“Witnesses and Martyrs in Anatolia”
The MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs in a Lecture at Balamand: “It is essential to preserve heritage and sacred sites. The issue must move within the international conscience, regardless of religious and ethnic affiliations”
You can find some photos at the end of the text.
As part of the lecture series at the St. John of Damascus - Institute of Theology in Balamand, Lebanon, the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs gave a lecture entitled " Witnesses and Martyrs in Anatolia," in the presence of Rt. Archimandrite Yaacoub Khalil, Dean of the Institute and President of the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (A.T.M.E), on Wednesday, April 8, 2025, in the Patriarch Ignatius IV Hall at the Institute campus.
The lecture was attended by Directors and Professors from the Saint John of Damascus Theological Institute, along with a delegation of students, Professor Laure Abi Khalil, Coordinator of the "Dialogue, Social Cohesion, and Human Dignity" program at MECC, as well as the MECC Media who conducted many interviews with the attendees, and interested participants in the topic.
During the lecture, the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs mentioned that he began his work on minorities in 1980 and conducted many studies on the massacres of the Syriacs and Armenians. He also researched the massacres of the Antiochian and Anatolian Greeks, which expanded his understanding through various readings. He adopted the term "Antiochian Levant" to describe where the Church was established and where the Apostle Paul's journeys occurred.
Moreover, Professor Abs explained that "the Church's expansion in the 19th century was significant. The operations took place along the Antiochian Coast, from the Hakkari Mountains to Cilicia. The crimes affected everyone, including the Greeks of Greece and Arab Syrians in 1915."
He added, "The cleansing operations began in the Northwest of Anatolia, with more than 20,000 people displaced towards Anatolia. Young men were took into forced labor in 1914. Ethnic cleansing operations began in 1915, along with forced deportations, expulsion, and starvation in rural areas."
In addition, Professor Michel Abs talked about the history of the massacres and purges witnessed by the people at the time. He emphasized that "it is essential to preserve heritage and sacred sites. The issue must move within the international conscience, regardless of religious and ethnic affiliations. This is a significant challenge."
