Seventh Assembly of the Middle East Council of Churches

By Dr. Fred Strickert

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) held its Seventh General Assembly from April 26 to 30 at the Maronite Convent Dar-Sayyidat-il-Jabal (Our Lady of the Mountain), north of Beirut, Lebanon.

MECC is the Middle East’s regional ecumenical organization whose member churches represent the overwhelming majority of the 15 million Christians of the Middle East and North Africa, from Algeria to Iran. Ninety-six delegates representing 28 member churches and an equal number of observers and visitors attended the assembly, which is held every four years.

With roots in inter-church efforts at cooperation early in the 20th century, the MECC was formed at a conference in Nicosia, Cyprus in May 1974 by local churches seeking to speak with a common voice. Thus this year’s silver anniversary gathering was rich in symbolism.

MECC “made a clear statement that it has returned to Lebanon to stay,” said the press report of the opening session. This was the first general assembly to be held in Lebanon since 1977 because of that nation’s civil war from 1975 to 1990. The return to Lebanon was especially meaningful since the founding assembly established MECC’s headquarters in Beirut. In a setting where the healing of wounds is evident, the gathering projected a message of hope.

The Biblical basis for the Assembly spoke to a changing world: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

A pervading topic for discussion was the significance of “Christian presence” in a region where Christians are a minority, where instability and crisis are constant, and where emigration has become a fact of life.

Speaking on “Christian Presence on the Threshold of the Third Millenium,” Boulos Matar noted the role of Christianity “in defense of human rights and of the rights of humanity in general.” He challenged the assembly to shift its focus from a quantitative presence to a qualitative one, from remaining on the land, to life in its full expression. This, he said, is the goal of Christian unity.

On the theme of “Ecumenism on the Threshold of the Third Millennium,” Catholicos Aram I articulated five challenges before the ecumenical movement:

To be a church which cares and is responsive to the issues of the day and the concerns of the people.
To be aware that in a pluralist society dialogue is not simply an exercise in conceptual thinking, but is existential.
To consider its calling to mission as inseparable from the search for unity.
To face head on the ethical issues of the day—consumerism, secularism, and materialism.
To maintain an awareness of specific identity in the face of dehumanizing and destructive forces of globalizaton.

While remaining faithful to its principles of maintaining a dynamic Christian presence into the third millennium, the assembly considered ways of restructuring its programs to be more efficient with ever-dwindling resources.

“The MECC is not a luxury that may be tasted or left aside,” according to a preliminary background statement. It describes the Council as a “venue for gathering together in dialogue,” and “an instrument for coordinating ministries of service and witness.”

A Family of Families

The MECC describes itself as a family of families representing Orthodox, Oriental, Catholic, and Protestant segments of the church. A cause for celebration is the ever-widening circle of participation in the ecumenical movement. Originally MECC was formed by Orthodox, Oriental, and Protestant groups. They were joined in 1990 by the seven Catholic churches of the Middle East, completing four different families representing a fully inclusive body.

The Assembly rejoiced that cooperation among Orthodox and Oriental families of churches has led to a greater understanding and agreement concerning the historical Chalcedonian formulations of the faith (Council of Chalcedon 451 AD).

On the other hand, it expressed regret that difficulties still remained for the admission of the Ancient Assyrian Church of the East, the largest church in Iraq. A recommendation for admission had previously been made by the MECC executive committee in 1995.

Still lacking from the circle of Christian unity are several small Protestant bodies whose Western partners and mission agencies tend to remain separate from ecumenical endeavors. Nevertheless, MECC maintains a commitment to continuing avenues of dialogue wherever possible.

As a way of celebrating diversity in unity, each of the four days of the assembly began with worship by one of the four church families according to its own traditions and practices.

Likewise, representatives of each family of churches were elected to form the Executive Committee, which handles governance of the body in the four-year intervals between the assemblies. The four elected presidents are Pope Shenouda III (for the Oriental Orthodox family); Patriarch Petros VII (for the Orthodox family); Metropolitan Kyrillos Salim Bustros (for the Catholic family); and the Rev. Salim Sahiouny (for the Protestant family). Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour was re-elected General Secretary of the Council.

Concerns for Faith and Witness

The method of MECC is one of consensus-building and participation in the community. Thus the assembly included reports of various committees, addresses by the various presidents, and work-groups to deal with pending issues.

While focusing on common ground, the assembly was not totally devoid of controversy. One issue that still divides the various worship expressions is the date for the celebration of Easter. It is not unusual that Catholic and Protestant church calendars designate one particular date for Easter while the Orthodox celebration follows a week or two later. An attempt at unifying the date—known as “the Aleppo Agreement”—was ruled out of order due to sensitivity to concerns of various constituents.

Extensive effort was incorporated into a unified final statement to address the major concerns of the Middle East (the final statement appears as a sidebar to this article). Much of this addressed the political and international issues which affect the region. Primary among these is the continued suffering of the Iraqi people due to prolonged economic sanctions and military actions of the West.

The continued occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands, as well as the Golan region and southern Lebanon, brought forth calls for even stronger language to promote a just peace. Specifically, Jerusalem should be “a city shared by the faithful of three religions and capital of two independent nations and their people.”

No less a concern, the assembly called for peace in the Sudan, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea; unity for the people of Cyprus; full legal rights for the Armenian people; and for solidarity with the victims of the ongoing war in Kosovo and Serbia.

Christian-Muslim Dialogue

One of the priorities of MECC is the churches’ need to pursue dialogue with the Muslim community, with the intention of building positive relations that encourage coexistence and cooperation.

Thus it was fitting that the assembly was addressed on the final day with greetings from the heads of the Muslim communities in Lebanon, including the mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Shaikh Muhammad Khalid Qabbani; the president of the High Shi’ite Islamic Council, Imam Muhammad Mahdi Shams ad-Din; Shaikh ‘Aql of the Druze community; Shaikh Bahjat Ghaith; and Muhammad as-Sammak, member of the Lebanese National Committee for Muslim-Christian Dialogue.

Further information on the work of the Middle East Council of Churches and the Seventh General Assembly can be found on the Web: <http://www.mecchurches.org>

Dr. Fred Strickert is professor of religion at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

SIDEBAR

Final Statement of Seventh Assembly of MECC

Brothers and sisters,

The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, has brought us together and has set upon us to be aware of the requirements of our Christian witness in this East, with its difficulties and its hopes. The directives of the heads of churches of the Middle East, in their two meetings in Nicosia, in 1985 and 1998, call us to reflect on the following:

The Church is not simply a confluence of people, but indeed the leaven of hope, a united and praying community serving the people, in toto, humbly and lovingly.
Our Christian churches are rooted in societies of many spiritual heritages and they must interact with this plurality both to be enriched and to enrich.
There are difficulties facing Christians in this East. It is our responsibility, without denying some of our particular situations, to consider these difficulties in the context of what Christians and Muslims commonly face, and to work together in overcoming them.
Among the preferred ways to ensure the sustenance of our witness is to increase the participation of Christians in public life and their strengthening of it; that they support harmonious Christian-Muslim co-existence; and strive to build societies based on full and equal citizenship, the protection of freedoms, and the defense of human dignity and human rights.
As we deal with our surroundings with objectivity, hope, and a spirit of wisdom, avoiding exaggeration or instilling a sense of fear, it is our calling to continue to “rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer” (Rom. 12:12), as witnesses of Christ who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

The life we lead in Christ habilitates us to become one body, and leads us to be faithful in our service to all people and in issues of our societies.

The Seventh General Assembly reiterates the firm positions of the Middle East Council of Churches that confirm the ties of Christians to Jerusalem and the holy lands; as well as the MECC’s solidarity with the Palestinian people in the defense of their human rights and proposed statehood. It sees that the serious dangers today in Jerusalem demand continuous efforts at every level to lift the oppression from upon her people and protect their identity, so that she remains true to her name as the “city of peace.”

The Seventh General Assembly repeats its support for the Christian churches in Jerusalem. Over the past years, the heads of these churches together have called for peace and justice in Jerusalem, a city shared by the faithful of the three religions and capital of two independent nations and their people. The Christian churches are principally concerned with the fate of Jerusalem and do not accept any attempt to conceal their role.

The Assembly also reiterates its demand for the respect of the violated and threatened religious, civil, and political rights of the people of Jerusalem and the holy lands; and its commitment to the historical rights of the Christian churches.

The General Assembly confirms the importance of the positions of Christians throughout the world with respect to Jerusalem, including the stances of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches, the World Council of Churches, and the Lambeth Conference. The Assembly calls the Christians to establish a plan to effect this solidarity at the religious, humanitarian, media, legal, and political levels, and to establish a special fund to contribute to increasing support of Arab Christian presence in Jerusalem and the holy lands. There will not be a just peace in the Middle East without peace in Jerusalem.

The issue of Jerusalem does not conceal the suffering of the Palestinian people outside of their Jerusalem, especially those living under Israeli occupation.

The Middle East Council of Churches condemns the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan, and calls for its withdrawal from it.

The MECC also condemns the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and the Western Baka’a, and the repeated aggressions against their inhabitants, who have withstood them, and whom we salute.

We feel a duty to take a stand on the tragic situation under which the Iraqi people live, due to the oppressive and unjustified sanctions that cause much suffering among the civilian population, and first among them the children, elderly, and sick. The MECC calls for a lifting of the sanctions and a cessation of the military strikes against Iraq. It also calls for the world’s solidarity with the people of Iraq, for their rights to a dignified life.

As we approach the new century, those convened at this General Assembly hope that peaceful, just, comprehensive, and lasting solutions are found to the crises that continue to hover over some peoples.

We call for peace in the Sudan, and between Ethiopia and Eritrea, as we hope that Cyprus recovers its unity and that its people return to harmonious life together; that the Armenian people obtain their full legal rights. We also stand in solidarity with the victims of the ongoing war in Kosovo and Serbia, whomever they may be. No people ought to continue to suffer discrimination, marginalization, expulsion, forced migration, captivity, or extermination, for whatever reason, be it religious, ethnic, or political.

Even in the heart of the problems our societies know and the crises they face, let us draw from the inexhaustible love of the Lord, and let every person, according to his or her gifts, assist in the service of all, and most especially the hopeless, the persecuted, the rejected. Christian love is a magnificent witness of hope, “and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5).

A quarter of a century has passed since the establishment of this Council and, by the grace of God, it has come today to include all the Oriental Orthodox, Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical churches of the Middle East. Its starting point was ecumenical. Today, the call for ecumenism is more persistent than ever before. We commit ourselves, before the Lord, to a renewal in grace, spirit, and truth. We renew our commitment to strive to be one holy catholic and apostolic church, according to the will of the Lord Jesus, “so that they may be one” (John 17:11). This commitment is manifested by our love for each other as He loved us, and by opening our hearts and minds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, so that we encounter each other cooperatively, with respect, and with kindness. In Him, we are one.