His Holiness Catholicos Aram I flew to Cairo on Monday, May 16, invited by Patriarch Tawadros II, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Dr. Michel Abs, General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, to participate as a guest of honor in the Council Assembly, which is held every four years, and to address the organization. In his remarks at the opening session, His Holiness stated:
“The Middle East is faced with huge crises, to which the churches are directly exposed as well. Faced with this situation, we should re-examine life within the church and inter-church relations to determine priorities that must respond to current circumstances.”
The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia participates in the Assembly with a five-member delegation composed by Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian, Prelate of the Armenians of Tehran; Archbishop Shahe Panossian, Prelate of the Armenians of Lebanon; Bishop Masis Zobouyan, Prelate of the Prelacy of Peria (Aleppo); Very Rev. Sarkis Apegha Aprahamian, staff-bearer; and Dr. Jean Salmanian (professor at Saint-Joseph University of Beirut).
Delegations of all Middle Eastern churches are present in the assembly convened in the Egyptian capital. His Holiness Aram I is scheduled to the monastery of Antelias on Friday, May 20.