Under the Auspices of His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian
On the Occasion of the 109th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
And as part of the Activities of the Fiftieth Year of Its Founding
MECC Organizes a Conference About the Armenian Genocide
“Keeping Memory Alive”, Delivered by the Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs
On the Occasion of the 109th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, as part of the activities of the Fiftieth Year of the Founding of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), and with the blessing and presence of His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian, Catholicos Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia, and President of the Middle East Council of Churches for the Catholic Family, MECC held a conference entitled “Keeping Memory Alive”, about the Armenian Genocide, presented by the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs. It took place on Monday 22 April 2024, at the Theatre of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Geitaoui, Lebanon.
Attendees in this conference which you can watch by clicking here, were His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, represented by Father Sarkis Abrahamian, His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, represented by His Eminence Monsignor Antonio Wakim, representatives from various Church families, their Eminences Bishops, Pastors and Priests, Nuns from the Lebanese Hospital Geitaoui, Seminary students, the President of the Syriac League in Lebanon Mr. Habib Afram, legal and social figures, guests, media, and the MECC family. The event, was presented by the journalist Lea Adel Maamary.
The Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs started his lecture with a word entitled “Waynon” “Where are they?”, in commemoration of the eleventh anniversary of the abduction of the Archbishops of Aleppo, Archbishop Boulos Yazigi and Mar Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim. In his presentation on the Armenian Genocide, Dr. Abs said: “Generations embrace generations, enabling them to patience and steadfastness. New pages of murder, displacement... destruction and plunder. Today looks like yesterday, the same scene from a century and a decade ago, repeated with new faces. Here is the same perpetrator opening a new wound... under the name of Artsakh. The wound is still open, bleeding with pain and memories. The Armenians heal their wounds that have not healed after a century and a decade, finding that the world is on the path to recognizing the genocide that befell them.”
Dr. Abs added that: “Out of concern for the rights of these peoples, it is necessary to emphasize the following matters: continuing advocacy and pressure internationally in order to secure the recognition of the genocide; urging all groups that were subjected to genocide to establish international institutions to demand their rights; incorporating all these institutions into an international consortium working to recognize and restore rights; documenting lost rights, from assassination and torture, to confiscation of property, as much as possible in order to use them in international lawsuits, knowing that there is no time period for such actions; and organizing all kinds of events in order to shed light on the phenomenon of genocide and its derivatives.”
Afterwards, His Beatitude Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI Minassian delivered a speech in which he said, “We were born from orphan fathers and mothers who witnessed and saw their families slaughtered and stained with their pure blood. Today, like yesterday, the West bears witness to these crimes and does not express a word of consolation. Even today, like yesterday, they record history with what they desire and wish, obscuring the facts without any feeling. Such as the tragedy that occurred when our brothers were abducted, the Bishops on the one hand and the venerable Priests on the other hand. Since that day, it is not known what happened to them, immersed in the unknown, leaving their families with a broken heart and without obtaining any truth about their absence.”
His Beatitude mentioned that, “Nevertheless, the Armenians, by their nature, despite all the persecutions, continued their giving. The more they gave, the more they were deprived of their human rights... As for the criminals, they are still the same as they were in the past. Today, they are enjoying their destructive crimes. How difficult this situation is, especially that today the same scenario is taking place and being repeated in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Palestine. Today we witness what we endured in the past: slaughter, displacement, starvation, exile, and mass grave in the deserts.”
The conference ended with an agape and a gathering that brought together the participants in an atmosphere of brotherhood, familiarity and love.