station during which we unite in Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ on the intention of a unity that has been awaited for decades, through a special international booklet that the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) translates it into Arabic annually. Noting that this year theme is “Do you believe this?” (John 11: 26).

In this context, you can find below the daily Prayers, meditations, and reflections in Arabic and English for the week of Prayer, included in the booklet, and which you may publish and distribute every day.

Week of Prayer 2025 Booklet

The Prayer for Christian Unity

Program of the Celebrations in Lebanon

This report presents an overview about the visit held by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Dr. Michel Abs, at the head of an MECC delegation, to His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia, and President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Catholic Family. The visit took place on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at the Patriarchate in Geitawi - Beirut, in the presence of His Eminence Bishop Krikor Badishah, Auxiliary Bishop of the Armenian Catholic Archdiocese of Beirut.

The media coverage on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity continues as Father Tanios Khalil, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at La Sagesse University in Lebanon, and the Rapporteur of the Episcopal Committee for Ecumenical Work at the Assemblée des Patriarches et Evêques Catholiques du Liban (APECL), was the guest of the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary, the Media Officer at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Director of the Platform of the Word, and the Coordinator of the Church and Media Relations at MECC, in an episode within her program “Moubadarat” (“Initiatives”) on Radio Voice of Van.

The episode, which you can watch in the video, centered around the most prominent meanings of the Week of Prayer and the spiritual symbolism it carries, in addition to explanations about the topic chosen for this year, “Do you believe this?” (John 11: 26).

What Is the Symbolism of this Date?

Check With Us the History of this Week!

In the video, you can find a Church News Bulletin on Mariam TV, which includes reports about the latest activities of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC). The bulletin is prepared and presented by the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary, the Media Officer at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Director of the Platform of the Word, and the Coordinator of the Church and Media Relations at MECC.

As a culmination of the Fiftieth Year of its Founding, and in accordance with the adopted media strategy, the MECC first Church News Bulletin will be launched early next week on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.

The bulletin will include Church and humanitarian news and the MECC activities in various fields.