An Environmental Christian Celebration in "Anaphora" Glorifies the Creator

On the occasion of the ongoing “Season of Creation” 2022, the “Anaphora Center”, the Eco Friendly House of the Coptic Church, in Wadi El Natroun, Egypt, held a Christian environmental celebration, on Sunday 11 September 2022. It was under the auspices and supervision of Anba Thomas, founder of the Anaphora Center, and Bishop of Al-Qusiya and Mir, Assiut, Egypt. The event was part of the series of celebrations organized by the Middle East Council of Churches, in partnership with “Danmission” organization, in various countries of the region.

Priests, believers, and interested people in the Church environmental issue, participated in the celebration. As well as, participants were the Egypt Council of Churches, Dr. Gerges Saleh, Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, and Rev. Rifaat Fikry, MECC Associate Secretary General, President of the Evangelical Conference of Cairo, and Head of the Council for Dialogue and Ecumenical Relations in the Evangelical Church in Egypt.

The MECC General Secretariat Prays for Creation

Teach us, O Lord, to contemplate your creation, and listen for the voice of each creature declaring your glory!

The international “Season of Creation” 2022 has started in the Middle East and its theme for this year is “Listen to the Voice of Creation”. The Season begins on September 1 and ends on October 4 of each year. Hence, the Season invites us this year to listen to the voice of creation, which is suffering due to many factors. So we unite in prayer, thanking God for all His blessings and glorifying His Holy Name, “faith comes from hearing.” We also unite and share a common call to care for our Lord’s creation. We are co-creatures, and part of all that God has made. Our wellbeing is interwoven with the wellbeing of the Earth.

On the occasion, members of the MECC General Secretariat’s family who were present in Beirut, gathered and prayed for God the Creator, on Thursday 1st of September 2022, at the MECC headquarters in Beirut. MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs and a delegation of Directors were absent due to their participation in the WCC 11th General Assembly taking place in Karlsruhe, Germany, as well as others were busy due to many conferences.

“Listen to the Voice of Creation”

Middle Eastern Celebrations to Pray and Work Together for the Protection of Our Common Home

#SeasonOfCreationME

We are happy to announce that the international "Season of Creation" for this year will be kicked off in the Middle East after it was launched by the Middle East Council of Churches for the first time in the region last year. Noting that its international celebrations start on September 1 and end on October 4 of each year. A Season during which the people and Christians of the Middle East, unite with the ecumenical family around the world, to participate in prayer and work together to protect our common home, as well as to listen and respond to the cry of Creation which is under threat.

For the second consecutive year, the Middle East Council of Churches has translated the international “Season of Creation” booklet into Arabic, which you can download it by clicking here. This year’s theme is “Listen to the Voice of Creation” and its slogan is “The Burning Bush”. The Psalmist (19: 1-4) acknowledges that hearing the voice of creation requires a kind of listening that is increasingly rare. Within the ecumenical Christian family, there is a diverse range of traditions to help us recover our capacity to hear the voice of creation.

And Inviting the Maronite Church to Participate in the “Season of Creation” 2022 Celebrations

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs visited His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, heading a delegation from the MECC General Secretariat that included the Director of the Theological and Ecumenical Department Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, the Coordinator of the Ecojustice Unit Reverend Rima Nasrallah, and the Coordinator of the Rehabilitation of Social Capital project Professor Laure Abi Khalil. The visit was on Wednesday 10 August 2022, at the Patriarchal edifice in Al Diman, Lebanon.

During the meeting, Dr. Abs gave His Beatitude Patriarch Al-Rai a brief overview of the activities of the MECC 12th General Assembly, which was held under the theme of “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27), between 16 and 20 May 2022, at the Papal Logos Center in Egypt.

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs and the members of the MECC General Secretariat warmly congratulate Father Hadi Mahfouz on his election as General President of the Lebanese Maronite Order, after the convening of the Order’s Electoral Commission on 29 July 2022, which followed the retreat of the Ordinary General Assembly held from 26 to 28 July 2022.

On the occasion, the Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs headed a delegation from the General Secretariat, which included the Director of the Theological and Ecumenical Department Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, the Director of the Communication and Public Relations Department Mrs. Huguette Salameh, and the Executive Secretary Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, in a congratulatory visit to Father Mahfouz and the new General Presidency complex.

Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian: Let Us Together Build Bridges Between the Eastern Churches in Order to Consolidate the Spiritual Communion Among Them

Video - Dr. Michel Abs: The Ecumenical Culture Has Made Great Strides Since the Establishment of the MECC, But We Still Have a Long Way

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs headed a delegation from the MECC General Secretariat on a visit to Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, MECC President for the Evangelical Family, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, and President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, today, Wednesday 27 July 2022, in his office at the University.

This visit followed the election of Reverend Dr. Haidostian as MECC President for the Evangelical Family at the MECC 12th General Assembly, and is part of the program of visits that Dr. Abs is making to the Presidents of the Council and to the Church leaders.

MECC Accompanies a Group of Priests and Lay People Spiritually and Psychologically

After the forced hiatus due to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the Theological and Ecumenical Department at the Middle East Council of Churches resumed the “Trauma Healing and Spiritual Counseling” program, and implemented a new training in Amman entitled “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6: 31). This training was dedicated to a group of 16 participants, which included Priests from different Churches, and lay people working in different pastoral sectors or social services. They came from Amman and other regions of the Kingdom, as well as from the West Bank in Palestine, the Holy Land and the Gaza Strip. The sessions took place between 19 and 23 June 2022, at the Rosary Sisters Visitation Home in Amman, and were organized by the program coordinator Sister Emilie Tannous.

And the Middle East Council of Churches Listens to Their Point of Views

In the context of the MECC belief in the importance of the youth role and within the framework of the youth consultation project on the issue of Christian presence in the Middle East, the MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department which is organizing this project, held a meeting in Amman gathering a group of young women and men representing different Churches in Jordan. This consultation was done in cooperation with the World Christian Student Federation in the Middle East, on Friday 17 June 2022, at the headquarters of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Petra, Philadelphia and All Transjordan.

The first session began by celebraring the Prayer for Christian Unity, presided over by His Eminence Bishop Joseph Jbara, Archbishop of the Archeparchy. It also included a brief presentation on the MECC mission and its most important programs, as well as an explanation of the meeting’s topic and objectives.

Cambridge, UK

Bible Society Lebanon (Syria & Iraq) in partnership with the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) and in collaboration with St Mellitus College, the Cambridge Center for Christianity Worldwide and the Middle East Council of Churches organized the second inter-confessional, ecumenical dialogue conference among church leaders entitled “The Magi Initiative: East ⇆ West”.

After more than two years of the first Magi conference that took place on October 10-12, 2019 in Beirut (in the East), and after the long phase of lockdowns due to the pandemic, the second conference was hosted in Cambridge, England on May 12-14, 2022 (in the West).

The General Secretariat of the Middle East Council of Churches issues its annual report for the year 2021 under the title of "Against Wind and Waves: Challenging the Challenges". The report presents the MECC activities and the achievements it has accomplished at various ecumenical, theological and humanitarian levels.

Noting that international challenges and fluctuations occurred during 2021 and cast their shadows on the wounded Middle East, which was affected by the repercussions of these global and regional developments.

Standing Together Towards a More Sustainable Partnership

The General Secretariat of the Middle East Council of Churches held its annual meeting with its international and regional partner organizations and institutions, online, on Thursday, March 24, 2022. The meeting aimed at exchanging point of views and experiences in order to develop the MECC role and to ameliorate the work mechanisms in order to achieve the desired goals, and work together for a more effective future partnership.

A New Afforestation Campaign with the Middle East Council of Churches

Since the Middle East Council of Churches launched the international campaign “Season of Creation” for the first time in the region in September 2021, the Council’s was keen to promote environmental awareness and culture through its various projects. Therefore, MECC continued its environmental activity, especially with youth, and in partnership with Danmission organization and with its support. A new afforestation campaign was hence organized in the Lebanese town of Monteverde, on Saturday, March 19, 2022.

Weekly Prayer Towards the Feasts of Feasts

In preparation for the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the family of the General Secretariat of the Middle East Council of Churches is uniting in weekly ecumenical vigils at the Council’s headquarters in Beirut. So the team members pass together the blessed season of Lent, which is one of the holiest periods awaited annually, raising their prayers with one humbled heart, praying to God the Father.

Under the slogan of “I am the light of the world”, Egypt will be launching the days of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” 2022 during many celebrations that will start on Thursday 3 March 2022 and end on Saturday 12 March 2022, organized by the Egypt Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches. Noting that MECC chose the theme of the Week of Prayer for this year “We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Matthew 2:2) and prepared its international booklet of prayers.

“Listen to the Voice of Creation”

In response to the call of creation groaning due to human violations, the ecumenical family around the world is preparing to celebrate once again the annual season of creation, which has been launched this year in an online international event held today by the organization of the Laudato Si’ Movement, in the presence of leaders of the different Ecumenical Churches and the participation of Christians concerned by this global issue.

The Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) held, on Tuesday morning, February 22, 2022, an online meeting that gathered the deans of the faculties and institutes and their representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. It was attended by members of the Executive Secretariat and the Director of the MECC theological and Ecumenical Department Father Antoine Al Ahmar.

The meeting was presided by the President of the Association, and Dean of the Faculty of Religious and Theological Sciences at Université La Sagesse in Beirut Father Tanios Khalil, and moderated by Father Dr. Mikhael Kanbar, ATIME Executive Secretary.

Many thanks to H.H Pope Tawadros II for hosting the next General Assembly

We must work together to contain the post-Coronavirus poverty, unemployment and crises

On Friday, February 11, 2022, the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches held an online meeting in compliance with the ongoing preventive measures during the Corona pandemic. Members of the Committee from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Cyprus, and Lebanon attended the meeting.

The meeting was presided by the heads of the Church families of the Council: President of the Council for the Eastern Orthodox family His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, President of the Council for the Greek Orthodox family His Beatitude Patriarch John X, President of the Council for the Catholic family His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Louis Raphael Sako, President of the Council for the Evangelical family Reverend Dr. Habib Badr. Other participants were members of the Executive Committee, the General Secretariat team, and the invitees of Secretary General Dr. Michel E. Abs.

“How lovely it is to get together in love our Lord teaches us, When two meet in my name together I will always be in between their gather” (from the “How Lovely” hymn).

On the occasion of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” 2022, the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches united in prayer, at the invitation of the team of the World Ecumenical Center in Geneva.