Middle East Council of Churches (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. 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.