Middle East Council of Churches

After many years of preliminary moves, the Middle East Council of Churches was inaugurated in May 1974 at its First General Assembly in Nicosia, Cyprus. Initially it contained three "families" of Christian Churches in the Middle East, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Protestant Churches. These were joined in 1990 at the MECC Fifth Assembly by the seven Catholic Churches of the region.

It is a regional council affiliated with the ecumenical World Council of Churches.

The MECC initially had three co-presidents, representing each of the Christian "families", becoming four after the Catholic Churches joined in 1990.

The first General Secretary of the MECC from 1974 to 1977 was Rev. Albert Istero. He was succeeded by Gabriel Habib, from 1977 to 1994. In November 1994, Rev. Dr. Riad Jarjour was elected General Secretary. He was replaced after two terms by Guirgis Saleh, a Coptic Orthodox theologian and professor, at the Eighth General Assembly in 2003.

The MECC has offices in Beirut, Cairo, Limassol and Amman, with liaison offices in Damascus, Jerusalem and Tehran.

Member Churches

Oriental Orthodox Family

• The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia
• The Coptic Orthodox Church
• The Syriac Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Family

• Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
• Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East
• Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem
• Church of Cyprus

Catholic Family

• Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia
• Chaldean Catholic Church of Babylon
• Coptic Catholic Church of Alexandria
• Greek Melkite Catholic Church & Jerusalem[1]
• Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem[2], part of the larger Latin Rite of the Catholic Church
• Maronite Catholic Church [3]
• Syriac Catholic Church of Antioch

Evangelical Family

• Evangelical Church of Egypt (Synod of the Nile)
• Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
  • Diocese of Egypt
  • Diocese of Jerusalem
  • Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf
  • Diocese of Iran
• Episcopal Church of Sudan
• Evangelical Church in Sudan
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
• Synod of the Evangelical Church in Iran
• National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon
• National Evangelical Union of Lebanon
• Presbyterian Church in the Sudan
• Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East
• Protestant Church of Algeria
• Reformed Church of Tunisia
• National Evangelical Church in Kuwait

(Source: MECC)

External links

• home page