As part of capacity building and life skills improving, the Middle East Council of Churches continues its training courses that it organizes in various countries of the region in order to empower its people and enhance their role in building better societies.

Thus, the Middle East Council of Churches, Jordan’s Office, pursues to implement new training courses, as it announces, on the one hand, with the support of the international humanitarian organization “Evangelical Lutheran Church in America” (ELCA) through ACT Appeal JOR 231 and in cooperation with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) academy and the German university in Jordan, the opening of the energy and renewable energy course of the program with the participation of 20 men and women trainees from Syrian and Jordanian nationalities.

In the context of following up the humanitarian and relief developments in Syria following the earthquake that struck the North of the Antiochian Levant, the Middle East Council of Churches presents a video showing the extent of the catastrophe that occurred in Syria and its repercussions in Jableh region, Rural Lattakia governorate.

In addition to the testimonies of some survivors, the Central and Coastal Area Coordinator at MECC, Syria’s Office, Shadi Saroukh, describes, in the video, the difficult living conditions in Jableh after years of war and following the devastating earthquake, as he explains the response of the Middle East Council of Churches to help and support the affected and afflicted people.

Noting that the Middle East Council of Churches had formed an Ecumenical relief committee with representatives of the Churches in Syria aiming at working on restoring the destroyed houses by the earthquake.

Report: June 2023

While the global economic situation is not improving, the economies of the Middle East nations are bearing the brunt. As markets are contracting and inflation continues to impact companies and citizens alike, most ME countries are either rallying up their resources or enacting reforms to adapt to the global situation. Despite this, investments continue to flow to the region in various sectors.

On the occasion of the 50-Year Golden Jubilee of His Priesthood

The Middle East Council of Churches, on behalf of its Presidents, the members of its Executive Committee, its Secretary General, its Associate Secretaries General and its team, extends its warmest congratulations to His Beatitude Patriarch Youssef Al-Absi, Greek Melkite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, on the occasion of the 50-Year Golden Jubilee of his Priesthood. MECC wishes him blessed years full of witness and holiness.

The Middle East Council of Churches also raises its Prayers, asking God to grant His Beatitude Patriarch Al-Absi health and determination in his Pastoral mission as a father and faithful servant of the Church of Christ.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Middle East Council of Churches, Communication and Public Relations Department, MECC on behalf of its Presidents, the members of its Executive Committee, its Secretary General, its Associate Secretaries General and its team, extends its warmest congratulations to His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia, and MECC President for the Catholic Family, on the occasion of the 50-Year Golden Jubilee of his Priesthood. As for the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, it is entitled “Religion: Its Position and Role in Organizing Life and Society”, in which he talked about the religious phenomenon from the sociological point of view in the modern world.

In sociology, there is no phenomenon more difficult to define than the religious phenomenon, given the historical path in which it has followed, and given the diversity and ramifications of existing religious sects, especially as they deal with the field of the sacred, as well as with the Creator to whom everything is attributed, from eternity to eternity.

Since humanity had begun to ponder over natural and life phenomena, it began to develop anxieties based on the experiences it lived and stored in its memory, so it entered the tunnel of insecurity, a fact which resulted  in creating  a state of constant search for an enduring safety that has lasted up till our day and age.

The first human being was frightened by natural phenomena as well as by prevailing human practices to deal with them alike. This resulted in the search  for figuring out  the best means to safeguard and immunize oneself against them and suggested beliefs and myths in an attempt to understand that which was prevailing so as to find a way for protection from events or from their consequences. So it was that totemic beliefs and beliefs of reincarnation came to appear as myths that developed into paganism as time went on and with which humanity settled for long periods of time until the emergence of what was termed as monotheistic religions.

On the occasion of the 50-Year Golden Jubilee of His Priesthood

The Middle East Council of Churches, on behalf of its Presidents, the members of its Executive Committee, its Secretary General and its team, extends its warmest congratulations to His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia, and MECC President for the Catholic Family, on the occasion of the 50-Year Golden Jubilee of his Priesthood. MECC wishes His Beatitude many years full of accomplishments, blessings and holiness.

The Middle East Council of Churches also wishes to His Beatitude Patriarch Minassian health and success in his Pastoral mission as a faithful father and shepherd of the Church of Christ, asking God to bless his service through his testimony to Jesus Christ and his journey in the Vineyard of the Lord.

Quotes and Reflections from His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and His Holiness Pope Francis

The Holy Family's journey to the land of Egypt assures us that the Divine Provision transcends everything and that God’s Divine Power transforms hardships into accomplishments, as the journey has become the source of many blessings extending to this day. Hence, the video presents some quotes and reflections about the entry of the Holy Family into Egypt from His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, and from the Pope of the Vatican, His Holiness Pope Francis.

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

An Article by His Eminence Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, MECC Honorary President

His Eminence Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, participated as a speaker at a symposium on Christians in the Middle East, on Monday 12 June 2023, at the Tapiola Church, Espoo, Finland.

During the symposium, His Eminence delivered a speech via an article he wrote under the title "The Future of Christianity in the Middle East", in which he spoke about the role of Arab Palestinian Christians, highlighting the reasons of Christians’ emigration in addition to the challenges they face and how to support them in light of the situations they are passing through.

Below you can find the full article.

An Article in Arabic by Dr. Gergis Saleh, MECC Honorary Secretary General

As part of highlighting the Holy Family's journey to Egypt, you can find an article entitled “The Coptic Church in the Old Testament”, written by Dr. Gergis Saleh, Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, in which he explains who the Copts are, talking about how Egypt was mentioned in the Bible, in addition to some of the prophecies from the Coptic Church in the Old Testament. Hence, Dr. Saleh presents in his article a historical overview of the path of the Holy Family and its entry into the land of Egypt.

You can find the full article in Arabic.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Middle East Council of Churches, Communication and Public Relations Department, MECC presents in cooperation with the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Institute of Coptic Studies, a video in which Dr. Isaac Ibrahim Ajban, Dean of the Institute of Coptic Studies, explains the journey of the Holy Family in the Land of Egypt in terms of spiritual blessings, human values, and cultural influences it presents. As for the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, it is entitled “Between the Alterations of Modernity and Family Disintegration”, in which he talked about the disruption that societies and families are facing amidst modernity, globalization and materials presented by media. He also highlighted the MECC mission in defending human rights and preserving their dignity, as well as on the Council’s work in implementing awareness and advocacy programs.

The moment I received a tape of an exhibition of satanic drawings and images in the European Parliament last month, my first reaction upon viewing the tape was disgust. My reaction was that of an ordinary person who sees what disturbs sight, conscience and soul.

I gathered the curiosity and courage of the researcher and the social activist, and went back through this book of misery, two, three, four and more times, and analyzed these pictures and drawings until I ended up on the shore of sadness and pity.