Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians

Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians (Arabic: المسيحية الأرثوذكسية الرومية في لبنان) refers to Lebanese people who are adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in Lebanon, which is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and is the second-largest Christian denomination in Lebanon after the Maronite Christians.

Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians
المسيحية الأرثوذكسية الشرقية في لبنان

Distribution of Greek Orthodox Christians in Lebanon
Languages
Vernacular: Lebanese Arabic Liturgical: Koine Greek and Arabic
Religion
Christianity (Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch)

Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians are believed to constitute about 8% of the total population of Lebanon.^[1][2][3] Most of the Greek Orthodox Christians live either in the capital city of Beirut, the Metn hinterland, the Hasbayya and Rashayya districts in the southeast, and the North Governorate, in the Koura region (south of Tripoli) and Akkar.

Under the consensus of the unwritten agreement known as the National Pact among the different political leaders of Lebanon, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon and the Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon are assumed to be Greek Orthodox Christians.^[4]

History

 

Lebanon religious groups distribution: areas with a Greek Orthodox plurality are shown in bright yellow

The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch adheres to the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is composed of several autocephalous jurisdictions united by common doctrine and by their use of the Byzantine rite. They are the second largest Christian denomination within Christianity in Lebanon. Historically, these churches grew out of the four Eastern Patriarchates (Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople) of the original five major episcopal sees (the Pentarchy) of the Roman Empire, which included Rome. The final split between Rome and the Eastern Churches, who came to oppose the views and claims of the Popes of Rome, took place in 1054. From that time, with the exception of a brief period of reunion in the fifteenth century, the Eastern Churches have continued to reject the claims of the Patriarchate of Rome (the Catholic Church) to universal supremacy and have rejected the concept of papal infallibility. Doctrinally, the main point at issue between the Eastern and Western Churches is that of the procession of the Holy Spirit, and there are also divergences in ritual and discipline.

 

An estimate of the area distribution of Lebanon's main religious groups

The Greek Orthodox include many free-holders, and the community is less dominated by large landowners than other Christian denominations. In present-day Lebanon, Eastern Orthodox Christians have become increasingly urbanized, and form a major part of the commercial and professional class of Beirut and other cities. Many are found in the Southeast (Nabatieh/Beqaa) and North, near Tripoli. They are highly educated and well-versed in finance. The Greek Orthodox church has become known in the Arab world, possibly because it exists in various parts of the region. The Greek Orthodox church has often served as a bridge between Lebanese Christians and the Arab countries.

Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians have a long and continuous association with Eastern Orthodox Churches in European countries like Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania. The church exists in many parts of the Arab world and Greek Orthodox Christians have often been noted; historically, it has had fewer dealings with Western countries than the Maronite Church, but it does have strong connections to Russia and Greece. The Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christians are believed to constitute about 8% of the total population of Lebanon,^[2][3] including the Palestinian Greek Orthodox community, many of whom have been given Lebanese citizenship.

Greek Orthodox Christians support a variety of political parties and factions, including non-sectarian parties such as the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, the Lebanese Communist Party, and the Democratic Left Movement; and mostly Christian parties such as the Free Patriotic Movement, the Marada Movement, the Lebanese Forces, and the Kataeb.

Greek Orthodox Christian settlements

In Lebanon, the Greek Orthodox Christians are found in Beirut, the Southeast (Nabatieh/Beqaa) and North, near Tripoli, Koura, and also in Akkar, Batroun, Matn, Aley, Zahlé, Miniyeh-Danniyeh, Hasbaya, Baabda, Marjeyoun, Tripoli, Rashaya, Byblos, and Zgharta.

 

A map of the distribution of Greek Orthodox Christians by district in Lebanon

Cities and towns with a majority Greek Orthodox population in Lebanon

Abou Mizan, Chrine, Achrafieh, Amioun, Rahbeh, Kousba, Anfeh, Deddeh, Kfaraakka, Aaba, Afsdik, Bdebba, Batroumine, Bishmizzine, Btourram, Bkeftine, Bsarma, Btaaboura, Charbila, Darchmezzine, Fih, Kaftoun, Kelhat, Kfarhata, Kfarhazir, Kfarsaroun, Ras Maska, Miniara, Cheikh Mohammad, Zawarib, Hamat, Douma, Dhour El Choueir, Bteghrine, Mansourieh, Broummana, Kafarakab, Bhamdoun, Souk El Gharb, Marjayoun, Deir Mimas, Deir Dalloum, Hmairah, Tal Abbas, Cheikh Taba, Rachaya Al Foukhar, Aita al-Foukhar, Jeddayel, Gebrayel, Mhaidthe (Bikfaya) and others.

Cities and towns with an important Greek Orthodox minority

Ras Beirut, Tripoli, El Mina, Chekka, Bourj Hammoud, Zahleh, Halba, Batroun, Bikfaya, Baskinta, Antelias, Ras el Matn, Aley, Bechamoun, Machgara, Hasbaya, Kfeir, Niha Bekaa, Riit, and others.

Beirut was once ruled by seven prominent Greek Orthodox Christian families that formed Beirut's High Society for centuries: Trad, Geday, Fernaine, Araman, Bustros, Sursock, Fayyad, and Tueini.

Lebanese Greek Orthodox–born notables

Mounir Abou Fadel	Nassim Nicholas Taleb	Jurji Zaydan	Charles Debbas	Antun Saadeh	Assaad Hardan
Elias Murr	Michel Georges Sassine	Nancy Ajram	Julia Boutros	Nicolas Sursock	Charles Malik
Paul Anka	Nicolas Hayek	George Antonius	Lydia Canaan	Raphael of Brooklyn	Gebran Tueni
Mikhail Mishaqa	Zeina Mina

• Paul Anka – singer, songwriter and actor
• Lydia Canaan – singer-songwriter poet, humanitarian, activist, and pioneering first rock star of the Middle East
• Farid Makari – politician, former Lebanese Minister, Member of Parliament, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament
• Charles Debbas – former president (1926–1934)
• Mounir Abou Fadel – former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Member of the Parliament
• Marcos Baghdatis – tennis player
• Charles Malik – former president of the United Nations General Assembly and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Antoun Saadeh – philosopher and founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party
• Antoine Andraos – politician and a vice-president of the Movement of the Future
• Elias Murr – former Deputy Prime Minister
• Michel Murr – former Deputy Prime Minister
• Michel Sassine – former Lebanese Minister, Member of the Parliament, Deputy Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, and Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon
• Mikhail Naimy – poet, novelist, and philosopher, famous for his spiritual writings, notably The Book of Mirdad^[5]
• Elia Abu Madi – poet^[6]
• George Antonius – author and diplomat, pioneering historian of Arab nationalism
• George N. Atiyeh – librarian and scholar
• Souha Bechara – resistance fighter and member of the Lebanese Communist Party
• Yousef Beidas – banker
• Marwan Abou Fadel – former MP of Mount Lebanon, co-founder of the Lebanese Democratic Party
• Gabrielle Bou Rached – model and actress
• Jurji Zaydan – novelist, journalist, editor and teacher, most noted for his creation of the magazine Al-Hilal, which he used to serialize his 23 historical novels. Also reputed to be the first Arab nationalist.
• Elie Ferzli – politician
• Fawaz Gerges – professor and author
• Farid Habib – member of the Lebanese Forces party
• Maya Diab - singer, actress and fashion icon
• Nicolas Hayek – entrepreneur, co-founder, CEO and chairman of the board of the Swatch Group
• Saint Joseph of Damascus – priest and educator who was canonized as a saint in 1993
• Samir Kassir – professor of history at Saint-Joseph University, journalist and a prominent leftist political activist
• Wehbe Katicha – politician and former general in the Lebanese Army
• Elias Khoury – novelist, playwright, critic, and a prominent public intellectual
• Giselle Khoury – talk show host on the Al Arabiya news channel
• Jacobo Majluta Azar – former president of the Dominican Republic
• Mikhail Mishaqa – first historian of modern Ottoman Syria
• Tarek Mitri – scholar and independent politician
• Samir Mouqbel – Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon
• Ibrahim Najjar – lawyer and politician
• Octavia Nasr – journalist who covers Middle-Eastern affairs
• Mona Ofeich – politician
• Assi Rahbani – composer, musician, and producer
• Ziad Rahbani – producer, lyricist, composer, arranger, orchestra conductor, pianist, and singer
• Mansour Rahbani – composer, musician, poet, and producer
• Raphael of Brooklyn – first Orthodox bishop to be consecrated in North America
• Salim Saade – politician and member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party
• Christina Sawaya – beauty queen
• Cochrane Sursock – philanthropist, a prominent public figure, and an advocate of the arts in Lebanon
• Nassim Nicholas Taleb – essayist and scholar whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty
• Petro Trad – lawyer, politician, and former president of the French Mandate of Lebanon for a brief period (22 July 1943 – 21 September 1943)
• Gebran Tueni – journalist and a figure of the Arab Renaissance
• Ghassan Tueni – veteran journalist, politician, and diplomat who headed An Nahar, one of the Arab World's leading newspapers
• Nayla Tueni – journalist and politician
• Karim Azkoul – diplomat and philosopher
• Jad Azkoul – musician
• Zeina Mina – olympic athlete director of the games of the Francophonie. She holds a doctorate in Sciences and Techniques of Physical and Sports Activities.

Gallery

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  Saint George Orthodox Cathedral in Downtown Beirut

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  The St. Georges Greek-Orthodox Cathedral on Nejme Square

See also

• Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut
• Arab Orthodox
• Antiochian Greek Christians
• Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch
• Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Beirut
• Christianity in Lebanon
• University of Balamand

References

1. "Minority Rights Group International – working to secure the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples".
2. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 14 February 2010.
3. Lebanon – July–December, 2010 International Religious Freedom Report U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 1 June 2012.
4. Harb, Imad (March 2006). . USIPeace Briefing. United States Institute of Peace. Archived from the original on 9 July 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2009.
5. Raheb, Mitri; Lamport, Mark A. (15 December 2020). The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Christianity in the Middle East. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-2418-5.
6. Moreh, Shmuel (1 January 1976). Modern Arabic Poetry: 1800–1970 ; the Development of Its Forms and Themes Under the Influence of Western Literature. Brill Archive. ISBN 978-90-04-04795-2.

Sources

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• Dick, Iganatios (2004). Melkites: Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics of the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. Roslindale, MA: Sophia Press.
• Grillmeier, Aloys; Hainthaler, Theresia (2013). Christ in Christian Tradition: The Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch from 451 to 600. Vol. 2/3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-921288-0.
• Hohmann, Gregory (2000). "Loyalty to the Emperor and Change of Rite: What Induced the Melkite Church to Exchange the Syrian for the Byzantine Tradition". The Harp. 13: 49–56. doi:10.31826/9781463233013-008. ISBN 9781463233013.
• Labaki, Boutros (1998). "The Christian Communities and the Economic and Social Situation in Lebanon". Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: The Challenge of the Future. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 222–258. ISBN 978-0-19-829388-0.
• Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 9780881410563.
• Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Panchenko, Constantin A. (2021). Orthodoxy and Islam in the Middle East: The Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries. Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Publications. ISBN 9781942699330.
• Roussos, Sotiris (1998). "Diplomacy and Communal Identity: Greece and the Greek Orthodox in Syria and Lebanon, 1919-1940". Chronos: Revue d'Histoire de l'Université de Balamand. 1: 33–65.
• Roussos, Sotiris (2009). "Diaspora Politics, Ethnicity and the Orthodox Church in the Near East". Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. 61 (1–2): 137–148. doi:10.2143/JECS.61.1.2045833.
• Roussos, Sotiris (2010). "Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the Middle East". Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. London-New York: Routledge. pp. 107–119. ISBN 9781135193713.
• Salibi, Kamal S. (1988). A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520071964.