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A delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), including Reverend Gabi Aelabouni, Director of the ELCA Middle East and North Africa Department, and Ms. Marie Anne Sliwinski, Senior Director, ELCA Building Resilient Communities office, visited the offices of the Middle East Council of Churches’ General Secretariat in Beirut, on Monday 20 March 2023. The MECC Secretary General Dr. Abs welcomed the delegation.
During the meeting, the delegation and Dr. Abs discussed the circumstances that the Middle East region is passing through at the various economic, social, health and security levels... As well as, Dr. Abs presented the latest MECC activities and the programs which will be implemented soon.
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Amidst all the dangers that threaten the environment and human life today, it is necessary to enhance environmental awareness and increase green activities with the aim to build a better future and a more sustainable environment. Hence, and as part of the "Season of Creation" program, the Middle East Council of Churches works with the youth in various countries of the Middle East in order to achieve the desired goals through environmental awareness and activities.
Within its ecological mission, the Middle East Council of Churches organized, with the support of the humanitarian international organization “Danmission”, a forestation campaign in the Mahrada region in Syria, as part of the “Forestation Days” project, on Saturday 11 March 2023. Participants were 50 young women and men from the Church accompanied by Father Elias Najjar and Reverend Maan Bachour.
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On the occasion of Mother's Day, Reverend Dr. Rima Nasrallah, Coordinator of the Eco Justice Unit at the Middle East Council of Churches, prepared a special Prayer and recited it during the Sunday Service, on Sunday 19 March 2023, at the National Evangelical Church in Beirut.
Below you can find the text of the Prayer:
God, you have loved us as a father and a mother. You gave us life and sheltered us with your compassionate wings. We come to you with our concerns trusting in your care.
We thank you on this Mothers’ Day, for the gift of motherhood and the intimate bond that unites a person with a mother. We thank you for all the mother around us and for their efforts to preserve the life of their children and guide them towards you.
We confess that the role of the mother is a very difficult these days. We therefore pray for all the mothers who are trying to balance between the demands of life, work and care for their children...
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With the aim of enhancing environmental awareness and working to protect nature and God's creation, the Middle East Council of Churches continues its green activities with the Ecumenical youth in various countries of the Middle East. Thus, MECC implemented a new forestation campaign, in cooperation with the international humanitarian organization "Danmission", in Kfar Falous region in Lebanon, under the slogan "Plant a tree that will protect ten trees", on Saturday 18 March 2023.
Young men and women from different Church families, participated in the campaign, as they headed, since morning, from various Lebanese regions to the House of Pentecost, Church of St. Nicholas, Melkite Greek Catholic Archdiocese. The participants were accompanied by the member of the MECC Eco Justice Committee Deacon Garen Yosulkanian, who is the person in charge of the forestation.
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The Middle East Council of Churches is being involved in the relief and rehabilitation efforts in Syria under the name of "Rescue Syria Campaign" through which the Council shall be dealing with the relief efforts in this emergency period and later on with rehabilitation plans in order to help people survive properly and resume a normal life with dignity.
MECC will be publishing a periodical report under the name of "Rescue Syria Update" which will keep you informed about the developments of MECC action as well as the overall situation in a context analysis perspective.
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Ecclesiastical Feasts and International Days
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During February, a catastrophe in the form of an earthquake occurred in Turkey and Syria causing at least 46,400 casualties. As images of the horrifying news spread across television sets and other forms of mass media, one cannot help but wonder: Can the region bear any more calamities? Already, the region’s economy is hanging by a thread and its inhabitants have seen enough death and destruction. Although Turkey’s economy might be in a better spot to handle the earthquake’s ramification, Syria’s war-burdened economy will be unable to handle rehabilitation expenses.
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Message from the Secretary General
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On the twenty-fourth of March every year, the Church celebrates the feast of the Annunciation, the Annunciation of our Lady, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, the Mother of Man, and the Mother of the Believers.
The act of the Annunciation in itself constitutes a unique event in the course of the Christian faith as well as in the course of human salvation, as the Lord chose His servant Mary from among all the women of the world to bear in her womb the child who will bear the sins of the world.
How great is the good news and how great were those moments, when the angel of the Lord came to Mary, and announced to her that she would be the mother of God, the mother of the Savior.
No mind and no words can describe the feelings that may have stirred in the heart and soul of Mary as she ascended the path of holiness.
She is the chosen one who will give the world what it has not tired of waiting for and this for many millennia.
How meek and wise are you O Mary, for the Lord to choose you as a mediator for the coming of the Savior into the world!
How beautiful you are, O Mary, O my Mother, O Mother of God, O Loving, O Lofty, O you Who wraps in her warmth the cold of the world!
Ever since time immemorial, generations have sanctified you, venerated you, and devoted themselves to your holy name!
You are the intercessor of tortured humanity, and more so the intercessor of the blood-stained Lebanon, which has been bleeding for decades.
You are the only symbol on which the Lebanese, who disagree on everything, did not disagree.
In your name, the Lebanese gather, they gather every year on the twenty-fifth day of March, the month of Spring, the month of the mother.
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Weekly Prayer
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The Middle East Council of Churches… 50 years of Continuous Witness
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Interview with His Eminence Archbishop Mor Boutros Kassis
Following the Earthquake that Shook the North of the Antiochian Levant
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An Interview with His Eminence Ephraim Maalouli, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Alexandretta and Dependencies, After the Earthquake that Struck Syria
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A New Baby Born in Earthquake Rubble
Mohamad Bitar Explains the Difficult Situations He Passed Through with His Family
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In Seconds... Everything Changed
Manal Bitar Reports the First Moments of Terror
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Speech of Dr. Gergis Saleh, MECC Honorary Secretary General, at the Opening of the
"Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" 2023 in Egypt
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Speech of Rev. Refaat Fikri, MECC Associate Secretary General, at the Opening of the
"Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" 2023 in Egypt
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Syria Is in Distress Due to the Earthquake that Hit It
Safir Salim Describes the Situation in the Salesian Church in Aleppo
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Father Nicolas Bustros Highlights the Church’s Theology
on Charity TV
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Searching for Hope Following the Earthquake that Hit Syria
Rogina Makhoul Describes the Fear of the Afflicted Families and Children
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Moments of Terror Following the Earthquake that Struck Syria
Georges Batikha Survives the Disaster and Highlights the Urgent Needs
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Churches in Syria Cooperate with MECC for the Relief of the Affected People Due the Earthquake that Occurred in the Region
Monsignor Antoine Audo on KTO TV: The Syrian people have determination and will move forward to overcome all difficulties
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"From Egypt I Called My Son"
A Documentary About the Coptic Church
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The 12th General Assembly
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Their Beatitudes, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Ieronymos II, and the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, John X, held, on Wednesday 21 March 2023, the service of the Great Compline in the Church of the Holy Cross in Damascus. The prayer was attended from the Greek side by His Eminence Symeon, Metropolitan of Fthiotida, Archdeacon John, Mr. Kostas Themitsas, Director of the "Apostoli" organization, and the media team. From the Antiochian side, Their Eminences Metropolitan Saba Esber (New York and North America), Metropolitan Basilios Mansour (Akkar), Metropolitan Ephrem Maalouli (Aleppo), and Bishops Moussa Al-Khoury, Youhanna Batach, and Moses al-Khosi attended the Prayer.
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On March 20, 2023, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, inaugurated a spiritual retreat entitled “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth”. (Psalm 145: 18)”, for their Eminences the Archbishops of the Archdioceses in Syria and Lebanon, at Mor Aphrem Monastery in Maarat Saydnaya.
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His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, received His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, and his accompanying delegation: His Eminence Symeon Metropolitan of Fthiotida, Archdeacon John, and Mr. Kostas Themitsas, Director of the "Apostoli" organization, on the occasion of the brotherly visit of the Archbishop to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, after the earthquake that struck the region.
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On Sunday March 19, 2023, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, consecrated the Church of Queen Helena in Maadi, Egypt, that is affiliated to the Maadi Diocese. His Holiness gifted some relics of Queen Helena to the consecrated church.
Upon his arrival at the church, His Holiness removed the curtain from the commemorative plaque that dates its consecration. Commemorative photos were taken of His Holiness next to the plaque, along with His Eminence Bishop Daniel, Metropolitan of Maadi, the Secretary of the Holy Synod, and the priests of the consecrated church.
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JERUSALEM - On March 18th, 2023, in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over a Mass to mark the feast of Saint Joseph and the 90th birthday of His Beatitude Mgr Michel Sabbah, Patriarch Emeritus.
Often called the "Patriarch and voice of the people", Mgr Sabbah served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, as the first non-Italian and Arab Palestinian to hold this position in over five centuries. Born in Nazareth, he was ordained a priest in 1955, choosing to answer God's call and to serve the Church despite the difficult times the country was then facing.
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Often called the "Patriarch and voice of the people", Mgr Sabbah served as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, as the first non-Italian and Arab Palestinian to hold this position in over five centuries. Born in Nazareth, he was ordained a priest in 1955, choosing to answer God's call and to serve the Church despite the difficult times the country was then facing. Before becoming Latin Patriarch, he studied in Beirut and Paris and worked as director of the Latin Patriarchate schools and then as a teacher in Djibouti. He is known for his work for peace in the Holy Land and the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has served as president of Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace movement, as founder of the Society of Saint Yves, and as chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission.
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Budapest, March 17, 2023
At an official invitation, Hungarian President Katalin Novak met with His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude Patriarch Youssef Al-Absi, Greek Melkite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church.
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His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark delivered his weekly Sermon at Wednesday’s March 15, 2023 meeting, from the Church of the Virgin Mary and Saint Bishoy at the Papal Residence in the Abbaseya Cathedral. The sermon was broadcast on Christian satellite channels and the C.O.C channel of the Church’s media center on the Internet.
His Holiness continued on the series of “The Stations of the Great Lent Journey and Connecting It to Family Life”, and discussed part of the fourth chapter in the Gospel of our teacher St John (verses 7-18).
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Upholding a decades-old tradition, the Armenian Evangelical Educational Council of Lebanon, under the auspices of the Central Committee of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE) honored its veteran teachers who have completed 25 years or more of service in Armenian Evangelical schools. The program took place on the evening of 12 March 2023 in Beirut’s First Armenian Evangelical Church.
The Chair of the Educational Council, Dr. Arda Ekmekji greeted the audience, after which the church’s pastor, the Reverend Jirair Ghazarian, read a passage from the Bible and offered a prayer. Mrs. Sossi Balian, a member of the Educational Council, presented the guest speaker of the day, Mr. Garo Hovhannesian.
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The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, represented by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, along the Holy Synod and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, the clergy and the faithful, condemn the heinous terrorist attack that took place on Sunday 19 March 2023, morning, during the Sunday service, at the hands of two Israeli radicals, which targeted the Church of Gethsemane in Jerusalem, where the Tomb of the Virgin Mary lies. The Patriarchate also denounces the attempt to cause physical harm to His Eminence Archbishop Joachim, who was leading the service, as well as the attack on one of the priests in the Church.
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(Jn 9:1-41)
The Gospel passage of today’s Liturgy, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, gives us the event of the healing of the man born blind (Jn 9:1-41).
It’s a very long passage, and to deal with it let’s study the structure a little: we see then the first part (9:1-12) wherein the miracle itself is related; then comes the second part, the longest (Jn 1:13-34) which has as its protagonists, next to the healed blind man, the Pharisees with their attack on Jesus and their questions about the miracle that He has done; while in the third (Jn 1:35-41) Jesus meets the blind man again, and the account closes with Jesus’ judgment on those who presume to see.
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