On the 47th Anniversary of the Founding of the Middle East Council of Churches
Bishop Georges Saliba:
The Council has made very bold and wonderful steps based on love and understanding
It is part of my life!
Interview by: Huguette Salameh and Elia Nasrallah
Translated by Mary Yahchouchy
Photographer: Fadi Nachme
It is interesting to dig in the history of the Middle East Council of Churches and the astonishing number of important names accompanying it since the first founding meeting in May 1974 in Cyprus. People who walked alongside and through the council on the path of Christian unity, in a procession started by Eastern Church families who believed in richness in diversity towards full communion with God and each other.
In a time of separation, military conflicts, political wars and ideological conflicts, it was very bold that the Churches of the Middle East met in as a new Pentecost and placed their decision and the future of ecumenical work in the East in the custody of the Holy Spirit!
One of the people who witnessed this event that marked the history of the ecumenical movement internationally and regionally, on this anniversary we meet with the curate of Mount Lebanon Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese, Bishop Georges Saliba as we ask him to describe the establishment and launch of the Middle East Council of Churches.
In the hospitality of Bishop Georges Saliba at the Archdiocese of Mount Lebanon and Tripoli in Sabtieh, we were flipping through the pages of the past and talking about the reasons for the foundation and its goals. He said: “The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the beginning of the era of ecumenism or ecumenical work in the Church, this is when the World Council of Churches WCC was established in 1948 in Amsterdam - the Netherlands and in two phases. during the early stages of the same century, the Council of Churches of the Near East was established and included first Evangelical, Anglican and Episcopal churches only, and then the Syriac Orthodox Church which joined the World Council of Churches during the era of His Beatitude Patriarch the Merciful Mar Ignatius Jacob III in 1960 and the Near East Council of Churches NECC in 1961.”
His Eminence continued, recalling the circumstances of the council’s foundation and its founders: “As for the rest of the churches, fathers of the Eastern Orthodox churches: Copts, Armenians and Syriacs, sought to include them in the ecumenical movement. Therefore, it was agreed, after preliminary meetings and apostolic attempts, to establish a number of new institutions on a larger scale. It includes all the churches of the Middle East, including the churches of Cyprus, where the three families of the Byzantine Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox and Evangelical are among the founding members of the Middle East Council of Churches.
Saliba added: "These churches held their first founding meeting of the Council in Cyprus in May 1974. And I thank God for honoring me as I was a member of this assembly where I was commissioned by His Beatitude Patriarch Yaqoub VI to accompany the Bishop of Beirut Ephrem Barsoum in representing the Syriac Orthodox Church.”
“What distinguished this meeting was the presence of the President of Cyprus in that time His Excellency Bishop Makarios who marked the history of the founding of this blessed council. On that day, Albert Spiro was elected General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, for a mandate that ended in 1977.”
Why Cyprus? The first question that comes to mind, to which Saliba clearly answers: “Cyprus was chosen to hold the Constituent General Assembly because of the difficult conditions that prevailed in other Middle Eastern countries during that time, especially in the seventies, when it was the only country everyone could go to. As for the address of the meeting, “The Present of Our Common Christian Mission,” was chosen by the heads of churches, Anba Samuel, His Holiness Pope Shenouda, His Beatitude Patriarch Hazeem, who was a Metropolitan at the time and Dr. Jeremiah.
Church Families Decided their Leaders
Everyone wonders how the foundation and structure of the Middle East Council of Churches was developed? And how did all these historical churches, rooted in time and faith, come to an agreement? Saliba answers these questions, stressing that: “At the founding meeting, an executive committee and heads of church families were also elected. Anba Samuel became head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, commissioned by His Holiness Pope Shenouda, who was concerned with social affairs and the relationship with ecumenical institutions around the world, East and West. His Excellency Bishop Ignatius Hazim was elected as head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Dr. Ohannes Aharonian of the Evangelical Church held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Theology in the Near East (NEST). This step was a positive start for Christianity.
As for the Catholic Church, it participated in the first general assembly of the council, to which its representatives attended as observers only for the meetings that took place at that time. However, with Bishop Youssef El-Khoury in the eighties in Cyprus, efforts were made for the Catholic churches family to join the council, and this was achieved in 1990, when El-Khoury was appointed head of the family.
Confident and assertive, Saliba enthusiastically added: "The Council has made very bold and wonderful steps based on love and understanding, and the Western world, especially the World Council of Churches, has been a fundamental supporter of the Middle East Council of Churches, always believing in its positive and active role. In addition to the Christian institutions in Europe, the United States of America, Canada, and Australia... Positions were distributed equally among the four families, including the position of Secretary General.
Following the end of Dr. Albert Spiro's mandate, Mr. Gabi Habib was elected as Secretary General of the Council in 1977, to then be succeeded by Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour, Dr. Gerges Salih of the Coptic Orthodox Church for two terms, and Father Paul Rouhana from the Catholic Church who was ordained a bishop and was replaced by Father Michel Jalekh who in turn was also elected President of the Antonine University in Baabda, Lebanon, and handed over the torch to Dr. Souraya Bechealany to continue the mission until the end of the Catholic mandate in the General Secretariat. In September 2021, the Executive Committee held in Bkerke - Lebanon elected Dr. Michel Abs as Secretary-General of the Council for a term of four years.
The Council, the Voice of United Churches
Saliba talked about the role of the council and what distinguishes it: “the council included several committees such as faith in ecumenical work, social service, ecumenism and the relationship of churches with each other, all under the banner of the General Secretariat. The Secretary General or the participating Secretaries General participate in its agenda. Major meetings are also held. Several meetings, such as the meetings of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and the heads of the four ecclesiastical families who work to develop the policies on which the Council is based in carrying out its tasks. The founding meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches had for goal the love of God and the Church, and therefore the desire to make an ecumenical movement that brings together the Churches, as the council is still the voice of the churches, but without having any relationship or influence with them. The council’s most important achievement was to build bridges between church families, their leaderships, workers and priests, acting as a unifying platform for a unified opinion among these church families. The council is an independent institution. It is sponsored by the churches through their leaders and the representative committees of all ecclesiastical families, as Muslims and political officials in Lebanon have praised it more than once, especially since it expresses the condition of all churches.”
The demand for the unity of churches has always been a controversial title among the Churches of the East, and with the founding of the Middle East Council of Churches, the title became clearer and developed into “unity in diversity”. What are the initiatives launched by the Middle East Council of Churches in the pursuit of unity and preservation of diversity? This question was answered by Bishop Saliba with facts
“Several initiatives sought to achieve the goal of unity among churches. For example, the Middle East Council of Churches unified the text of the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed... In the eighties, the Holy Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church addressed a message through His Beatitude Patriarch Zakka I Iwas to all sister churches of the East The Middle Eastern Orthodox, ie the Eastern Orthodox, Byzantine Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical Episcopal families to agree on a unified date for the celebration of Easter to be determined either according to the Gregorian or Julian calendar, or to reach a common denominator. The Syriac Orthodox Church has also held several meetings with the family of the Byzantine Orthodox Churches and Catholic churches through the Vatican and the Anglican Evangelical Churches, with the aim of striving for unity, especially since all churches are linked by a common denominator, which is the belief in the three entities, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in One God, in the Incarnation of the Word and the Seven Sacraments... In addition, the “Servants of the Parish” program that had been implemented by Bishop Boulos Sayyah with the aim of building bridges between believers, especially among priests, was a positive leap in the ecumenical spirit work.
Since the founding meeting till this day, Bishop Georges Saliba has not missed any gatherings or meetings of the Middle East Council of Churches. He is one of the most enthusiastic and caring people for the role of the Council, its position and the development of its message. Therefore, he ended our interview with a warm invitation to all believers to familiarize themselves with the message of the Middle East Council of Churches, its missions and goals...
He concluded: The council is part of my life!
Communication and Public Relations Department