An Episode Entitled “Giving During Christmas”

Produced by "The Platform of the Word" at the Middle East Council of Churches

As part of its program network, “The Platform of the Word” at the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) presents an episode within the program “And the Family Remains”, under the title “Giving During Christmas”.

The program raises issues related to the family, motherhood and childhood, in addition to the Church’s view and response to the challenges, especially in light of the difficult living conditions that the region is passing through.

With the Participation of His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II

The Secretary General Professor Michel Abs Participates in the Ordination and Extends His Congratulations on Behalf of MECC

His Beatitude Patriarch Mor Ignatius Joseph III Younan, Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), celebrated the Divine Liturgy during which he ordained Monsignor Habib Mrad, Member of the MECC Executive Committee, as Chorbishop. The ordination took place on Friday, December 26, 2025, at Saint Ignatius of Antioch Church, Patriarchal See, Museum area - Beirut.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling”

(Ephesians 4: 4)

With great hope, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) releases the Arabic version of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” booklet 2026, under the theme “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4: 4), based on the Biblical Text Ephesians 4: 1-13.

The booklet presents Prayers and reflections prepared by the faithful of the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with their brothers and sisters of the Armenian Catholic, and Evangelical Churches. The texts were jointly prepared and published by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and were translated into Arabic by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), as every year.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is in an eight-day Prayer celebrated by Christians around the world between 18 and 25 January every year. It invites us to delve more deeply into our fellowship in Christ, which unites Christians worldwide.

With the Blessing and Presence of His Eminence Bishop Paul Rouhana

In preparation for the Glorious Christmas Feast, and with the blessing and presence of His Eminence Bishop Paul Rouhana, Patriarchal Vicar of the Maronite Diocese of Sarba in Lebanon and Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Council's General Secretariat team, headed by the Secretary General Professor Michel Abs, met for a Christmas gathering held on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, at the Near East School of Theology (NEST) in Beirut.

The gathering brought together Reverend Dr. Rima Nasrallah, Dean of NEST; Mrs. Seta Hadeshian, MECC Associate Secretary General; and colleagues from the MECC General Secretariat team.

The meeting began with a heartfelt address by the MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs who wished the team continued health, success, and prosperity for the good of the Church and society.

Then, His Eminence Bishop Paul Rouhana delivered a spiritual talk, discussing the true meaning of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ and how to live this blessed time with love, humility, and peace, guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ.

His Eminence also spoke about the importance of human fraternity and the necessity of working towards the humanization of humanity and the preservation of human dignity. As well as, he addressed the topic of Christian unity and how to embody it among all people with great love and deep hope.

“A Light in the Darkness of an Age of Decline”

It is the Christmas season, the day the Word became flesh and became a human being, the day the Lord came to His own to redeem them with His pure blood for the sake of the new covenant, the covenant of the Son of Man.

The whole world rejoices in the Christmas season. Societies adorn themselves, put on the garment of celebration, and spare no expense so they may live the season and celebrate the feast that illuminates humanity’s dark night.

Yet we are not certain that, at the height of the joy and delight that accompany the feast, those celebrating truly grasp the depths of the Nativity and the symbolism of the Incarnation, or even still remember them amid the rush of festivities and the frenzy of shopping, in a society that has elevated spending and extravagance above spiritual contemplation and faithful austerity.

Across the world, the sounds of Christmas celebrations rise, noise and commotion so intense that the feast loses its true meaning and becomes a set of social occasions in which the symbolism of the event is lost and its significance fades away.

When you watch Christmas celebrations in many places around the world, you are struck by the complete absence of the Great Incarnate One around whom the occasion revolves. You are also astonished by the invention of strange forms unrelated to the event, most of them consumerist in nature, offering nothing that explains the meaning of the feast or its lesson.

An event of such importance is reduced to a collection of promotional entertainment activities that serve its purpose in no way.

This is the peak of decline that leads to the depths of darkness…

And Contributes in the Development of the SouthConnect Initiative

As part of empowering women in Lebanon and developing their capabilities, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) organized a workshop entitled "SouthConnect," with the participation of women from various social fields and sectors. The workshop took place on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Sidon and South Lebanon.

This workshop was held in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the "Al Majmouaa" Foundation, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Lebanese Economic Institute, private sector companies, financial entities, and microfinance institutions (MFIs).

“Momentum”

19-12-2025

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 in this issue, the speech he delivered at the opening of the MECC Executive Committee meeting, held on December 10 and 11, 2025, in Beirut.

You can check the issue via the following link: https://mailchi.mp/03ba2c7624df/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)

Your Beatitudes, Eminences, Graces, and Honored Guests,
Esteemed Associate Secretary Generals,
Respected Colleagues,

The Executive Committee convenes today while the region is passing through a transitional phase marked by a difficult and painful struggle. The major transformations taking place in the region will inevitably have profound effects on its social and cultural structures and its future.

Amid this regional turmoil that places our societies in the eye of the storm, the Church strives to remain steadfast, both in its institutions, which are struggling greatly to continue as much as possible, and in its parishes, the people of the Church, who face daily living hardships on all levels. The least of these difficulties is economic; the most severe is the uncertainty of the future and the aspirations of rising generations.

Migration is affecting all segments of our societies, especially in the Antiochian Levant, as well as the Nile Valley and North Africa. Poverty is spreading, drought and climate change are sweeping across the region, and day after day we grow more certain that we do not control our destiny nor the course of our lives, neither in the everyday sense nor in the long term.

It is in such a psychological, social, and economic atmosphere that we work, an atmosphere in which nothing promises good except what the global powerholders, the architects of the “deep state,” have written for us. These are the actors who determine our destinies, even in our misery. The recent decisions regarding funding for humanitarian institutions, which have negatively affected our work, fall squarely within this framework and represent only the tip of the iceberg of a now-visible domination over the world’s resources…