Ecumenical and Humanitarian Issues Culminated the Second Day of the MECC Partners Meeting

You can find some photos at the end of the text.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) continued its annual meeting with its international and regional partners on its second day, Thursday, September 11, 2025, at the Liqaa Center - Rabweh, Lebanon. The meeting was entitled "Courage to Continue the Journey Together."

Attendees were representatives of various partner organizations and institutions of the Middle East Council of Churches from around the world, His Eminence Metropolitan Antonios Al Soury, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Zahle, Baalbek and their Dependencies, representing His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE), President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, and MECC President for the Evangelical Family, and Reverend Joseph Kassab, Secretary General of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, and Member of the MECC Executive Committee.

Attendees were also MECC Associate Secretaries General, as well as the directors and coordinators of the MECC departments and the team.

At the beginning of the meeting, His Eminence Metropolitan Antonios Al Soury delivered a speech about the "Season of Creation," in which he mentioned that celebrating this season “is a confession of faith, affirming the world’s inherent goodness, its potential for transfiguration, and humanity’s call to mediate between God and the world.”

He added, “Man’s consciousness, freedom, and capacity for knowledge allow the world to become self-aware, to return to God in thanksgiving, to become itself in communion. To lose this orientation is to disrupt not only the human, but the cosmic order.”

His Eminence continued, “The Christian ecology vision is clear: the current environmental crisis is not simply technical or political, but spiritual and moral – a crisis rooted in the failure to honor the world as gift and to assume our proper priestly and mediatory role.”

His Eminence's speech was followed by a Payer for Creation, raised by the attendees with hearts filled with faith and hope on the intention of God's creation and all that is in it.

The next session included speeches on the reality of the Middle East, its challenges and crises, and the Christian presence there. The speeches were delivered by Father Movses Yosolkanian on behalf of the Eastern Orthodox Family, Reverend Joseph Kassab on behalf of the Evangelical Family, His Eminence Bishop Joseph Mouawad on behalf of the Catholic Family, Dr. Viola Raheb representing Pro Oriente organization, and Rev. Dr. Gabi Aelabouni representing the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

Afterwards, many workshops and discussion sessions were held on the future prospects of the Middle East Council of Churches' mission at various Church, Ecumenical, humanitarian, social, media, and financial levels. The attendees then discussed administrative matters with the aim of developing working mechanisms and achieving the desired goals.

In celebration of the conclusion of the 50th Year of the Founding of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the participants moved to Haigazian University in Beirut, where a session was held and presided over by Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE), President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, and MECC President for the Evangelical Family.

Reverend Dr. Haidostian delivered a speech in which he provided a historical overview of Haigazian University and its most prominent specialties.

The session focused on the Ecumenical path of the Middle East Council of Churches and its work to strengthen the Ecumenical spirit. It also highlighted the 1700th Commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and its implications, particularly with regard to Christian unity.

In this context, there was a speech by His Eminence Archbishop Mor Clemis Daniel Kourieh from the Eastern Orthodox Family, delivered on his behalf by Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, a speech by His Eminence Bishop Moussa Al-Khasi from the Orthodox family, a speech via video by Reverend Dr. Habib Bader from the Evangelical family, a speech by His Eminence Archbishop Paul Matar from the Catholic family, delivered on his behalf by His Eminence Bishop Joseph Mouawad, as well as a speech delivered by Dr. Frida Haddad Abs.

The session ended with an Ecumenical Prayer raised by the attendees on the intention of peace in the Middle East and the world. It was followed by an agape.