Produced by the Middle East Council of Churches

“Ecumenical Horizons” is a weekly program that features spiritual, cultural, intellectual, educational, youth and environmental topics.

Video - His Beatitude Patriarch John X: At the Honoring of Metropolitan Antonios Bashir

Douma, 5-10-2025

“Momentum”

10-3-2025

This issue includes reports, videos, news, articles, and a full coverage of the latest developments of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), as well as the Church, Ecumenical, and social events…

This is in addition to the weekly word of the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs which is entitled in this issue “Reverend Hovhannes Aharonian, a Radiant Ecumenical Figure”. It is the word he delivered at the inauguration of the "Aharonian Hall", in the Haigazian University - Lebanon, on Sunday, September 27, 2025.

You can check the issue via the following link: https://mailchi.mp/da5bbf249299/momentum-mecc-weekly-newsletter.

You can also subscribe to the Momentum Newsletter via the following link: https://mecc.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?id=fd3381352a&u=1db32cafe9ea32b38eb90480a.

Professor Michel Abs

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

It is a form of gratitude when people and communities honor their leaders, the builders of their institutions, and the pioneers who paved new paths for their lives.

Such recognition is not only an act of thanks but also serves to turn the honoree into a model and example, inspiring others to follow his deeds and lessons, especially in societies that need their leading elites to contribute with all that is constructive and positive.

Today we are inaugurating a hall in the name of Reverend Hovhannes Aharonian: leader in the Church of Christ, leader in education, and pioneer in the ecumenical movement.

He was the first President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Evangelical family, and thus, by definition, one of the visionaries who founded the Council, the stronghold of the ecumenical movement in the Middle East, laying down its foundational vision. Today the Council has reached its fifty-first year.

Reverend Hovhannes Aharonian presided over MECC from the date of its establishment in 1974 and until 1985, a period marked by great challenges, as the Council transitioned from its first identity as the Near East Council of Churches, which included only the Evangelical family, to its new identity as MECC, embracing both Orthodox families, Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian.

This visionary ecumenical leader accompanied the Council’s formation on this new path, ecumenism, which required foresight, openness, and great capacity for dialogue, accepting theological and liturgical differences, and at times, divergent views of life. In doing so, he affirmed the Council’s ecumenical nature and solidified the sincerity of the ecumenical mission exemplified by the Evangelical churches within the Council, despite the arrows directed at them throughout their ecumenical journey…

Secretary General Professor Michel Abs: New talents will be developed by the colleagues

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) team concluded its graphic design training, organized by the MECC Communication and Public Relations Department under the supervision of the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, with the trainer with Father Spyridon Tannous, Parish Priest of Sharbila in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Akkar and its Dependencies, at the MECC headquarters in Beirut.

The final part of the training, which extended over several weeks with the support of the Media and Church Relations Coordinator at MECC the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary, was held on Friday, September 3, 2025, with the participation of the media team and colleagues from various departments in Lebanon and Syria, in person and online.

For the occasion, the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs delivered a speech in which he praised Father Spyridon's experience and efforts, commending the colleagues' seriousness and dedication to the training, from which they gained new skills that they will work to develop.

The South is not just a region of Lebanon, but rather its beating heart... The steadfastness of the people of the South is the steadfastness of all of Lebanon

Communion and Love on a Pastoral Visit to the South of Lebanon and a Paternal Tour that Sows Hope Despite All the Pain

Media of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

Here is the South of Lebanon, resilient despite all the wars and tragedies... Today, it rejoices with the good news revealed by the visit of the Maronite Patriarch, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, who toured its land and sowed hope among its people, emphasizing the importance of "communion and love," the slogan he has carried in word and deed since assuming his Patriarchal service.

The Maronite Patriarch returned to the South of Lebanon for a full-day Pastoral visit on Sunday, September 28, 2025, which included several villages and towns within the Maronite Archdiocese of Tyre. His Beatitude was accompanied by Their Eminences Bishop Hanna Alwan, Bishop Elias Nassar, and the Pastor of the Diocese of Tyre Bishop Charbel Abdallah.

Patriarch Al-Rai's visit stressed the importance of perseverance, steadfastness, and facing all difficult circumstances with great faith and hope. This visit affirmed that the South needs the solidarity of all its people, regardless of their Sect, especially after the wave of displacement that has affected its towns.

Saturday, October 4, 2025 – 4 pm Beirut Time

In a world immersed in wars and conflicts, the “Season of Creation” 2025 ends on October 4, with the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of ecology, as is customary annually, after it had started on 1 September, with the Feast of Creation.

On this occasion, the Ecumenical Youth Committee in the “Season of Creation” is organizing an international online celebration, with to Pray and praise God the Creator, with the participation of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) represented by the Coordinator of the Eco Justice Unit Father Movses Yosolkanian. It will be held on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at 4 pm Beirut time, and you may join it by clicking here.

Let us participate together in this celebration and unite in Prayer on the intention of creation and our common home, hoping to achieve peace in the Middle East and the world. Noting that this year's "Season of Creation" carries the theme “Peace with Creation” and the symbol of “Garden of Peace”, inspired by Isaiah 32: 14-18.

Middle East Socioeconomic Overview

Report: September 2025

The Occupier is currently creeping into Gaza destroying anything that it deems a threat. Breakdown in communications is being observed as the truth of what is really happening is being muted. The humanitarian situation is worsening for the Palestinians living in Gaza to the point that some walk barefoot trying to escape the massacre. All this happens under the watchful eyes of the international community who till now is unable to prevent what is happening.

Tenth Episode Entitled: "The Education Sector and Current Challenges"

Prepared and Presented by the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary

Produced by MECC

In the Presence of Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian

Secretary General Professor Michel Abs: “Reverend Hovhannes Aharonian... His deep Armenian Evangelical roots did not prevent him from opening to the whole Church of Christ and from formulating the ecumenical strategic vision embodied in MECC”

In honor of the Armenian Evangelical and Ecumenical Leader, the Late Reverend Hovhannes Aharonian (1909-1986), the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE) inaugurated the renovated reception hall of the First Armenian Evangelical Church in Beirut, named "Aharonian Hall."

The inauguration ceremony was held on Saturday, September 27, 2025, in the presence of 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 President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Evangelical Family, as well as Religious and Ecumenical figures, social and cultural personalities, and guests.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) was present at the ceremony, with the participation of the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, the Associate Secretary General Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, the Director of the Theological and Ecumenical Department Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, and the Social Media Officer Johnny Antoun.

Reverend Haidostian opened the celebration with a Prayer and an expressive speech that embodied the journey of the honoree and his achievements.

During the celebration, the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs delivered a speech entitled "Reverend Hovhannes Aharonian, a Radiant Ecumenical Figure," in which he noted that Aharonian “was the first President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Evangelical family…”.

Produced by MECC

Video - His Holiness Pope Tawadros II: "The path to heaven is the path of love"

22-9-2025

One of the leading ecclesiastical and ecumenical figures of the 20th century in the Middle East, the late Rev. Hovhannes P. Aharonian (1909-1986), was honored on Sept. 27, 2025, with the naming of a meeting hall of the First Armenian Evangelical Church of Beirut. Lay and clergy heads of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE) were joined by ecumenical leaders in a special service of dedication for the opening of the newly-renovated Aharonian Hall.

Gathering in the church yard, the Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian, Acting President of the UAECNE, President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, and President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Evangelical Family, welcomed the approximately forty persons present and undid the ribbon at the doors, after which the attendees sang a hymn of praise in Armenian and proceeded to the Hall. Pausing at the entranceway, Rev. Haidostian noted the commemorative wall displaying highlights of Rev. Aharonian’s Armenian Evangelical and ecumenical leadership.