On MECC TV

Watch the Weekly Word of the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs, entitled this week "Toward the Meeting of the Executive Committee." It will be broadcasted on the MECC Satellite Channel on Saturday, July 5 and Sunday, July 6, 2025, at 4:10 pm Beirut time.

MECC TV Frequencies:

Nilesat: 11096

S.R: 27500

Pol: Horizontal

On MECC FM and MECC TV

Watch the “Ecumenical Horizons” program, every Tuesday live at 10 am Beirut Time on MECC FM 106.9, and at 4:10 pm Beirut Time on MECC TV, via the following frequency:

Nilesat: 11096

S.R: 27500

Pol: Horizontal

Rerun on MECC TV every Friday at 4:10 pm Beirut Time.

“Ecumenical Horizons” is a weekly program that features spiritual, cultural, intellectual, educational, youth and environmental topics, produced by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).

This issue includes reports, videos, news, articles, and a full coverage of the latest developments of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), as well as the Church, Ecumenical, and social events…

This is in addition to the weekly word of the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs which is entitled in this issue “Toward the Meeting of the Executive Committee”.

You can check the issue via the following link: https://mailchi.mp/d61158ae371c/momentum-mecc-weekly-newsletter.

You can also subscribe to the Momentum Newsletter via the following link: https://mecc.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?id=fd3381352a&u=1db32cafe9ea32b38eb90480a.

Professor Michel Abs

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

In a few days, the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches will convene, after several months of postponement due to the unstable situation in the region, which has made travel somewhat risky and challenging.

The Executive Committee is the highest authority in the Council, responsible for approving essential and strategic matters. All the Council’s constituent bodies refer to it for decisions on cornerstone issues concerning the work of this ecumenical institution, which has now entered its second fifty years, years the churches hope will be long and marked by renewal and creativity, seeking distinguishing features to guide its work and social service in all areas: ecumenical, developmental, educational, dialogical, environmental, and others that concern the church.

The current Executive Committee is meeting with a long-term perspective, aiming to outline the strategic framework for the coming years, as a continuation and follow-up to the framework plan approved by the Committee and adopted by partners in 2021. That plan guided the Council’s work over the past four years. The Secretary General presented a report on those four years during the Executive Committee meeting held at the St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in Balamand, which was dedicated to the election of the Secretary General…

In its endeavor to embody its slogan, "Building Bridges, Standing Together," to be a unifying platform for Church and Religious Families and all components of society, reflecting the Christian reality in the Middle East with a unified Church voice emanating from the cradle of Christianity to the entire world within a shared life with all components of society,

As part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen its Ecumenical and humanitarian mission and to shed lights on the Church in the Middle East through all available media platforms and digital technologies,

The Middle East Council of Churches has launched a new WhatsApp channel, entitled “MECC News”.

We invite you to join this channel and follow the MECC news via the following link: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbB2Ym05a240L8hfFv0s.

Through this link, you can follow all the MECC activities, in addition to episodes, reports, videos, and articles produced by MECC, about various Christian, Ecumenical, humanitarian, and social issues.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) have now issued its online Ecumenical calendar for the month of July 2025. It includes the Ecclesiastical and Liturgical Feasts of the various Families of Churches in the Middle East. In addition to international days identified by the United Nations, and which are related to the MECC identity and its spiritual and human mission.

The Secretary General Professor Michel Abs: It is necessary to strengthen the Church's capabilities and develop human capital

At the invitation and organization of the Communication and Media Department at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), and under the supervision of the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, a training course on graphic design is being held with Father Spyridon Tanous, Parish Priest of Sharbila in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Akkar and its Dependencies. The course is taking place at the offices of the MECC General Secretariat in Beirut, with the participation of the media team and colleagues from various departments in Lebanon and Syria, both in person and online.

The course, which will last for several weeks, began on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, with a word delivered by the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs. He welcomed the trainer, thanking him for his efforts and skills, emphasizing the need to strengthen the Church's capabilities and capacities, and stressing the importance of developing human capital.

In his turn, Father Spyridon was briefed about the participants. He also presented an overview of the knowledge, skills, and practical exercises that the training will provide, and which will benefit the participants in their respective fields and contexts.

As part of the Program “Restoration Fund for Rehabilitation of Faith-based Social Services & Religious Infrastructure Damaged During the Crisis in Syria”

"My Lord and my God"

Faith, Renewal, and Life

Media of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

His faith is a continuous passage to the Resurrection, life, and renewal. He is the fisherman known as the Twin from Galilee. He answered the Lord's call without hesitation, bearing witness to Him and His miracles. He is Saint Thomas the Apostle, who cried out with great confidence, "My Lord and my God."

Saint Thomas the Apostle is one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord Jesus, celebrated by all Church Families in their Liturgies and calendars. He is also the Patron Saint of the Chaldean Patriarchate, from whom the firm faith in Jesus Christ is derived and whose Feast Day is celebrated annually on July 3.

This Faith was emphasized by His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Chaldean Patriarch in Iraq and the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), in one of his letters, when he said:

"The profound faith of Thomas, when he joined the Church in the Upper Room on the eighth day, is a great strength that sows hope in our hearts despite our fatigue, strengthens our confidence, and helps us overcome the difficulties and challenges initiated by the attempts of the 'forces of evil.'"

Middle East Socioeconomic Overview

Report: June 2025

Two rival powers in the region have finally clashed after years of ongoing tension and flashpoints. Although the escalation only lasted for a couple of weeks, it will most likely increase uncertainty in the region as well as socioeconomic hardships. The conflict came at a time during which the World Bank, has already forecasted that MENA countries' growth will decrease by 0.7% to 2.7% for the remainder of the year. Also, the bank also reduced its growth forecast for the region next year by 0.4 percentage points to 3.7%. As such, the conflict will force the World Bank as well as other organizations to rethink their economic predictions, as it is still yet not so clear how things will develop. For the time being, we can only hope the whole thing is over but given the massive animosity between the countries, one cannot be fully certain of a lasting peace.

And Bids Farewell to Its Human Resources Senior Officer Roula Saliba

The General Secretariat Team of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) held its weekly meeting, presided over by the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, with an online participation of the Associate Secretary General Rev. Dr. Refaat Fikry, and colleagues from various departments, both in person and online. The meeting took place on Tuesday, July 1st, 2025, at the MECC headquarters in Beirut.

As every week, the meeting began with a Biblical Reflection and Prayer, during which the brothers and sisters raised their Prayers on the occasion of the Feast of the Chiefs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, Founders of the Antiochian See, celebrated on June 29, and the Feast of the Twelve Apostles, celebrated on June 30.

In this context, Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, the Director of the MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department, presented a spiritual reflection on the two occasions, based on a Biblical Text from Acts 9:1-25.

about the background and repercussions of the explosion at the Church of the Prophet Elias in Dweilaa- Damascus

“Momentum”

27-6-2025

This issue includes reports, videos, news, articles, and a full coverage of the latest developments of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), as well as the Church, Ecumenical, and social events…

This is in addition to the weekly word of the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs which is entitled in this issue “Words Before It’s Too Late”.

You can check the issue via the following link: https://mailchi.mp/c05a4257fff7/momentum-mecc-weekly-newsletter.

You can also subscribe to the Momentum Newsletter via the following link: https://mecc.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?id=fd3381352a&u=1db32cafe9ea32b38eb90480a.

This Video Is Produced by MECC.

What Are the Details?

Professor Michel Abs
The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

In front of the royal temple door, the Patriarch of Antioch, John X, most blessed, loving, and venerable, stood addressing fate, delivering words improvised for the occasion.

His Beatitude could not read what he had written, because the written word, for all its greatness, can imprison the spirit and restrain emotion, and the situation called for feeling as much as it did for reason.

The moment was solemn. Martyrs lay before the icon of the Lord and His Mother, beloved patriarchs attended in love and solidarity, believers came from all over the country, and grieving families, what a tragedy. It was a scene that summarized part of our troubled history, which has not known stability for centuries.

The Patriarch of love and wisdom addressed the martyrs who ascended on the Feast of the Antiochian Saints, entrusting them to the Lord where they have gone, asking them to pray for us, as they have preceded us to the dwellings of eternity, where the Lord’s true kingdom lies, never of this world.

His Beatitude addressed “our Christian children in all of Syria and everywhere in the world,” and also “every Syrian, whether Muslim or Christian,” because he saw that “what happened is not an isolated incident or an individual act or attack” targeting a person, family, or group, but “an assault on every Syrian and all of Syria.”

The Patriarch’s stance is deeply national, viewing the country’s people as equal in rights and duties, and, most importantly, equal in destiny, for the massacre - yes, a massacre- that targeted a key component of the country, targeted all of its people. Thus, he regarded the cradle of Christianity, Syria in its entirety, as concerned…