كنيسة سيّدة المعونات حارة المير - ذوق مكايل
سنة ١٨٥٠ إشترى الشيخ عبّاس الخازن حجارةً مقصوبةً لبناء حارته. خلال ثورة الفلاّحين صادر الثوّار الحجارة بأمر قائدهم الياس المنيّر وبنوا بها كنيسةً رعائيّةً حتّى لا تصير مُطالبة بالحجارة، فجاء البناء عقدًا سريريًّا. رُمّمت الكنيسة أواخر القرن العشرين وهي تحوي العديد من اللوحات المحليّة.
The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help - Haret el Mir, Zouk Mikael
It was built using building stones that were originally purchased by Sheikh Abbas el Khazen in 1850 for the construction of his mansion. However, during the peasant revolution of 1858, a group of revolutionaries led by Elias el Mnayyar confiscated the stones and used them to build a cross-vaulted church. As the stones were used to build a parochial church, no one could claim ownership over them. The church features many locally made paintings and was renovated at the end of the 20th century.
The convent’s ancient origin is attached to a legend. A rich man of the region committed adultery; filled with remorse, he attached a padlocked iron chain to his ankle and threw the key into the sea-shore and survived on the fish brought to him by local fishermen, who called him the guardian of the cavern. One day, a fisherman brought him a fish, in whose entrails the hermit found the key of the padlock. He knew then that God had delivered him from his suffering, and he built a convent above the cavern. He dedicated it to The Mother of God, but it also took the name of the Guardian.
The daily life of the convent is regulated by the flow of visitors who come to fulfill vows and make prayers. Sister Catherine al-Jamal is the principal resident of Dayr al-Natour, and she has done everything within her power to restore it.
According to the Crusader document, the Monastery of the Presentation of Our Lady Natour was built by Cistercians. Indeed, the Church interior resembles that of the Cistercian Church of Balamand, built in 1157. Otherwise, the history of Dayr al-Natour is hidden in obscurity, although it is said that the local Orthodox community took it over after the departure of the Crusaders. Its name is almost unmentioned by historical sources during the Mamluk and most of the Ottoman period, although it is reported that French corsairs attacked the Monastery at the beginning of the eighteenth century and killed a monk.
In 1838, the Ottoman authorities gave permission to the Monastery to be rebuilt. In the second half of the nineteenth century, it contained several monks and a superior, and it possessed fifteen dunums of land. During the First World War, it was bombarded by a Russian ship. A few years later, the Monastery lost its last Superior, Basilios Debs, who became Archbishop of Akkar. After his departure, monastic life ended at Dayr al-Natour.
During the twentieth century, the deserted monastery became a refuge for shepherds from the neighboring regions. In 1973, Sister Catherine al-Jamal moved to Dayr al-Natour and began to restore it from its ruin.
بنى البطريرك بولس مسعد الدّير في النصف الثاني من القرن التاسع عشر، وجعله مركزًا بطريركيًّا له إبّان حبريته. استقدم للكنيسة تمثالين رخاميّين والأواني من روما، مع مجموعة من اللوحات الصغيرة. أمّا اللوحة الكبيرة فوق المذبح وسط الكنيسة، فهي من عمل داود القرم. بعد وفاته، دُفن البطريرك في الكنيسة، وأوقف الدّير لعائلة مسعد. تحوّل في فترةٍ من الزمن إلى مدرسة، والآن يخوض عمليّة ترميم لإبراز قيمته التاريخيّة.
The monastery of Sts Peter and Paul - Ashkout
The monastery was built in the second part of the XIXth century by patriarch Boulos Massaad, and he resided in it during his pontificate. The patriarch acquired for the church two roman marble statues of Sts Peter and Paul, and many paintings. The great painting over the high altar is by Dawoud El Qorm. After the death of the patriarch the monastery became in the possession of the Masaad family, it was converted into a school for a while and now it is undergoing a restoration plan to bring out the historical value of the place.
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