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.

You can find the full minutes of the MECC 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).

A video prepared by the MECC Communication and Public Relations Department, which sheds light on many international and interreligious initiatives aiming at consolidating the human fraternity. As well as, the video highlights the initiative of the consultative sessions as part of the "Interfaith Consultation of Social Cohesion in Iraq", jointly organized by the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches.