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Christians of the Middle East
العربية
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Lebanon

لبنان

The Maronite mountain and the monasteries of the Holy Valley

Lebanon is the Arab country with the largest Christian share of its population, divided among more than ten denominations. The Maronite Church is the largest; it arose near Antioch before its monks found refuge in Mount Lebanon.

Christian population

About a third of the population, roughly 1.5 million

Estimates; no official census has been held in Lebanon since 1932.

Languages of liturgy and life

Arabic and Syriac in the Maronite and Syriac liturgies, Greek among the Greek Orthodox, and Armenian among Armenians.

Churches and denominations

  • Maronite Church

    الكنيسة المارونية

    The largest denomination; its patriarchal see is at Bkerke, in full communion with Rome.

  • Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch

    الروم الأرثوذكس (أنطاكية)

    A long-standing presence in Beirut, the Koura and Tripoli.

  • Melkite Greek Catholic Church

    الروم الكاثوليك (الملكيون)

    Concentrated in Zahle, the Bekaa and Sidon.

  • Armenian Apostolic Church

    الكنيسة الأرمنية الأرثوذكسية

    Grew substantially after the 1915 massacres and the Armenian exodus to Beirut and Anjar.

  • Syriac Orthodox & Syriac Catholic

    السريان الأرثوذكس والسريان الكاثوليك

    Communities that arrived from Tur Abdin and the Jazira in the twentieth century.

  • Chaldean, Assyrian, Latin and Protestant

    الكلدان والآشوريون واللاتين والإنجيليون

    Smaller denominations, officially recognised within the Lebanese system.

Historical milestones

  1. 5th century

    Saint Maron the hermit (d. c. 410) and the monastic movement that formed around him in northern Syria.

  2. 7th–8th century

    The Maronites move into Mount Lebanon and settle its valleys.

  3. 1584

    The Maronite College is founded in Rome, sparking a revival in printing and Oriental languages.

  4. 1736

    The Council of Mount Lebanon reorganises the Maronite Church, its schools and its dioceses.

  5. 1861–1918

    The autonomous Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, established after the events of 1860.

  6. 1943

    The National Pact and the formula for power-sharing among denominations in the independent state.

  7. 1975–1990

    The Lebanese civil war and waves of emigration to the diaspora.

Places and heritage sites

The Qadisha Valley in northern Lebanon, its wooded slopes falling to the valley floor.
Image: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Qadisha Valley

وادي قاديشا (الوادي المقدس)

Northern Lebanon

Monasteries and hermitages carved into the rock; a UNESCO site together with the Cedars of God.

The Maronite patriarchal seat at Bkerke: a long pale stone building with a red tiled roof, blue shutters and arched windows, a domed bell tower at one end, and a broad paved forecourt in front.
Image: J.Hassoun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Bkerke

بكركي

Keserwan

The Maronite patriarchal see.

Deir Qannoubin

دير قنوبين

Qadisha Valley

Seat of the Maronite patriarchs for centuries, deep in the valley.

An aerial view directly above the shrine at Harissa: the fan-shaped ribbed roof of the modern basilica, plazas and car parks around it, and at the top of the frame the circular base of the statue of Our Lady of Lebanon, amid wooded slopes.
Image: MikhaelBitar · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Harissa

حريصا

Jounieh

The shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, among the most visited places in the country.

The monastery of Saint Maron at Annaya on a ridge: white buildings with red tiled roofs and a tall spired bell tower, terraced hillsides with dry-stone walls below, and the mountains of Lebanon behind.
Image: paul saad · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Annaya

عنّايا

Jbeil

The monastery of Saint Maron and the tomb of Saint Charbel Makhlouf.

On the map

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References

General further reading, not citations to specific pages.

Further reading

  • Kamal Salibi. A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered. I.B. Tauris, 1988
  • Matti Moosa. The Maronites in History. Syracuse University Press, 1986
  • Habib Badr, Suad Abou el-Rouss Slim, Joseph Abou Nohra (eds.). Christianity: A History in the Middle East. Middle East Council of Churches, 2005
  • Andrea Pacini (ed.). Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future. Clarendon Press, 1998
  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNESCO World Heritage List. whc.unesco.org
  • Pew Research Center. Religious composition reports for the Middle East and North Africa. www.pewresearch.org