From the MECC Archive: Speech of His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II at the MECC 11th General Assembly
Our ecumenical journey towards the 12th General Assembly of the Middle East Council of Churches, which will be held between 16 and 20 May 2022 with the generous hospitality of His Holiness Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark Pope Tawadros II, in Cairo, Egypt, under the title of “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27), has started. Thus, we will shed light accordingly on stages, excerpts, speeches, publications and photos from the past MECC General Assemblies.
You can find below the speech of His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and president of MECC for the Eastern Orthodox Family, during the MECC 11th General Assembly, held between 6 and 8 September 2016 in Amman, Jordan, under the title of “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 136: 1).
Dear brothers, Your Holinesses, Beatitudes, Graces and Excellencies, Brothers and Sisters,
We thank the Good Lord who out of His eternal mercy and His love gathered us we the servants of His people in this blessed day to remember together our one mission, to serve the world, to serve the parish people and also people outside the Church, especially in these difficult times and critical conditions that prevail in this dear Orient.
Here in the city of fraternal love, Philadelphia Amman, we meet to remember and remind others that God is love and that anyone working in the name of this loving God should have a life that reflects the word of God, love should be his code and mercy his method. He who follows this path does not exclude others, does not call the others unbelievers (kuffar), but he brings all together in a fraternal love as sons and daughters of the One God whom we all worship.
We meet here in this blessed city and offer our heartfelt thanks to Patriarch Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, who hosted us, and to the good people of Jordan and to His Majesty King Abdullah the Second. We are gathered here in witness to the spirit of love and brotherhood that prevail in this country, and to the tolerance felt by the Christians and Muslims in this country. This spirit prevailed in our countries for several centuries but it was recently shaken as a result of foreign interventions that awakened strong prej udices and shook the basis of our coun tries leading to emigration of millions of our Christian and Muslim children who cannot live in these bloody events caused by a terrorism that stemmed from takfiri ideologies and thoughts we have never known in the past.
Yes, our life was not all comfort as disturbances were always there from time to time but we used to live together Muslims and Christians respecting each other. But today, this coexistence is facing many challenges that are about to destroy it. Because of this, a strong position is required from all to confirm this coexistence and to eliminate the causes of discrimination taking place today and making us feel not welcomed in these regions. What makes it worst is the great welcome we find today from European and other countries, to which we were not accustomed in the past. These countries are ready to accept our children as if the interests of these countries have met with the interests of the terrorist organizations in emptying this Orient from its Christians who were present in it before Islam and before Christianity; they are the ones who originated in this land since the beginning of history.
Dears, allow us in this blessed meeting to convey to you the torments of our people in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon and in each part in this Orient. But we also convey to you their hopes that this will be a successful meeting with a clarification and unequivocal confirmation of our rights, as a basic historical y in this land. We want to live with the others, our brothers, in love, under- standing, agreement and peace. We convey to you the pain of our children who die at seas on their way to what they think is salvation and comfort. We convey to you the sufferings of our two dear bishops, Boulos Yazegi and Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim, today is the fourth year to their kidnapping. We ask you to pray for their safe return, and the safe return of all the kidnapped. We convey to you the sufferings of that Ophthalmologist who wanted to take shelter with his family in the basement of his building in the city of Al Hasaka, a rocket bumed them his wife died and he is in the hospital waiting for God's mercy. We convey to you sufferings of the families who were dispersed, of children who died in the name of freedom and democracy and in the name of human rights and in the name, and the name etc. Our children, wherever they are, are focusing on this three-day meeting of the Council, praying for it to have an impact in their lives and to offer them the necessary spiritual support to remain clinging to the land of their fathers and grandfathers.
So, I have the duty to ask myself and ask you all: what is the role of this Council in the life of our Churches to day? Is it doing what it should do? In an honesty I say the Council has no role in our life in Syria. We almost do not hear about the existence of the Middle East Council of Churches in Syria, especially in the difficult conditions we are living which necessitate more than any other time the presence of the Council to do relief work and to consolidate Christianity in Syria. I am sorry to say that we don't know much about the Council.
Now-a-days we are receiving delegation after another to visit us in Syria, especially political and government delegations, but where are the Church delegations coming to visit us? Where is the World Council of Churches? Where is the Middle East Council of Churches? Where are the Christian delegations that would come and stand by us in these difficult conditions? We miss them, indeed we do miss them.
Dears, we pray today for the success of this Eleventh General Assembly, we pray for peace in our dear countries, for justice and freedom to all people in this Orient, to live together, loving brothers, building together our country destroyed by war and terrorism, and our thousands of years old civilization that is being usurped today. We pray for all of us to be instruments of good deed in the hands of our good God, and to do what we can for the benefit of our countries. Thank you.