The Middle East Council of Churches expresses its condolences to the Vatican, to Pope Francis, to the Catholic Church, and to the MECC churches for the passing away of one of the great theologians of our time, intellectual, academic, policy maker and Pope, Benedict XVI who led the Catholic Church for eight years. We pray for his soul to rest in peace.

"Dignity, Freedom and Justice"

An Intellectual Seminar at the Invitation of MECC and the Regional Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Save the Date!

Wednesday 11 December 2022, at the headquarters of the MECC General Secretariat and via Zoom, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Towards the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Middle East Council of Churches, in partnership with the Regional Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is honored to invite you to an intellectual seminar entitled "Dignity, Freedom and Justice". It will be held on Wednesday 11 January 2023, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the headquarters of the MECC General Secretariat in Hamra, Beirut, Makhoul Street, Deeb Building, 3rd floor. You can click here to check the location.

You can also participate in the seminar via Zoom through the following link: shorturl.at/y2345. As well as, it will be broadcasted live on Télé Lumière and Noursat, and on the MECC Facebook page.

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs headed a delegation from the MECC General Secretariat, in a visit to His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia, and MECC President for the Catholic Family. The visit was held on Monday 26 December 2022, at the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Achrafieh, Beirut.

The delegation included the MECC Associate Secretary General Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, and the Director of Theological and Ecumenical Department Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar.

Merry Christmas from the MECC General Secretariat

Video - Christmas Message 2022 from the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs

Tell me, O manger, what happened that night when the Word was incarnated?

I swear to you by Him, by His wounds, and by His bleeding on the cross. Tell me, what happened on that enduring night?

Humble, incarnated and transformed into one of us, and settled in the most humble and poor places.

The Sun of Righteousness came down to us and chose to teach us a lesson about His birth: that the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.

With a simple cloth, his mother wrapped Him and laid Him in the manger, although she was the one who knew who He was.

And Celebrates the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” During this Month

The Communication and Public Relations Department at the Middle East Council of Churches have now issued its online Ecumenical calendar for the month of January 2023. 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.

Noting that January includes one of the most important international Ecumenical occasions. It is the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”, which MECC celebrates it in the region and with the world, between 18 and 25 January, every year.

At the end of 2022, it seems that the Middle East is breathing its last breath due to the exacerbation of the economic, social and living crises... and the ME people are being exhausted due to the daily pressures. Hence, the Middle East Council of Churches is keen to preserve human dignity, and seeks to sow hope in the hearts of the exhausted people through its various humanitarian programs. MECC is trying to support the most vulnerable groups in order to empower them and convince them that the will of life is stronger.

The MECC’s office in Jordan organized several programs related to various social sectors. The Council implemented a training course on the art of sewing, which it had launched in cooperation with the Rum Orthodox Church.

In a Book and Seminar

The MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs from the Antonine University in Lebanon:

Disability is a path of sustainable dynamism which needs continuous update

and will remain a priority on the MECC’s agenda

Fadi El Halabi: Dignity and diversity are the foundations to build citizenship

and our slogan will remain 'no to despair'

Aiming at raising awareness on the issue of disability and its concepts in the Arab world, a seminar was organized on the newly released book “The Question of Disability in the Arab World, A Roadmap for the Future”, at the invitation of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN), in partnership with the Middle East Council of Churches. It was held on Friday 16 December 2022, at the Antonine University in Lebanon, with the participation of the University’s Rector Father Michel Jalkh and the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, alongside persons with disabilities, academics, specialists and guests from various fields.

Harassment at Work - Lecture and Training Seminar with the Vocational Training Center at Saint Joseph University in Beirut and Equal Foundation

The number of harassment’s victims at work is constantly increasing in our societies. Thus, working on ending this social issue is necessary, especially by raising awareness and emphasizing the risks of staying silent. Hence, a series of seminars and lectures about harassment’s types at work, whether sexual or moral, were held. It was organized in coordination with the Vocational Training Center at Saint Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut and the “Equal” NGO, on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 December 2022, at USJ’s campus.

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs presented a lecture followed by a training seminar which focused on the types and concepts of harassment at work, how to distinguish its forms, ways to avoid it, and how to deal with it when it is not possible to prevent it.

MECC Joins His Holiness in His Call to Lift the Blockade and Provide the Necessary Support

Following the blockade imposed on the “Lachin Corridor”, the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, issued an appeal to the world in which he rang the alarm bell amidst the risk threatening the Armenians in Artsakh. From its end, the Middle East Council of Churches joins the voice of truth, the voice of His Holiness, and calls for lifting the siege, so that the world does not witness a new humanitarian catastrophe, but rather another massacre against the Armenian people. MECC also calls the decision-makers to help the Armenian people and support them in their ordeal.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches, the MECC releases the Arabic version of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” Booklet 2023 entitled “Do good; seek justice” (Isaiah 1:17). As for the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Abs, it is entitled “A prayer for unity in a time of rupture and loss”, and it is the introduction of the Arabic Version of the Book of Prayers for Christian Unity.

The issue also includes a video message from the Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs within the MECC Executive Committee meeting, which was held on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 November 2022, at the Monastery of Notre-Dame du Puits in Bkennaya, Lebanon. This is in addition to a video presenting an overview of the youth consultations sessions held as part of the Executive Committee meeting and highlighting their issues and opinions through some interviews. The videos are produced by the MECC Communication and Public Relations Department.

Introduction of the Arabic Version of the Book of Prayers for Christian Unity

Once again, the week of prayer for unity is approaching, and the churches of the Middle East are preparing to participate in it, immediately after the occasion of the birth of the Incarnate and the Baptism of water.

This week has become an ecumenical church tradition and has become part of the common culture of churches that have decided to live together in a partnership of faith despite the diversity of affiliations.

“Do good; seek justice” (Isaiah 1:17)

Let us engage in the struggle for justice in our society

We all belong to Christ

The Middle East Council of Churches releases the Arabic version of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” booklet 2023, under the title “Do good; seek justice” (Isaiah 1:17). The title has been chosen at a time when the world and the Middle East are suffering from various crises, conflicts, injustice and divisions in various fields. Therefore, the booklet is centered around the biblical text from Isaiah 1:12-18, in which “Isaiah challenged God’s people in his day to learn to do good together; to seek justice together, to rescue the oppressed together, to defend the orphan and plead for the widow together. The prophet’s challenge applies equally to us today.”

A dialogue Forum in Erbil - Iraq

Towards a Brighter Future!

Huguette Salameh - Erbil, Iraq

Between coexistence, tolerance, managing diversity, rights, citizenship, and freedom of expression... and between religious and social values, dialogue, purification of memory, and historical reconciliation, between all these terms and the harsh circumstances that Iraq is passing through, there are winds of change and terms which are taking the front place in speeches and discourses today. The aim is to form a secular national identity and build a bright future for Iraqis, all Iraqis in Iraq!

Many conciliatory and peaceful terms have been topics of discussion since many years, especially since 2018, under the auspices of the World Council of Churches and in cooperation with the Middle East Council of Churches. In fact, a dialogue Forum was launched in Beirut through two sessions in 2019 and 2021 and entitled "Managing Diversity and Respecting Individual and Collective Rights in the State of Citizenship: The Constitution, school curriculum and media”.

Youth representing various Churches and youth movements in the Middle East, came from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon to the Monastery of Notre-Dame du Puits in Bkennaya, Lebanon, to participate in the Executive Committee meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches, which was held on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 November 2022. They gathered together and raised their concerns, challenges, and suggestions to the Heads and Leaders of the Churches participating in the meeting. What were their aspirations and expectations?

The video presents an overview of the youth consultations sessions and highlights their issues and opinions through some interviews. It is produced by the MECC Communication and Public Relations Department.

Report: November 2022

With talking-heads hinting of a looming global recession in the next year, the Middle East is struggling to cope with the external changes. In addition to all the challenges that each of the countries has, they are being forced to come up with solutions that can guarantee a future. Faced with climate change, overpopulation, unemployment and other related hurdles, ME nations are being tested to their very limit. 

Within the Executive Committee meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches, which was held on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 November 2022, at the Monastery of Notre-Dame du Puits in Bkennaya, Lebanon, the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs delivered a message. He highlighted the meeting’s activities and mentioned the most important issues that were discussed, as well as his aspirations and expectations.

We wish you a blessed Advent season. It is a special time, especially in the Holy Land, as it leaves politics and violence behind for a while and makes way for the celebration of the arrival of our Saviour Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. As Christians in the Holy Land, we hold fast to our sacred traditions every year. For us as Palestinian communities, preserving the sacred significance of the many sites and traditions in the region takes precedence over conflicts.

Jerusalem is not only significant for Palestinian Christians and Christians around the world this Christmas season, but also the international home of people of many religious confessions. In the Christian Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, a Christmas tree is traditionally lit every year in the first week of Advent, marking the beginning of the Christmas season here.

With the International Human Rights Day on 10 December, the United Nations ends its international annual campaign “UNITE to End Violence Against Women”, which began with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November, throughout 16 days of activism.

From its end, the Middle East Council of Churches renews its call for the necessity of serious work to end violence against women and to protect and preserve their dignity. Hence, MECC participated with ACT Alliance in the United Nations campaign through many photos especially taken by the ACT member organizations, which we will republish in the following.