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.

2 years after the Beirut Blast, what has changed at the crime scene? are the Beirutis still clinging to hope? how does Beirut look today? did the pulse return to its heart? In the report, you will find a tour in the neighborhoods of Gemmayzeh and Mar Mikhael, as well as stories of some Beirutis who survived death, affirming that the will of life is stronger. The video is prepared by the Communications and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches you can find details about the webinar organized by MECC entitled “Palestinians and Liberation from a Christian Stance”, which is the first in a series of seminars that will be organized by the Council on a monthly basis on various topics and current issues. As for the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, it is entitled “Palestine, the first of the seminars, the first results”, and revolved around the webinar and its goals.

In the context of working to rehabilitate social capital, restore the concept of human dignity, and improve relations between the groups that make up the Middle East, leading to a cohesive society, the team in charge of this program in the Middle East Council of Churches launched a series of cultural and intellectual seminars that will last for a year, at a rate of one per month.

The first of the symposia was about Palestine, which was held on Friday, July 29, online, firstly because of the resurgence of the pandemic and secondly for technical reasons related to power supply failure in Lebanon.

The topic of the symposium was about the people of Palestine's quest for freedom from a Christian perspective. The Secretary-General and the program's work team participated in the symposium, in addition to four speakers that addressed the issue from various aspects. The seminar was attended by 100 people, in addition to about 75 who could not enter for technical reasons. The recording of the episode will be available over the next few days on the MECC's social media networks.

MECC Gives Life Back to the Damaged Small Businesses

Beirut is a “stricken” city. This is what the Lebanon Defense Council declared the day after the Beirut Port disaster which occurred on August 4, 2020. Indeed, Beirut was crying out for help on various humanitarian, material and psychological levels… Emergency was declared in the country, and many associations and organizations have directly started work for the rescue of the Beirut wounded people. In fact, they lost their loved ones and everything they have in a moment.

The Middle East Council of Churches have rapidly launched two relief appeals and began field work in the capital’s neighborhoods, in order to heal the wounds of the Beirutis. The mission of the MECC Service and Relief – Diakonia Department, Beirut’s Office, included many types of aids such as distributing food, hygiene, and dignity kits, mattresses, diaper packs, unconditional vouchers, hygiene vouchers, and cash assistance…

In addition, the Diakonia Department launched a program for the rehabilitation of small businesses in Beirut, which witnessed significant damage.

Two Years of Death, Destruction and Pain Everywhere in Beirut...

But

Here the Will of Life Is Stronger

August 4... a date that made history. A day which would have been normal if the clock hadn’t stopped at 6:07 p.m. The moment of the catastrophe, the Beirut Port Blast disaster. An earthquake that turned the lives of the Lebanese upside down.

More than 230 victims, 3000 wounded, thousands of displaced people and affected physically, psychologically and financially...

Two years after Hiroshima Beirut, and the wound of the Lebanese has not healed. Even the truth of what happened on that fateful day is not yet discovered, especially that the Blast investigations are paralyzed. However, justice will reveal one day, and the right time will come, for we are the children of hope and Resurrection.

Two years after the Port disaster, what has changed at the crime scene? Are the Beirutis still clinging to hope? How does Beirut look today? Did the pulse return to its heart?

Video - A Webinar Organized by the Middle East Council of Churches

And A Launching of Monthly Series of Seminars

The Middle East Council of Churches organized a webinar entitled “Palestinians and Liberation from a Christian Stance”, on Friday 29 July 2022, during which experts, specialists and students from many countries of the region participated. In fact, this webinar was the first in a series of seminars that will be organized by MECC on a monthly basis on various topics and current issues, in the framework of the “Human Dignity Project” as part of the Dialogue and Social Cohesion-Social Capital Rehabilitation Programs.

The webinar begun with a general introduction with the moderator Dr. Laure Abi Khalil. Then, the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs presented an overview on the MECC founding and development, highlighting its goals, role and structure, in addition to the most important programs it implements. Dr. Abs also expressed his point of view on the Palestinian issue, describing the violations of the occupation state as a culture of hypocrisy that contradicts the teachings of the Incarnate Christ.

Report: July 2022

The Middle East continues to draw the attention of various world powers as their energy priorities have been altered by the Russo-Ukrainian war. Foreign leaders are hustling towards the Middle East to stabilize the region so that the area can pump even more energy to meet global consumer needs. Yet things remain easier said than done as energy needs remain plenty and it would take more than the US President’s visit to Saudi Arabia to solve the global shortage.

Due to the socioeconomic situation in Lebanon coupled with the prolonged crisis in the region, unemployment has hit a record high in the country, affecting women specifically. As a result, many were left jobless and without any sources of livelihood to consider nor any source of income. This is why the MECC Service and Relief – Diakonia Department, Beirut’s office, under the support of the international humanitarian organization Embrace the Middle East (EME), was compelled to launch Women Empowerment initiatives so that to mitigate economic burdens. Vocational training, a key element in this regard, would provide opportunities for the improvement of livelihood and therefore community resilience.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches you can find a news and photos about the visit of the Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs heading a delegation from MECC 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. As for the weekly message of Dr. Abs, it is entitled “Institutions are the guarantee of sustainability and the cornerstone of social progress”, and is the speech that he delivered during the visit to Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian.

In the issue, the MECC invites you to participate in a webinar entitled “Palestinians and Liberation from a Christian Stance”, on Friday 29 July 2022 at 7h30 p.m.

Dear Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian,

President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East

President of Haigazian University and President of the Middle East Council of Churches,

It is a pleasure for us to have the honor to hold this meeting with you, the MECC team and myself, as part of the program of visits we are making to the Presidents of the Council as well as to the church leaders.

We are pleased to meet you at Haigazian University, this historical scientific edifice that struggled with the scourge of war and endured and persisted despite the bitterness of that time. It preserved its educational role when institutions were retreating one after the other. We experienced that period together.

One can simply comment: The Church is accustomed to this, and this applies to the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, as during the century and a half of its work in our region, it witnessed the massacres and calamities that befell the Armenians, Syriacs and Anatolian Romans.

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.

The Communication and Public Relations Department at the Middle East Council of Churches have now issued its online Ecumenical calendar for the month of August 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.

A Webinar at the Invitation of MECC

Friday 29 June 2022

In the framework of the “Human Dignity Project” as part of the Dialogue and Social Cohesion-Social Capital Rehabilitation Programs, the Middle East Council of Churches invites you to a webinar entitled “Palestinians and Liberation from a Christian Stance”, on Friday 29 July 2022 at 7:30 p.m. You may participate on it via the following link: https://shorturl.at/EGPX.

As part of the Middle East Council of Churches 12th General Assembly’ s activities, the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs was the guest of Father Elias Karam in “I Came to Serve” program broadcasted on Télé Lumière and Noursat, Sunday 19 June 2022. During the episode, Dr. Abs emphasized the Christian and humanitarian issues and themes tackled during the General Assembly, in light of its slogan “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid" (Matthew 14: 27). This is in addition to highlighting the main points of the final statement issued by this Ecumenical event and the MECC future projects.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Communication and Public Relations Department of the Middle East Council of Churches you can find the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, which is entitled “Elijah the Zealous and Adversity”, on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Elijah. Dr. Abs tackled in his message the lesson that we must draw from the biography of Elijah the Zealous, amidst the crises that the contemporary person is living today.

As well as, the issue presents a report about the tragic situations the elderlies are witnessing especially in Lebanon, and the MECC work in supporting them. The report is entitled “Elderlies in Lebanon Are Waiting for Any Protection to Ease Their Pain, Grandma Osana and Mr. Said: Suffering with Great Pain!”.

It was just like yesterday, although nearly two millennia have passed between the time of Elijah the zealous and our lives today.

Mar Elias the living Saint, as it is commonly referred to in our country, represents a unique model of saints-name and occupies a special place in the popular memory, as there is no neighborhood in our region without a monastery, a church, or a shrine named after him.

His biography is rich and varied, filled with events. We find it in theology books as well as in religious education books in schools, and we hear it in folk tales as well.

His feast day is special, it comes first in the summer holidays and is celebrated by the people, regardless of their religions, in a distinctive way, and is accompanied by popular traditions that vary according to the region or the celebrants.

Mar Elias came at a time of intense events, abundant in sins, full of misfortunes. However he did not resort to silence or complacency, but rather drew up the sword of truth and began chasing falsehood.

Grandma Osana and Mr. Said: Suffering with Great Pain!

Alone, abandoned... Many elderlies are drowning in despair and trying to stay alive... These expressions seem to be harsh amidst the absence of human dignity and decent life. But in fact, words cannot be harsher than the bitter situation witnessed by our grandmothers and grandfathers, elderlies searching for a ray of light in the midst of the dark days they were forced to live. Why are they passing through this alienation? Answers to this legitimate question lie in many reasons reflected in the difficult living conditions they are suffering from in the absence of laws protecting them, especially in our region, in the wounded Middle East.

Last June, His Holiness Pope Francis said "Old age moves ahead toward its destination, towards God’s heaven", describing the eternal path in which elderlies strengthen their faith and live with comfort and tranquility. A path free of life's thorns and difficulties towards the joy of meeting God. However, many elderlies are today deprived from living this peaceful phase of their lives, due to life dangers that everyone is aware of, threatening them and depriving them from their rights.

The Pope prays during this month of July for the elderly, so their “experience and wisdom may help young people to look towards the future with hope and responsibility”. But how can they spread hope and a positive spirit when they lost hope in an East that also lost its youth?

The Lebanese Health Sector Is Suffering

The Middle East Council of Churches continued, during the month of July, to vaccinate children and distribute medication which prices have skyrocketed in Lebanon. Thus, the Service and Relief – Diakonia Department, Beirut’s Office, is keen to accompany the neediest on the health side, at Our Lady Dispensary, affiliated to MECC and located in Sabtieh region. Beneficiaries visited the Dispensary and were tended to by dedicated doctors as per regular basis. In some cases, in which the beneficiaries are old and cannot leave the house, medications were distributed directly to their homes.

In fact, the health work of the Middle East Council of Churches is implemented at a time when the health sector in Lebanon is paralyzed due to the tighten financial conditions and the economic and health crises that have cast a shadow over all the state institutions. Therefore, the citizens were negatively affected and are not able to have access to health services.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord (Romans 14:8)

It is with deep sadness and sorrow, the General Secretariat of the Middle East Council of Churches bids farewell to its righteous daughter, our colleague Abir Chalawit, Program Officer of the Vocational Training Program at the MECC Syria’s Office, who passed away to the Heavenly Father, after accomplishing her humanitarian mission with great sincerity and dedication.

Mrs. Abir Chalawit was known for her zeal for the love of God and her continuous service. She was born in 1980 and is a mother of two young boys, Jean and Marc. She obtained a bachelor degree in Business Administration, and joined the Middle East Council of Churches in 2016. She previously worked for more than 10 years in the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.