Gathering for 600 Young Melkite Catholics in Lebanon
The Greek Melkite Catholic Church is one of the vibrant Eastern Churches which make up the Christian face of the Middle East. Across the next twelve months the Church is also celebrating the 300th Jubilee of the Melkite Church’s union with the Church of Rome.
The situation for the Christians in the Middle East could not be more precarious. The ongoing wars and skirmishes, the direct persecution of Christians, and the increasingly unstable political and economic realities, mean that more Middle Eastern Christians now live abroad than in their home nations. As an example, before 2011 Syrian Christians numbered 1.5 million, now there are less than 300,000. Christians in Palestine have dropped from 15% to 2%. In the Middle East the overall population of Christians used to be about 20%; now it’s 5% and shrinking.
The Holy Land and the greater Middle East are the very lands that gave birth to Christianity, they contain some of the holiest places on earth.
The Churches of the Middle East want to do everything they can to support their people to stay in their homeland by providing real hope.