ST Maron celebration
Posted on 02/12/2011 5:21:50 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Celebrations of the feast of St. Maroun extended from Downtown Beirut to northern Syria Wednesday, on the 16th centennial since the death of the founder of the Maronite church.
In Beirut, the central celebration took place at St. Maroun Church in Gemmayzeh, where President Michel Sleiman and First Lady Wafaa were joined by caretaker prime minister Saad Hariri for a Mass celebrated by Beirut's Maronite Archbishop, Boulos Matar.
Leading state officials, politicians and foreign diplomats, along with more than 20 MPs, attended the occasion, which saw Matar urge the Lebanese to preserve national unity...
Matar said that no Lebanese side should rely on external support against the other...
In Zahle, the town's Maronite Bishop, Mansour Hobeika, led prayers at St. Maroun Church and urged Lebanese not to sell land to non-Lebanese.
In Syria, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun was greeted by some 10,000 people in the northern Syrian village of Brad, where a Mass was held at the grave of St. Maroun, celebrated by the Maronite Bishop of Aleppo, Youssef Anis Abi Aad.
Aoun unveiled a plaque noting the Syrian government's donation of 25,000 square meters of land to the Maronite sect, during a ceremony that was also attended by the governor of Aleppo, Ahmad Ali Mansour. The cornerstone of the Saint Maroun Church is scheduled to be laid on March 13...
Aoun described his visit as an attempt to pull the Maronites out of isolation and take them back to their historical roots. "No one will be able to alienate us from our heritage, culture and identity in this East," said Aoun, who also stressed the importance of refuting "Islamophobia" in the West by countering the notion of perpetual religious conflict in the Middle East.
(Excerpt) Read more at dp-news.com ...
ST Maron celebration
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Good post SC. This is a Christian group that most American are unaware of.
Catholic ping!
My pleasure.
NYer is a member of the Maronite Catholic Church here in theUS
Thanks!
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