Report: February 2022

While may not be acknowledged or observed due to the events happening around the world, Egypt will be a main player in the socioeconomic development of the region. Fueled by satellite images of scientific discoveries in Egypt and North Africa, major sources of energy are being continuously discovered which allow it to assume a leadership not only at the level of the Middle East but also at the level of the world.

The new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches presents the message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, entitled this week “Human Folly”.

The issue also includes a news about the ATIME meeting aiming at continuing its work on its bylaws. In addition to details on the launching of the Season of Creation 2022 and its theme for this year.

The Church is Preparing for the Feast of Feasts, Are we ready yet?

Few days and Christians will start a season that is considered one of the holiest Christian stations in history. It is the season of Holy Lent, the safe path towards the Feast of the Resurrection, the feast of feasts and the Holy Season. Hence, the Lent is a time of spiritual renewal and a journey during which Man passes from danger to safety, sin to salvation, and anxiety to contentment.

Christians prepare for their Lenten Journey following the path of Jesus Christ who was led, just after his baptism, by the Holy Spirit into the desert where he fasted for 40 days and defeated Satan.

Social crises intensify in severity, and with them the rates of poverty, unemployment, crime, family rupture and social disintegration rise. And as society becomes unable to manage its crises, it gets vulnerable to all forms of conflicts and external interventions, thus losing its autonomy and is misled into the path of decay.

There are no limits to human greed, just as there are no limits to human stupidness resulting from this greed. When those in charge of the resources of societies accumulate wealth to the extent that they become unable to manage them, at a time when some groups of the same societies lack the minimum necessities of a decent life leads to a state of uncontrolled aberration.

“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.

The Communication and Public Relations Department at the Middle East Council of Churches have now issued its online Ecumenical calendar for the month of March 2022. It includes the Ecclesiastical and Liturgical feasts of the various families of Churches in the Middle East. In addition to international days identified by the United Nations, and which are related to the MECC identity and its spiritual and human mission. Noting that the remaining months of the year will be published consecutively.

You can find a video about the MECC activities in support of Iraqi refugees in Syria since the beginning of the war in Iraq until the end of 2011, with the support of the MECC’s partners and local Churches in Syria. The video was presented during the Council’s 10th General Assembly, held between 29 and 30 November 2011 in Paphos, Cyprus, under the title of “And all who believed were one heart” (Acts 4: 32).

The new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches presents the final statement of the MECC Executive Committee meeting held online on February 11, 2022. As for the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, it was entitled “Social Justice and the Misery of Humanity”.

The United Nations has made the twentieth of February as the International Day of Social Justice and has identified the theme of the celebration for the year 2022 as achieving this justice through official employment, that is, organized by contract and guaranteed by the state through officially established procedural laws, especially labor laws, as well as laws covering obligations and contracts.

There is no doubt that the choice is good, as the whole of humanity is moving towards informal employment whereas the employee does not benefit from any social or legal protection and whereas the conditions of work in general range from being acceptable and deplorable to sometimes even illegal, despite the existence of differences between informal work and illegal work.

International Endeavors to Contain Post-Covid-19 Stage

Is the End of the Pandemic Near?

The Middle East continues to suffer from the Covid-19 pandemic and all of its countries are registering continuous daily increases in infection and death rates. Hence, appeals to advance vaccination campaigns and the demands for equitable distribution of vaccines between the different countries continue, as was mentioned in the final statement of the executive committee meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches which was held on the 11th of February, with the goal of ending the pandemic and preparing for the containment of the next stage of the pandemic which has caused a massive increase in poverty and unemployment.

You can find a video prepared by the Middle East Council of Churches in Syria shedding light on the reconstruction work at the Private Secondary School of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Aleppo, Syria. The school was restored and rehabilitated within the “Restoration Fund for Rehabilitation of Faith-based Social Services & Religious Infrastructure Damaged During the Crisis in Syria” program implemented by MECC in cooperation with Kerk in Actie in Netherlands, in various Syrian governorates.

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18)

Peter... Simon Peter, the rock and the "Leaders of the apostle", was the apostle entrusted by Jesus Christ, despite his mistakes, with a noble mission, asking him to be the Chief of the apostles and a sign of their unity, especially in the service of the Church’s unity, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).

You can find the detailed minutes of the MECC 11th General Assembly, held between 6 and 8 September 2016 in Amman, Jordan, under the title of “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 136: 1).

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.

To the righteous saint Maron the hermit on his name’s day

Peace be upon you, you ascetic Cyrus of Antioch, defiant of nature.

Peace be upon you, O trustee of the pledge of allegiance, O you who carried it in the folds of your mind and soul to rugged mountains and remote regions, conveying the good news of El, the incarnate God, to those who were still worshiping the stone.

Peace be upon you, O you who transformed the pagan temple into a church, destined to be holy and apostolic.

Peace be upon you, O you whose shrine has been sought by thousands seeking health for their souls over against the health of their bodies.

At the invitation of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs participated in the online meetings held by the WCC central committee from 9 to 15 February 2022 to prepare for the WCC 11th general assembly. Noting that the assembly will take place in August-September in Karlsruhe, Germany under the theme “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

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 Service and Relief Department- Diakonia, at the Middle East Council of Churches, Damascus office, distributed various in-kind kits to students in six schools in Rural Damascus, Aleppo and Homs in order to support the most vulnerable groups.

The students of a school in Bloudan and another in Madaya in Rural Damascus received hygiene and school kits in addition to children clothing kits. In addition, the students of other two schools in Homs and two in Aleppo, received school and hygiene kits.