MECC Meets with Its International and Regional Partners

The Middle East Council of Churches met with its international and regional partners as part of a series of activities and meetings in Lebanon between 2 and 5 November 2022. What did the meetings include? And what did the attendees discuss? The video presents a brief overview of these meetings, activities, and the most important discussed topics. It is prepared and produced by the MECC Communication and Public Relations Department.

Towards Continuous Cooperation and a More Sustainable Role in the Region

Under the title “Partners Accompanying MECC in the Ecumenical Journey”, the Middle East Council of Churches’ General Secretariat resumed its annual meeting with the MECC partners from international and regional organizations and institutions, on its second day, Friday 4 November 2022, in Beirut.

Attendees were representatives of these partner organizations and institutions from all over the world such as USA, Canada, Europe and the Middle East… They exchanged views and experiences with the participation of the MECC team and the departments’ directors, headed by the Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, along with the MECC Associate Secretaries General, and members of the Executive Committee.

Decisions to Strengthen the Ecumenical Spirit

The Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) held its General Assembly’s meeting online on Tuesday 11 October 2022. Attendees were ATIME’s President Archimandrite Dr. Jack Khalil, its Executive Secretary Father Dr. Michael Kanbar, and the Director of the MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, alongside the deans of the faculties and institutes, members in ATIME.

During the meeting, the participants discussed many topics and issues, which are following up on the “Season of Creation” project and ways to enhance and support it, and preparing for the environmental symposium which will be held in May 2023 in coordination with the MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department.

Aiming at promoting environmental awareness and consolidating the Christian faith and the Ecumenical spirit, the Executive Secretary of the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) Father Dr. Michael Kanbar participated in a regional conference for the Middle East and North Africa, entitled “Creation Care and the Gospel”. He presented a lecture on the topic at hand, highlighting the theological view of creation and the environment. The conference was organized by the Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network, and was held between 28 September and 2 October 2022, at the Ajloun Baptist Conference Center in Jordan.

The Election of Archimandrite Dr. Jack Khalil President

And Father Dr. Michael Kanbar, Executive Secretary

The General Assembly of the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) met with the generous hospitality of His Beatitude Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac, Patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church at the Coptic Catholic Patriarchal Seminary in Maadi - Cairo, at the invitation of its President, Father Dr. Tanios Khalil, on the 22nd and 23rd of May, 2022.

Approximately seventeen deans, directors, and representatives of all colleges and institutes that are members of the Association and the General Assembly, participated in the Assembly, which opened its work with a prayer presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Isaac. The Patriarch delivered a speech at the first session in which he welcomed the Association, which embodies the fundamental basis of ecumenical formation in the Middle East.

Tras su elección como Secretario Ejecutivo de la Asociación de Institutos Teológicos de Oriente Medio (ATIME: Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East), asociada con el Consejo de Iglesias del Oriente Medio, el padre Mikhael Kanbar visitó Egipto y mantuvo numerosos encuentros teológicos y ecuménicos. El viernes 25 de marzo de 2022, visitó la Catedral Ortodoxa Copta de San Marcos, Anba Ruwais en El Cairo, el Seminario Teológico y el Instituto de Estudios Coptos, y mantuvo una reunión con los decanos de colegios e institutos de todas las familias de la Iglesia.

After his election as Executive Secretary of the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) which is related to the Middle East Council of Churches, Father Mikhael Kanbar visited Egypt and had many theological and ecumenical gatherings. On Friday, March 25, 2022, he visited the St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Anba Ruwais in Cairo, the Theological Seminary and Institute of Coptic Studies, and held a meeting with the deans of colleges and institutes from all Church families.

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.

The Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME), held on Thursday, January 27, 2022, an online meeting that gathered the deans of the faculties and institutes and their representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. It was organized in the presence of the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs, and the Director of the MECC theological and Ecumenical Department Father Antoine Al Ahmar.

The Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME)

Reviving the Ecumenical Spirit after 11 years of interruption

The ATIME Student Committee, composed of students from different theological institutes in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq held its first regular meeting on the 1st of February 2020. The meeting was hosted by the Pontifical Faculty of Theology at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) – Kaslik, Lebanon. His Eminence Archbishop Yacoub Babawi, dean of the Mor Aphrem Theological Seminary at Ma'arat Saydnaya, attended the meeting and gave his blessing.

The Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East held its second regular meeting on the 18th and 19th of October 2019, hosted by the Great Coptic Catholic Patriarchal Seminary in Maadi, Cairo.

With the blessing of the Presidents of the Churches in the Middle East, the Association of Theological Institutes in the Middle East (ATIME) was relaunched after a strenuous endeavor of the MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department.