A report About the MECC Seminar on the Commemoration of the Abduction of the Archbishops of Aleppo, on Radio Free Lebanon (RLL)

On the tenth yearly commemoration of the abduction of the Archbishops of Aleppo, His Eminence Archbishop Boulos Yaziji and His Eminence Archbishop Mor Gregorius Youhanna Ibrahim, the Middle East Council of Churches organized a seminar entitled “The Issue of the Abducted and the Forcibly Absented, Violation of Human Dignity,” on Monday 24 April 2023. At the end of the seminar, MECC issued a statement in which it declared that 22 April of each year will be the "Ecumenical Day of the Abducted and the Forcibly Absented".

The seminar was held under the patronage and in the presence of His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia, and MECC President for the Catholic Family, and under the patronage of His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, and His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and MECC Honorary President. The seminar was also in the presence of His Eminence Metropolitan Silouan Moussi, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Byblos, Batroun and Dependencies (Mount Lebanon), and online participation of His Eminence Mor Clemis Daniel Kourieh, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut.

For the occasion, Radio Free Lebanon broadcasted a report about the seminar prepared and presented by the journalist Richard Harfouch, which you can listen to it via the following video. You can also read the MECC statement by clicking here, and the news of the seminar by clicking here.