The Middle East Council of Churches’ Founding Meeting (2)
The Beginning of An Ecumenical Era in the Eastern Church
“Building Bridges, Standing Together” Since 1974
Written By Elia Nasrallah
Translated by Mary Yahchouchy
Since 1974, the Middle East Council of Churches has been working on spreading its Ecumenical message in the East, the birthplace of Christianity and where Christ was born, died and resurrected. Its primary goal lies in deepening spirituality and communion service among the member churches and unifying their voice and efforts, by striving towards action for Christian unity and witness to the Gospel. Additionally, human services are taken into consideration in the region and among its peoples, to formulate its main slogan “Building Bridges, Standing Together”.
Therefore, 1974 is considered a pivotal stance in the Eastern Churches’ history and the Ecumenical spirit’s path, as the Middle East Council of Churches which was born in its first founding meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, between 28 and 30 May of this year, became a Christian platform that groups the Churches of the East, within the framework of dialogue, love, brotherhood and cooperation.... During the meeting, several speeches were made presenting the path of establishing the council, revealing its foundation, structure, mission and goals to be achieved in the Middle East.
The meeting began with the speech of Deacon Dionysius Kikotis, representing the Church of Cyprus. He welcomed the attendees, stressing that the Church in Cyprus stood alongside the participants who are working to reorganize the Council of Churches for the Near East. He said: “These efforts are a necessity in times of hopelessness and hardship. It is important for everyone to do what they can for the sake of mankind." He added: "We must help people live and die for higher than just selfish goals... Is there anything better to offer to mankind than the word of God? If we do that, we alleviate human misery. This attempt must be done." Kikotius cited a verse from (1 John 16: 4): “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” considering that each participant was “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51) or, in this case Nicosia, to participate in the meeting with the aim of developing the effectiveness of the Duties of the Council of Churches for the Near East. He ended his speech by conveying to the audience the blessings of His Beatitude Archbishop Makarios.
A New Era, A New Council
Inspired by "the passage from old to new," Pastor Hovans Aharonian then gave a general introduction expressing the old desire to reach such a day in which all churches would unite. "We have been eagerly praying for more than ten years to achieve our unity in a new organization that carries the old name of the Council of Churches in the Near East.”
Aharonian followed up with a brief overview of the idea of establishing the World Council of Churches movement that was launched at the missionary conference held in Edinburgh in 1910. The Council saw the light in 1948, and now we transmit the feeling of union in Christ to the Middle East and the development of the ecumenical movement in the region with a missionary council that became later the Christian Council for the Near East and then the Council of Churches in the Near East.
"The ecumenical movement in the Near East is the result of a process of growth and development that has gone through important steps until it reached its current stage, the reason for our meeting today on this historic occasion. It was a transition process from a missionary council to a Christian Council, then to a Council of Churches. The Council’s constitution and bylaws were examined and reviewed at every stage, and all member churches and institutions approved them. In Cyprus, we have now reached an important transitional stage, we will establish a new council under the same name: the Council of Churches for the Near East, a new council with openness and expansion of membership."
Pastor Hovance Aharonian then indicated that this founding meeting came after several negotiations and talks for the establishment of a new council, and after preparing a draft of the 1972 constitution by a joint committee representing the churches, to be presented to the concerned churches and get their approval, and with that, "start a new era" with a new board. Members of the Council of Churches in the Near East (Old Council) brought faith and hopes to this new institution:
A- “We come to the council with our intention to forget our differences and try to reach what unites us. This does not mean that we abandon what we are and forget what we believe in, and we do not know what we have to do. We believe that by knowing ourselves, knowing what we believe in and knowing what we want to reach, we can offer something through the spirit of participation to this council ... The unity of the Church is at the core of its nature, given to us by our God ...”
B- “Unity is an important transitional stage that must be reached in order to reach the final goal, just as the Church existed for the sake of the world. Unity is testimony. The church has a mission to deliver. It must bear witness in all ways, through her traditions, the service of prayer, its rituals, worship and life. We have been called to bear witness, and to testify together as members of the one body of Jesus Christ. This is what our God has entrusted to us...”
C- “Our sympathy and coexistence together are a testimony, but we are also required to serve. Through service, we witness and complete our mission... Service is a message addressed to the world: serving in the name of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the needy in the world. We have come to this council to fulfill the call of our God for unity, testimony, and service in this world. We are certain that this is the will of God through our Lord Christ Jesus...”
A New Era, A New Challenge
In his turn, Al-Anba Samuel delivered a speech in which he highlighted the importance of the region: "At this historic moment we are launching the establishment of the Council of Churches for the New Near East from Cyprus, one of the biblical countries… with the longest history of civilization. This region is the cradle of the three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam… This region is part of the Middle East…”
He explained that the Ecumenical Council of Churches of the Western Churches contributed to the rediscovery of the Churches of the East through the spirit of brotherhood it experienced, meetings, consultations and exchanged visits, it was able to create a new understanding of the richness and depth of the Christian heritage and stress that such heritage should not be neglected. Therefore, the deepening of the many forms of rituals in the life of the Church, including praises, worship, communion, communal life, repentance, and concern for an eschatological life... gave ecumenical circles a deep feeling of the importance of participation in this heritage.
As for negotiations, he explained that everyone held good intentions, “but it took them a long time to realize the importance of finding the means by which these churches feel that the council was ours all. What we needed was a true feeling of belonging, and not just mere meetings from time to time...". He explained that the problems that they tried to find solutions to were not merely constitutional or legal matters, but rather stemmed from a real sense of shared responsibility, and that the Church is ready to fulfill her responsibilities with the most successful resurrection."
This stage is the beginning of a new era and the beginning of a new challenge. Everyone’s responsibility is to pray and work hard until we come to know the spiritual and social needs of our people, and plan together the way in which the churches of the region can cooperate in order to respond to these needs, and convey the message of our God to humanity..."
Samuel concluded his speech saying: “…Our new constitution and its bylaws have been prepared for us, enabling us to enter into a dialogue with our Catholic brothers in the region in the hopes that one day we will meet together in an institution such as this Council of Churches in the Near East...”
The Christian Mission in the Middle East Today
During the founding meeting, His Excellency Bishop Ignatius Hazim delivered the main speech in which he confirmed in the beginning: “In this council, we have no claim to be one church above the others, or to be an authority that imposes itself in some way on its sister churches. We are here for serious responsible and deep meetings, we will not be satisfied that the lines are parallel, we want them to intersect." As for the general subject: “The Christian Mission in the Middle East Today” he explains that it came to him when he felt that what must be emphasized on fundamentally is “that our mission, the mission of the Churches, and the mission of this meeting are primarily Christian. This gives our work frame a special dimension..."
He also pointed out: "Today we affirm that Christ is the Lord, and we affirm that with his perfect divinity and full humanity, he is our path in this life, our path towards our neighbor or our brother... We believe that the humanity of man is achieved if we are totally directed towards our humanly God... He added in his speech that the unity of the Holy Trinity is the unity of love and the essence, which “we hope to see one day, what we now call “churches”. We expect more than this, we want this Trinitarian unity to be not only be the image of churches unity, but of the unity of the whole world. In the Middle East, we are asked to be always in conversation, dialogue and confrontation for the spiritual heritage inherent in this region of the world. Therefore, we as churches must confront pluralism, we will face the anxiety caused by the multiplicity in many fields..."
Then Hazeem addressed the Council's three families: the Eastern, Evangelical, and Orthodox, saying: "We are here East Chalcedonians, non-Chalcedonians or from Evangelical families, all are Eastern in an authentic sense and with a certain meaning, and we insist that we remain so... Between us and our brothers we feel a participation in a long history, we feel that there are secrets between us, not all but some. We find that there is a consensus between us that is almost complete in the field of beliefs.” He stressed that the council will contribute to deepening fraternity and making it a reality in life for people and churches in general... May from this moment our multiplicity becomes a multiplicity of talents, not divisions here and there..."
His Excellency Bishop Ignatius Hazim was also keen on the necessity of preserving the relationship with the World Council of Churches, promising that this relationship would remain strong and fruitful. He also promised that: “the council will find one of its main tasks to serve the Christian believer who feels the presence of Christ. Many have lost the Christian feeling and the sense of Christ.”
Under the title "New Perceptions and New Preferences", speeches were directed around unity, Christianity in the Middle East and the Council's mission. they were delivered by Bishop Abboudi from the Patriarchate of Antioch and the rest of the East for the Syriac Orthodox Church, Mr. Esfandiar Shahmardian from the Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Iran, Miss Maud Nahas from the Antioch Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox, Dr. George Babawi from the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate and Professor of Alexandria from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.
The founding meeting included greetings and wishes from the World Council of Churches carried by Reverend Pastor Alan Barsh along with greetings from sister churches in the United States of America to Archbishop Karakin Sarkissian.
Source: Booklet of the Middle East Council of Churches Inaugural Assembly - “Our Common Christian Message Today”
Pictures: MECC Communication and Public Relations Department
Communication and Public Relations Department