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

“Momentum”

21-11-2025

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 “Will Future Generations Believe?”. It a tribute to the Palestinian Christian Initiative – Kairos Palestine 2025.

You can check the issue via the following link: https://mailchi.mp/cced200d9163/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.

An Episode Within the "Community Knowledge" Series

Professor Michel Abs

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

A tribute to the Palestinian Christian Initiative – Kairos Palestine 2025

After one or two generations, or perhaps after a century, even a millennium, will future generations believe what has happened, and what continues to happen, for more than three quarters of a century on the soil of Palestine?

Will future generations believe that a people came, from who knows where, claiming that this land was theirs, invoking a mythical promise with no basis in truth, using it as a pretext for settlement, killing, and destruction?

Will future generations believe that so-called civilized nations occupied land that was not theirs, seized it from its native people who had lived on it for thousands of years, and granted it to those who had no right to it?

Will future generations believe that the colonizer who gave away land that was not his to people who had no claim to it, armed them, supported them, and offered them a false triumph and an even falser ownership over that land?

Will future generations believe that invaders attacked the peaceful, unarmed inhabitants of the land, in the stillness of time and under the darkness of night, massacring them, expelling them, and scattering them to the ends of the earth?

Will future generations believe that the invaders demolished villages, erased names, and altered geography in an attempt to obliterate the identity of the land and deny the existence and belonging of its indigenous people?…

His Beatitude Patriarch John X at the Mariamite Cathedral - Damascus

16-11-2025

An Episode About the Visit of Holiness Pope Leo XIV to Lebanon

Prepared and Presented by the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary

Produced by MECC

Media of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

Martyrs' Square – a square that encapsulates the history and essence of Lebanon – was chosen in the heart of Beirut, a city that rose from its suffering to remain a beacon of peace and dialogue, and a permanent platform for encounter among the people of one faith and one humanity.

Martyrs' Square embodies coexistence among all the components of the nation. It has always been a space that brings together Lebanese people of all affiliations and honors all of Lebanon's martyrs who fell for freedom and national unity. Furthermore, the exceptional proximity between the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque and the Maronite Cathedral of Saint George constitutes a unique symbol in the world of spiritual coexistence and interfaith dialogue.

This meeting is not merely a symbolic celebration, but a living embodiment of the spirit of Beirut, which has united people of all backgrounds with love and embraced their diversity as a unique human and spiritual value. Beirut Chants El-Sistema Choir, the Imam Musa Al-Sadr Foundation Choir, and the Islamic Orphanage Choir will participate in this gathering, performing beautiful hymns and chants specially composed for this event.

Discussions Centered About Ways to Strengthen Cooperation Between MECC and WSCF

Ms. Melissa Bridi, the Regional Secretary of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), visited Professor Michel Abs, the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), on Friday, November 21, 2025, at the MECC General Secretariat offices in Beirut, with the aim of strengthening relations between the two organizations and achieve their shared desired goals.

During the meeting, both sides discussed ways to develop mechanisms of coordination and cooperation between the Middle East Council of Churches and the World Student Christian Federation in the Middle East, and how to work together to implement future projects, especially those related to youth.

A Meeting Emphasizing the Importance of Strengthening Dialogue, Respect, and Fraternity

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs received Colonel Attilio Cortone from the Italian Army, Representing the Italian Bilateral Military Mission in Lebanon (MIBIL), at the head of a delegation that included Mr. Emiliano Stornelli, Founding Chairman of the Religion & Security Council (RSC), Ms. Katia Fawzi Haddad, the Colonel's Public Relations Officer with the Lebanese, and Ms. Sally Abou Chakra, the Colonel's Translator. The meeting took place on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at the MECC headquarters in Beirut.

A team from the MECC General Secretariat also attended the meeting. It included Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, Associate Secretary General, Professor Laure Abi Khalil, Coordinator of the "Dialogue, Social Cohesion and Preservation of Human Dignity" Projects, the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary, Coordinator of Media and Church Relations, Mrs. Maha Semaan, Executive Assistant to the Secretary General, Elia Nasrallah, Communication and Media Officer in the Communication and Public Relations Department, and Mr. Johnny Antoun, Social Media Officer in the Communication and Public Relations Department.

Media of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

Photos: World Council of Churches (WCC)

Several weeks have passed since the Sixth World Conference of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC), held under the theme "Where Now for Visible Unity?" This historic Ecumenical event, held in the Arab Republic of Egypt, specifically at the Papal Logos Center in Wadi El Natrun, instilled much hope and Ecumenical optimism throughout the world.

While many weeks have gone, it is essential to reiterate the significance of the outcomes of this conference, which took place from October 24 to 28, hosted by the Coptic Orthodox Church, under the blessings and with the presence of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.

In its endeavor to embody its slogan, "Building Bridges, Standing Together," to be a unifying platform for Church and Religious Families and all components of society, reflecting the Christian reality in the Middle East with a unified Church voice emanating from the cradle of Christianity to the entire world within a shared life with all components of society,

As part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen its Ecumenical and humanitarian mission and to shed lights on the Church in the Middle East through all available media platforms and digital technologies,

The Middle East Council of Churches has launched a WhatsApp channel, entitled “MECC News”.

We invite you to join this channel and follow the MECC news via the following link: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbB2Ym05a240L8hfFv0s.

This is in addition to episodes, reports, videos, and articles produced by MECC, about various Christian, Ecumenical, humanitarian, and social issues.