Speech of the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs at the Opening of the MECC Executive Committee Meeting

This speech was delivered by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs at the opening of the the MECC Executive Committee Meeting held on 10–11 December 2025, in Beirut.

Professor Michel Abs

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

Your Beatitudes, Eminences, Graces, and Honored Guests,
Esteemed Associate Secretary Generals,
Respected Colleagues,

The Executive Committee convenes today while the region is passing through a transitional phase marked by a difficult and painful struggle. The major transformations taking place in the region will inevitably have profound effects on its social and cultural structures and its future.

Amid this regional turmoil that places our societies in the eye of the storm, the Church strives to remain steadfast, both in its institutions, which are struggling greatly to continue as much as possible, and in its parishes, the people of the Church, who face daily living hardships on all levels. The least of these difficulties is economic; the most severe is the uncertainty of the future and the aspirations of rising generations.

Migration is affecting all segments of our societies, especially in the Antiochian Levant, as well as the Nile Valley and North Africa. Poverty is spreading, drought and climate change are sweeping across the region, and day after day we grow more certain that we do not control our destiny nor the course of our lives, neither in the everyday sense nor in the long term.

It is in such a psychological, social, and economic atmosphere that we work, an atmosphere in which nothing promises good except what the global powerholders, the architects of the “deep state,” have written for us. These are the actors who determine our destinies, even in our misery. The recent decisions regarding funding for humanitarian institutions, which have negatively affected our work, fall squarely within this framework and represent only the tip of the iceberg of a now-visible domination over the world’s resources.

In our work at the MECC, and throughout the events and seminars we organized during the Council’s fiftieth anniversary, we affirmed that our direction must be long-term. This principle should guide our expectations and practices. Based on this, we have worked according to the strategic framework we developed in 2021, as well as the current framework that we will present during this meeting. It is the result of continuous discussions and deliberations aimed at updating the Council’s direction and work.

Within this context, your esteemed Committee must take important administrative decisions—steps aligned with long-term thinking and governance of the Council, reinforcing its administrative and cultural structures, and shaping its future vision that determines priorities and how to address them. Advancing the institutionalization of the Council and its methods of work is the most effective way to ensure the sustainability of this blessed institution, which has endured for 50 years despite crises and challenges. Its survival over the past half-century, and the need for such a Council in the Middle East, are the strongest motivations to ensure its continuation for many decades to come. Accordingly, sustainability at all levels is one of our central challenges.

Tomorrow, we will visit the President of the Lebanese Republic. He has become well-acquainted with the Council, its thinking, and its ecumenical and dialogical orientation. We will share with him some of our ideas and aspirations for a better future for Christians and their societies in the Middle East. The Council has served as an instrument of development and progress in many fields and has led numerous initiatives, both developmental and dialogical. This direction is affirmed in the strategic framework I mentioned earlier.

We must also highlight the Council’s high credibility—both among international partners and local ones. This credibility is the natural result of the diligent, sincere, and transparent work of this team, which gives its utmost in effort and knowledge, strengthened by faith, so that this institution of common Christian witness may remain a point of reference for others, as it is today.

The visit of His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff marked a significant moment in the historical life of this country, Lebanon and the Middle East. The Council participated extensively in this blessed and highly important event, and we sent an open letter to His Holiness presenting the country’s situation and the aspirations of its people. It is also noteworthy that the Secretary General participated in the beatification of Saint Ignatius Maloyan, one of the martyrs of the Armenian massacres, and visited three Vatican Dicasteries, meeting with several cardinals as part of strengthening the Council’s relationship with the Vatican.

Additionally, I inform you that the Secretary General of the World Council of Churches will visit Syria, passing through Lebanon. The WCC departments are coordinating this visit with us, and we participated extensively in the conference held by the WCC at the Papal Logos Center in Wadi El-Natroun on the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

In summary, we participate in every occasion where the interests of ecumenical work require the Council’s presence. Our presence is always considered an added value due to the quality and success of our contributions—grounded in the competence and dedication of the staff.

I conclude by welcoming Bishop Damaskinos Al-Azrai as a member of the Executive Committee, succeeding Metropolitan Nicolas Antonio, who resigned after decades of contribution to the Council’s work. To Bishop Damaskinos I say: you are the best successor to an excellent predecessor. Welcome! You will enrich our discussions and work with your well-known competence and love.

Days before the birth of the Savior, in this Advent season, I say to you, esteemed members of the Executive Committee and dear colleagues:
May the Lord bless our ministry together.
We lift His saving name on high, heralding the new covenant.

Beirut – 10 December 2025