Christianity in Lebanon
Fat...@aol.com
From a Christian teenager in Northern Ireland.
I spent last summer in Lebanon and have a real interest in the country.
I was wondering are there many Christians in Lebanon, and if so could
someone please write and tell me of their experience?
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Jeffrey
Half of the Lebanese population are Christians and the other half are their
brothers and sisters the Shiites and other muslim sects. The President of
Lebanon is a Christian Maronite-Catholic.
Moses and Jesus bless you,
cee...@pp.hw.ac.uk
Fat...@aol.com wrote:
>
> From a Christian teenager in Northern Ireland.
>
> I spent last summer in Lebanon and have a real interest in the country.
> I was wondering are there many Christians in Lebanon, and if so could
> someone please write and tell me of their experience?
>
> -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
I too am a student hoping to travel to Lebanon, so if anything comes
up, would you be able to post a quick message, or mail me?
Nick Anderson
Ande...@aol.com OR
N.D.An...@hw.ac.uk
Ashor
Jeffrey wrote:
>
> Half of the Lebanese population are Christians and the other half are their
> brothers and sisters the Shiites and other muslim sects. The President of
> Lebanon is a Christian Maronite-Catholic.
How much longer do you think the Muslim world in middle-east (alla
sattimlah) will allow
this presidency of Lebanon to stay as non-Muslim? your honest opinion.
Ashor
An Assyrian and Christian adult from the GREAT US OF A.
Dylan Balhud
It is not up to them to decide. They have done it and tried it before,
especially, in the 14th century. The Maronites redeployed their forces around
the Batroun area in Northern Lebanon. We even have evidence of massacres done by
them. In just one month the Mamluks lost 40,000 men. They had a huge army, all
we had is the will and faith.
Technically, Maronites have lost 3/4 of the land to them. In 1997, 62% of land
ownership belongs to the Maronites, mostly owned by the Maronite Patriarchate,
and the rest owned by the Maronite people. Maronites inherited the land from
their Phoenician ancestors and families. Saint Maron 329-414 founded the Maronite
rite.
The Ottomans tried the same thing they did not succeed. Palestinians tried it
and every other nation on earth tried it. Ashur, it is very difficult to destroy
a well established community. Today, December 12, 1997 the Maronite Church
started a new housing project in the Kahlounie area (Metn al aalah). They donated
20,000 sq. m of land to build on it.
How can they take over, we haven't decided to leave and we will never leave. The
Maronite people is very well dedicated people and is not easy to give up.
Butchering on church altars, hanging and burning of the Maronite Patriarch,
burning of villages, emptying towns of its people will never stop them from
building and reconstructing their own nation.
Their numbers are up, 15 million around the world, 1,700.000 live today in
Lebanon. The more they are oppressed the more attached to their land and faith
they will be.
Yesterday, Maronites of Lebanon, Cyprus, and Syria had a conference in Cyprus.
They also held official talks with the Greek and Turkish authorities to allow
Maronites more movement along the green line.
Whatever you hear from their enemies does not change anything in the Maronite
situation. Housing projects, Churches are built and rebuilt on every hill, new
schools, new hospitals with the latest technology.
All these projects are paid for by the Maronite Patriarchate.
All the talk about buying and selling land, is concentrated in one small area of
Beirut. Actually, the Maronite dioceses are buying the land wherever it is
available for sale.
You may also check this site, and listen to some Syriac-Maronite chants. The
Maronite Research Council (MRC). http://plaza.v-wave.com/maronites
Best Regards,
Liferich
Dear friends :
No one is sure exactly what the Christian population of Lebanon is as the
Lebanese Christian communiy is a very static community with many thousands
moving in and out of Lebanon on a daily basis.... Statistics of the Christian
population in Lebanon at present range from 1.3 million to 1,8 million.
Percentage wise the guesstimates run anywhere from 35 to 45 % yet if you look
at the Lebanese on a world wide basis (the Lebanese number some 15 million
strong) you will see that the Christiansmake up 85 % to 90 % of the Lebanese on
a gloabl scale (Lebanon included)..
As I am sure you know the Jesus the Son of God, worked his first miracle in the
southern Lebanese town of Cana (where in June of 96 scores of innocent Lebanese
civilians were killed by Israeli occupation gun-fire), the first person to be
healed by Christ Our Lord was a Lebanese of southern Lebanon... Jesus preached
in Lebanon in the phonecian towns of Tyre and Sidon and the surrounding
areas..... many biblical historians believe Our Lord's Transfiguration occured
on the Lebanese slopes of Mt Lebanon...
It was from the Lebanese (phonecian ports) that St Paul sailed to Europe
bringing the Christian faith to Europes shores....
Lebanon has produced two Popes in its history and the first Catherdral in
history was established in southern Lebanon... The first ordained Bishop was
Bishop Zeinoun I in Tyre. Till this day the Phonecian Zeinoun family lives in
Lebanon :)
The Phoneician Christians were amongst the first martyrs of the Church amongst
whom we have the famous St Tecla friend of the Apostle Paul, St Tlalos of Mt
Lebanon, St Aquilina of Byblos, St Christina of Tyre, St Theodosio of Tyre, St
Kyrilos of Baalbeck, St Dorthe Bishop and Martyr of Tyre etc
By the 4rd centurd AD the Phonecians (Lebanese) of the Coastal cities and the
Bekaa Valley had chosen to convert to Christianity despite the despite the
persecution by the Roman Authorities. Yet in the mountains of Lebanon the old
Phoneican religion held strong until the a holy Maronite Monk named St Abraham
set out to the Lebanese mountains to preach the gospel to Phoneicans of the
mountain and subequently all of LEbanon had been evangelized.
There is an excellent documentary called "THE ETERNAL CITY" made by a renown
BBC Britsh film maker and devout Christian named John Bird. It is a documentary
made filmed in 1994 in Lebanon's Churches, Monasteries and Land. The
Documentary airs often on the Eternal Word Televison Network, an American and
Europaean international Chrisitian Channel seen by 50 million Americans daily.
The Documentary takes you through how Christianity began and spread from
Lebanese and northern Palestine's shores and spread to Europe to the great
Lebanese saints of the last century in particular St Sharbel Makhlouf (Province
of Jbeil) and Blessed Rafka (province of Batroun)... I really recommend this
award winning Documentary on Christianity in Lebanon and its important
connection to Christianity in the West.
Here is its full info :
The Eternal City
1994 Westenhanger / LBC Productions
I.S.B.N. 1-56364-109-7
Produced and Directed by John Bird (of England)
Editor : Glenn Hyde
Directors of Photography : George Farah (of Lebanon), John Kirby (of the USA)
and Andros Pierides (of Greece)
If I can help you in anyway let em know,
Regards,
Richard
BASHCOMP
If you can let us know where to buy this video, it will be very appreciated.
Liferich
>If you can let us know where to buy this video, it will be very appreciated.
>Subject: Re: Christianity in Lebanon
>From: bash...@aol.com (BASHCOMP)
>Date: Sun, Dec 14, 1997 19:57 EST
>Message-id: <19971215005...@ladder01.news.aol.com>
>
>If you can let us know where to buy this video, it will be very appreciated.
Richard Bachus wrote :
>There is an excellent documentary called "THE ETERNAL CITY" made by a renown
BBC Britsh film maker and devout Christian named John Bird. It is a documentary
made filmed in 1994 in Lebanon's Churches, Monasteries and Land.
Bashcomp :
There are several distributors in the USA and Europe for John Bird's
documentary on the history of Christianity in Lebanon "THE ETERNAL CITY ". I
must confess that Mr Bird gifted me the video when I met him at a National
Catholic Press Conference in New York City when the Documentary was released.
I would recommend that you contact the Eternal Word Television Network at
http://www.ewtn.com. The Eternal Word Television Network is run by Mother
Angelica who has her own talk show which believe it or not is watched by more
viewers in the USA then Oprah Winfrey (the queen of talk shows). She is watched
by some 50 million Americans every night.
The point that I am getting to is Mother Angelica is very concerned about the
plight of the Christians of Lebanon . She has THE ETERNAL CITY air on her
cable network about once a month. At the end of the show each month they give
a 1-800 number to call to order THE ETERNAL CITY. Email EWTN and ask them about
getting the video. (I will try at another place on the net call the Mercy
Foundation - they specialize in such videos. -- If I get a number I will post
it for you).
THE ETERNAL CITY is beutifully filmed in Jerapta, Batroun , Bkerke, Kesrouan,
Aanaya, Jbeil, Harrissa and other parts of Lebanon (Filming was not granted to
Mr Bird to film in the south of Lebanon as he wanted to film Cannaanite town
Cana the Town of Christ's first Miracle, the Shrine of Our Lady in the
Maghdouche vicinity etc and Tyre and Sidon.)
I'll get on getting you a number... if I get sidetracked or forget do remind
me.....
Regards,
Richard
Liferich
Bashcomp :
I just called EWTN's office and they were closed. Then number is 205-956-9537.
I do remember this for certain in the USA one of the major distributors for
John Bird's THE ETERNAL CITY documentary on Christianity in Lebanon that was
cited on EWTN is a company called VISION VIDEO. So ask the secretary or whoever
answers if they can give you VISION VIDEO's number.
Mother Angelica and her international TV Network are great proponents of the
Christians in the Holy Land. She always hosts Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir when he
has visits the USA and she has worked with Cardinol O'Connor in New York to
push for Lebanese and Mid East Christian protection amongst various
governments.She also sponsored a long series on the Greek Catholic Church that
was broadcast in Arabic and English about a year ago. And she has taken great
interest at the Christian Reunification movement that has been arising from
Damascus, Syria since 1982 see http://www.soufanieh.com She is a great
proponent of Soufanieh. In the last five years she with the funding of a group
od Dutch Catholic millionaires has taken her Channel to cover the entire Globe.
Mother Angelica is a real firecracker...... :-) She is another St Paul -- can't
shut her up and can't hold her down.!!
Regards,
Richard
Ashor
Dylan Balhud wrote:
>
> It is not up to them to decide. They have done it and tried it before,
> especially, in the 14th century. The Maronites redeployed their forces around
> the Batroun area in Northern Lebanon. We even have evidence of massacres done by
> them. In just one month the Mamluks lost 40,000 men. They had a huge army, all
> we had is the will and faith.
Brother Dylan,
May God be with you all, and we are here to lend you a moral support if
needed.
> Technically, Maronites have lost 3/4 of the land to them. In 1997, 62% of land
> ownership belongs to the Maronites, mostly owned by the Maronite Patriarchate,
> and the rest owned by the Maronite people. Maronites inherited the land from
> their Phoenician ancestors and families. Saint Maron 329-414 founded the Maronite
> rite.
>
> The Ottomans tried the same thing they did not succeed. Palestinians tried it
> and every other nation on earth tried it. Ashur, it is very difficult to destroy
> a well established community.
Absolutley correct, a well established community could be hard to
destroy it, but I am worried about the zealots Pan-Arabian groups that
will try inflict as much harm as possible.
> Today, December 12, 1997 the Maronite Church
> started a new housing project in the Kahlounie area (Metn al aalah). They donated
> 20,000 sq. m of land to build on it.
More power to the Maronite church, and God bless its leadership.
>
> How can they take over, we haven't decided to leave and we will never leave.
Very strong and emotional words, and we will never abandon you our
Maronite brethren.
God bless you and bless our Maronite and Assyrian people.
Your brethren in Christianity and nationality,
Ashor (Brunit Attur)
nick
Richardo,i marked your article as an "unread" and now i am responding to
it.so sorry for the delay
Liferich wrote in message <19971214061...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
[..]
>Dear friends :
>
>No one is sure exactly what the Christian population of Lebanon is as the
>Lebanese Christian communiy is a very static community with many thousands
>moving in and out of Lebanon on a daily basis....
true,the same apply for any Lebanese community
>Statistics of the Christian
>population in Lebanon at present range from 1.3 million to 1,8 million.
>Percentage wise the guesstimates run anywhere from 35 to 45 % yet if you
look
>at the Lebanese on a world wide basis (the Lebanese number some 15 million
>strong) you will see that the Christiansmake up 85 % to 90 % of the
Lebanese on
>a gloabl scale (Lebanon included)..
i will try to avoid responding to your statistical numbers since some
people are sensitive to these statistics
and it doesn't serve the goal of this response.we know your numbers are not
correct,but if you want a rough estimate based on the 1936 census,you can
get from the Library of Congress.search Lebanon and look for
religions of Lebanon.the URL is:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
>
>As I am sure you know the Jesus the Son of God, worked his first miracle in
the
>southern Lebanese town of Cana
it is true that Jesus made his first miracle in Cana,but it is not the
Lebanese town of Cana.
according to the New Testament,Book OF JOHN(2:4),UNDER THE MIRACLE "THE
WEDDING
AT CANA"
"On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,.......etc"
it was Cana in Galilee and not in Lebanon.also if you look at the map in
the Bible(The New Testament)
you will see the village Cana in Galilee and it is very close to Jerusalem.
also another reference to it is at the
:http://www.knight.org/advent/index.html
look under C and look for Cana.here some information about the city from
that site:
Cana
A city of Galilee, Palestine, famous throughout all ages as the scene of Our
Lord's first miracle, when He turned water into wine at the Marriage Feast
(John, ii). It is mentioned by the same Evangelist in two other passages,
once (iv, 46) in connection with another miracle, when He cured the ruler's
son at a distance, and once (xxi, 2) as the birthplace of Nathaniel, or St.
Bartholomew. No direct indication can be gathered of its locality, except
that it was not far from either Nazareth or Capharnaum, and higher than the
latter city, as indeed all the land west of the Plain of Genesareth is; and
that an ordinary traveler from Jerusalem to Nazareth would pass through or
near it. It is not mentioned by either of the Synoptists, nor indeed
anywhere else in the Scriptures. An old tradition identifies the site of
Cana with modern Kefr' Kenna, a village of about 600 inhabitants. This lies
some four or five miles northeast of Nazareth, on the road from thence to
Tiberias, at the foot of a short, steep hill.
>(where in June of 96 scores of innocent Lebanese
>civilians were killed by Israeli occupation gun-fire),
here I was very disappointed when you mentioned the wrong date for the
massacre committed by the Israeli in Qana.it was not in June 96 but it was
in April 7 ,1996(I visited Lebanon in may 14,96 and visited the site of
QANA to pay my respect to the victims).check this site:
http://www.cybercom.net/~tonyk/victims.html ,
Bakhon,Bakhon 3alayka ya Richardo
any way I don't blame you.you give wrong information about Antelias or
Tripoli and now Qana.
i beleive you now when you told you know Antelias and Tripoli like the back
of your hand.
the reason for this lack of information because you not Lebanese,you are
Brazilian :),teasing here.
>the first person to be
>healed by Christ Our Lord was a Lebanese of southern Lebanon...
WRONG AGAIN.the first person to be healed by Christ is from CANA
and I explained before that CANA in Galilee is not the same QANA in south of
Lebanon.
now if you mean about another Miracle,here a list of all the Miracles that
deals with healings with their refrences and none of them mention about
south of Lebanon.
Healing Miracles:
1-Healing a leper, Matt. 8:2-3; Mark 1:40-42; Luke 5:12-13
2-Healing the centurion's servant, Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10
3-Healing Peter's mother-in-law, Matt. 8:14-15; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-39
4-Healing the one/two Gadarenes, Matt. 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-13; Luke 8:27-33
5-Healing a paralyzed man, Matt. 9:2-7; Mark 2:3-12; Luke 5:18-25
6-Healing a woman with a hemorrhage, Matt. 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-29; Luke
8:43-48
7-Healing two blind men, Matt. 9:27-31
8-Healing a dumb man, Matt. 9:32-33
9-Healing a man with a withered hand, Matt. 12:10-13; Mark 3:1-5; Luke
6:6-10
10- Healing a blind and dumb man, Matt. 12:22; Luke 11:14
11-Healing the Canaanite woman's daughter, Matt. 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30
12-Healing a boy with epilepsy, Matt. 17:14-18; Mark 9:17-29; Luke 9:38-43
13-Healing of Bartimaeus and, Matt. 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43
14-Healing a possessed man, Mark 1:23-26
15-Healing a deaf and dumb man, Mark 7:31-37
16-Healing the blind man at Bethsaida, Mark 8:22-26
17-Healing the woman bent double, Luke 13:11-13
18-Healing a man with dropsy, Luke 14:1-4
19-Healing the ten lepers, Luke 17:11-19
20-Healing Malchus' ear, Luke 22:50-51
21-Healing the official's son at Capernaum, John 4:46-54
22-Healing the man at the pool of Bethesda, John 5:1-9
23-Healing the man born blind, John 9
these are all the healings and i checked all of them (NEW TESTAMENT).none
mention about south Lebanon.
>Jesus preached
>in Lebanon in the phonecian towns of Tyre and Sidon and the surrounding
>areas.....
I agree with you that TYRE AND SIDON are Phonecian towns.
but it is WRONG again that Jesus did preach in both cities.
it was St.PAUL WHO DID preach there.
ref:http://www.knight.org/advent/index.html
look for letter P ,then Paul..
[locates the scene in the places really visited by St. Paul (Antioch,
Iconium, Myra, Perge, Sidon, Tyre, Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, Rome), ]
>many biblical historians believe Our Lord's Transfiguration occured
>on the Lebanese slopes of Mt Lebanon...
Wrong again,The Tranfiguration occured in Mount Thabor.REF:
http://www.knight.org/advent/index.html
look for T and then Tranfiguration,and there they mention about the Mount.
[Already in Apostolic times the mount of the Transfiguration had become the
"holy mount" (II Pet., i, 18). It seems to have been known by the faithful
of the country, and tradition identified it with Mount Thabor. Origen said
(A.D. 231-54) "Thabor is the mountain of Galilee on which Christ was
transfigured" (Comm. in Ps. lxxxviii, 13). In the next century St. Cyril of
Jerusalem (Catech., Il, 16) and St. Jerome (Ep. xlvi, ad Marcel.; EP. viii,
ad Paulin.; Ep. cviii, ad Eust.) likewise declare it categorically. Later
St. Proculus, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 447; Orat. viii, in
Transfig.), Agathangelus (Hist. of Armenia, II, xvii), and Arnobius the
Younger (d. 460; Comm. in Ps. lxxxviii, 13) say the same thing. ]
>It was from the Lebanese (phonecian ports) that St Paul sailed to Europe
>bringing the Christian faith to Europes shores....
WRONG again.2 sources here.this is his first mission to Europe
1-http://www.knight.org/advent/index.html,look for PAUL
2-BOOK:CAESER AND CHRIST BY Will Durant,page 582
he was in Cyprus with Barnabas preaching for the new Religion.
from Paphos they took ship to Perga in Pamphylia .
but for his 4th mission to Europe he was taken as a prisoner from Jerusalem
he was boarded in a ship from Adramyttium and sailed from there.the ship
stopped in its way
in Sidon,around Cyprus,Cilicia and Pamphia then Myra in Lycia.(27:3)
>Lebanon has produced two Popes in its history
WRONG AGAIN.
there are 265 Popes and none of them are Lebanese.
ref:http://ananke.advanced.org/2838/popelist.htm
and a book called "The Popes IN the twentieth Century" by Carlo Falconi
but my information is that the Pope to be elected or chosen he has to be a
Cardinal,
and the first Lebanese Cardinal was Cardinal Khreish from "3ayin ebil",he
became Cardinal in 1976
then after his death came Sfeir, Nasrallah Pierre: Maronite Patriarch of
Antioch .
.
> and the first Catherdral in
>history was established in southern Lebanon...
no name no checking.i can't deny or agree.give the name if you have it.
> The first ordained Bishop was
>Bishop Zeinoun I in Tyre. Till this day the Phonecian Zeinoun family lives
in
>Lebanon :)
it is possible :)
>
>The Phoneician Christians were amongst the first martyrs of the Church
amongst
>whom we have the famous St Tecla friend of the Apostle Paul,
WRONG .
According to a popular second century tale, Acts of Paul and Thecla, she was
a native of Iconomium (GREEK)
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saints/thecla.html
> St Tlalos of Mt
>Lebanon,
i FOUND NOTHING ABOUT ST.Tlalos.
is he a St.recognized by the church?
>St Aquilina of Byblos,
Correct.this is the first thing you said in this article is true.
> St Christina of Tyre,
WRONG.
she gained the martyrs crown at Tyro.Tyro is not the Phonecian Tyre.
Tyro is a a city which formally stood on an island in the lake of Balsena in
Italy, but was long since swallowed up by the waters.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saints/christina.html
> St Theodosio of Tyre,
> St Kyrilos of Baalbeck, St Dorthe Bishop and Martyr of Tyre etc
>
>By the 4rd centurd AD the Phonecians (Lebanese) of the Coastal cities and
the
>Bekaa Valley had chosen to convert to Christianity despite the despite the
>persecution by the Roman Authorities. Yet in the mountains of Lebanon the
old
>Phoneican religion held strong until the a holy Maronite Monk named St
Abraham
>set out to the Lebanese mountains to preach the gospel to Phoneicans of the
>mountain and subequently all of LEbanon had been evangelized.
>
>There is an excellent documentary called "THE ETERNAL CITY" made by a
renown
>BBC Britsh film maker and devout Christian named John Bird. It is a
documentary
nick
sorry Richardo
i sent this by mistake,my intention is not just correct your article.i was
planning to say something to you.
but i missed my chance.i will try some other time.
3ssfour