Bkerke – The Patriarchal monastery of Our Lady of Bkerke

Maarab, Lebanon

Name in arabic:  كنيسة مار باسيليوس وغريغوريوس - معراب

Year built:  1305

City:  Maarab

District:  Keserwan

Governorate:  Mount Lebanon

History: 

بنى الموارنة كنيستهم الأولى في معراب على أنقاض هيكل رومانيّ وثنيّ. خُرّبت هذه الكنيسة الأولى مع حملة المماليك على كسروان سنة ١٣٠٥. أعاد أبناء البلدة بناء الكنيسة على إسم ما باسيليوس وغريغوريوس، وأخذت شكلها الحاليّ سنة ١٨٨٥. في هذه الكنيسة يرقد على رجاء القيامة المطران بولس فؤاد نعيم تابت (١٩٢٩-٢٠٠٩) وهو أوّل سفير بابويّ مارونيّ لبنانيّ.


The first church was built by the Maronites over a roman pagan temple. The church was destroyed during the Mamluk’s campaign on Keserwan in 1305. After their return, the villagers reconstructed the church and it was consecrated to Sts Basil and Gregory. It took its final shape in 1885. The church is the final resting place of Bishop Paul Fouad Naim Tabet (1929-2009), the first Lebanese Maronite Papal nuncio

House and the Church of St. God's grace (Neamtallah) Hardini Lebanese Maronite Order, Hardine, Lebanon

Name in arabic:  بيت وكنيسة القديس نعمة الله الحرديني

City:  Hardine

District:  Batroun

Governorate:  North

History: 

Hardine’s name is derived from the Syriac language meaning ‘pious’, Witness of justice, Ardent in faith and Square of religion.

It is located about 1100m. above sea level. A large area of very thick forests surrounds it and the following ruins of its inveterate past decorate its mountain terraces:

-The «rocky tile of Hardine» with its marine fossils and its unique length of 350 m along a slope to the west and its width of nearly l00m. Some one said, «The three most beautiful in Mount Lebanon are the valley of Kannoubine, The Palace of Beit Eddine and the tile of Hardine».

–The Temple of God Mercury With 30 majestic pillars built according to the rare ionic style. This temple known as «the roman Palace of Hardine». It’s a really fantastic one; it goes back to the time of Emperor Hadrian Augustus (117-137 A.D).

-“St Fawka’s” monastery (6th century)

-“Patriarchal monastery” since the Maronites came to Lebanon, known as “St. Sergios Alkarn”.

-“St John Alchakf” monastery, since the days of the Crusaders.

-“St Taqla” church in Beit Kassab square. It was the father of St Hardidni, who first started its renovation in the 19th Century.

-The church and hermitage of “St Stephan” in a hollow in a light rock over the Plain of Al Jawz River.

-The ruins of “St Richa’s” monastery, where the Syriac Diocese was moved between 1384 and 1598.

-The hermitages of “St Joseph”, “Ste Anne”, “St Ephram” the Syriac, “St Jacob Jesus’ brother” and “the pottery monastery” in the hollows of Kfarshira, and “the Lady of the Castle” in the hollow of the water spring.

-The Church of “St. Georges and Edna” which is distinguished Christian inscriptions (fish and cross).

-The churches of “St Elias”, “St Challita and Nohra” in the hollows engraved in the rocks, the old parish churches, like “St. Sergios and Bacchus” (rebui1t in 1932). “the Lady of deliverance” (rebuilt in 1948). The current one is St. Shayna” (1844), and finally the church of “St. Tadros” with its maronite alter, The two rebuilt churches of “St. Antonios of Padova” (1907), “St. Thomas” (1950) and the church of “Ste Theresa of the Baby Jesus” (1946).

-The monastery of St. Hardini» built with the donations of the people from Hardine in Lebanon and all over the world.

– Hardine is the hometown of one of Lebanon’s four saints, Saint Nimatullah Hardini (1808-58) who was canonised by Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II in 2004.

The village is naturally protected by the valleys and the rocky mountains around it making it an ideal place for the then new religion (Christianity) to flourish.

Legend has it that in 270AD, a Roman official imprisoned his daughter in Hardine for converting to Christianity. She converted many others in Hardine to the Christian faith.

كنيسة سيدة النجاة, Bikfaiya, Lebanon

Name in arabic:  كنيسة سيدة النجاة - بكفيا

Year built:  1833

City:  Bickfaya

District:  Metn

Governorate:  Mount Lebanon

History: 

سنة ١٨٣٣ بنى الرهبان اليسوعيّون الدير على انقاض محبسة للأنطونيّين، وجلبوا أيقونة سيدة النجاة بعد سنة وهي رسم ساسو فيراتو. في هذه الكنيسة بدأت الأخويات المريميّة الاحتفال بالشهر المريمي سنة ١٨٣٧. سنة ١٨٥٦ كان بناء الكنيسة الكبيرة، التي كان مقرّرًا أن تكون على اسم مار يوحنا فرنسيس رجيس، فما برح الشعب يرتل ترنيمةً مريميّة فجاءت هذه الحادثة كرسالة دفعت لتكريس الكنيسة على اسم السيدة. حمت السيدة اهالي بكفيا من مجازر سنة ١٨٦٠ وداء الهواء الأصفر سنة ١٨٦٧، واليها تنسب العديد من المعجزات. سنة ١٨٧٣ أُسّست فيها جمعية راهبات القلبين الأقدسين. كذلك بزغت فيها دعوة القديسة رفقا، بطرسية الريّس التي كانت ابنة الأب كليم الجميّل اليسوعيّ، وسمعت في هذه الكنيسة نداء "بتترهبي" الذي دفعها لدخول الحياة الرهبانية في ٩شباط ١٨٥٥ في هذا الدير.

The Jesuit order started the mission in Bikfaya in 1833 building the monastery over an old Antonine hermitage, and brought an icon of Our Lady painted by Sasso Ferrato the very next year. In this church the Marian confraternities began celebrating the month of Mary in 1838. The church was built in 1856, during the consecration the church was planned to be dedicated to St John Francis Regis, yet the people began singing a Marian hymn, the superiors read that as a sign and dedicated the church to Our Lady. The Miraculous Virgin protected the villagers from the massacres of 1860, and the cholera pandemic in 1867, and she is known for her miraculous interventions. The congregation of The Blessed Hearts was inaugurated In this church in 1873. And in it the young St Rafqa, Boutrsye el Rayes, who was the spiritual daughter of the jesuit Fr. Kalim el Gemayel, heard the calling of The Madona telling her “you will become a nun”, which lead her to enter the monastic life on the 9th of march 1855.