MECC
The Middle East Council of Churches Congratulates His Holiness Catholicos Aram I
On the Occasion of the Yearly Anniversary of His Enthronement as Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia
On the occasion of the Yearly Anniversary of the Enthronement of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I as Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia, the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, on behalf of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) family, extends his warmest congratulations to His Holiness, who is Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), wishing him continued health and success in his pastoral service as a faithful servant of the Church of Christ.
The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) also raises its Prayers to God on the intention of His Holiness to bless his service, bestow His graces upon him, and grant him the power of the Holy Spirit to lead his Church to the salvation in the name of Jesus Christ, and to remain a model of love and endless giving in the field of the Lord, wishing him many years of goodness, blessing, and holiness.
On the Day of the Pentecost, a Renewal of Faith and Transition to True Light
Media of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)
It is the day of the founding and birth of the Church, the day on which it was entrusted with its mission: a community of missionaries and witnesses. The disciples accepted the word of the Lord with great joy to preach it around the world in one language, the language of God... It is the day of Pentecost, the memory of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles who were gathered with the Mother of God in Zion, Jerusalem, following the ascension of Jesus Christ into the heart of the Heavenly Father. It is the celebration of renewal that guides man from darkness and sin to light and chastity. This divine light was mentioned in the Bible of John in chapter 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Church families celebrate this divine event fifty days after Easter, each according to its rite and belief. According to Acts 2: 1-11 "And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim…" With the Pentecost, the Church ends the third stage of the New Testament. The first would be the stage from the Annunciation to the Cross, the second, from the Cross to the Resurrection, and the third, from the Resurrection through the Ascension to the Pentecost.
Video - The MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department
Organizes a Regional Workshop as Part of the of the “Trauma Healing and Spiritual Counseling” Program
The Secretary General Professor Michel Abs Visits the Participants and Supports Them
The Fifth Scientific Conference Was Held Under the Title
“Strengthening Christian Faith Unity: The 1700th Jubilee Of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea”
The MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs: We must develop a new text… which includes a commitment to the Ecumenical contract, as a new form of spreading the Christian message
The President of the Romaian Cultural Society Professor Najib Jahshan: Carry the banner of the Cross as Constantine the Great did, and be assured that through it alone you will triumph
In commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) and the Romaian Cultural Society held the Fifth Scientific Conference under the title “Strengthening Christian Faith Unity: The 1700th Jubilee Of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea”. It was presided over by the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, with the presence of the Society's President Professor Najib Jahshan, on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at the Liqaa Center, Rabweh - Lebanon.
The conference included four sessions attended by Priests, specialists from various fields, and official, cultural, intellectual, and social figures, as well as members of the Romaian Cultural Society and the Middle East Council of Churches’ team.
The event, which was broadcasted live on Télé Lumière and Noursat TV Channel, began with the Lebanese National Anthem and the Constantinople Anthem, followed by an opening speech delivered by the conference's host, the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary, the Head of the Media Committee at the Romaian Cultural Society, and the Media Officer and the Coordinator of the Church and Media Relations at MECC. She noted, "The seventeenth century witnessed the Council of Nicaea, a momentous event that brought together elite Christian Leaders from around the world to discuss a serious matter. It resolved doubt with certainty, blocking the path to heresies and the distortion of the right belief"…
With the Aim of Empowering Their Role in Society
MECC Organizes a Health Awareness and PSS Training for Deaf and Mute Women
In a first-of-its-kind initiative, MECC, through its Service and Relief Department – Diakonia, organized a health awareness and psychological support (PSS) training for deaf and mute women in Damascus.
Twenty-four women participated in the training which focused on delivering information through sign language using simplified methods that take into account their specific needs.
After the training, the participants visited five families that include deaf and mute individuals, where they shared the useful information they had received.
This initiative falls within the framework of efforts to effectively integrate deaf and mute women into society and to empower them by expanding the circle of beneficiaries and spreading awareness in the community.
One of the participating women, aged 30, said: “this was the first time ever she had attended a health awareness and PSS training tailored for the deaf and mute.”
United in Prayer - Feast of the Holy Family’s Entry into Egypt
"Where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matthew 2: 15).
On the Feast of the Holy Family’s Entry into Egypt, let us proclaim together with one heart: “O Holy Family of Nazareth, who lived a silent life, and suffered from poverty, persecution and displacement, help our families to faithfully carry out their responsibilities, overcome with faith the life’s troubles and hardships, care generously for the needs of others, and fulfill God’s will with joy. O Holy Family of Nazareth support our families and guide them towards the path of holiness, and help live them with love, unity and fidelity in the heart of the world” (Prayer to the Holy Family).
Commemoration of the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt
From the Coptic Orthodox Church to the Whole World
Do You Know What Path the Family Took?
Media of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)
"Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you..." (Matthew 2:13). With this verse, Matthew the Evangelist revealed in the second Chapter the Holy Family’s refuge to the land of Egypt, an escape to this eastern country holding a historic, geographic and cultural importance, according to His Holiness Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Mark Tawadros II. But why fleeing? What is the path the family has taken?
Matthew the Evangelist mentions the reason for Jesus’ fleet to Egypt in the same chapter and the same verse, when he said, “Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him” (Matthew 2:13). This boy, whose almost suffered the same fate as the rest of the children of Bethlehem who were killed by King Herod after his failure to destroy Jesus through the Magi, for “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.” (Matthew 2:12)
Joseph obeyed the angel and took his family to escape from Herod's tyranny to the land of Egypt, despite the hardships and dangers of travel at that time; The entry of the Holy Family to this country became a celebration of the Coptic Orthodox Church with the Fraihi rite on the 24th of the month of Bashans of the Egyptian calendar or the first of June of each year, as celebrated in the first centuries AD.
Video - The Holy Family's Journey to Egypt
A Blessing for the Country and a Source of Spiritual and Human Values
Our Colleague Lea Adel Maamary Participates in the 59th World Media Day Mass at St. Takla Church in Bkassine - Jezzine
Our Colleague Lea Adel Maamary, the Media Officer and the Coordinator of the Church and Media Relations at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), and the Director of the North Office of Noursat-Télé Lumière, participated in the 59th World Media Day Mass at St. Takla Church in Bkassine - Jezzine. She said the following intention:
"We pray for every journalist to realize the importance of their work as a transmitter of hope, to avoid all forms of misinformation and polarization at the expense of truth, and to courageously commit ourselves to humanitarian and social causes that preserve human dignity."
