Christianity in Lebanon

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Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history beginning with the visits of Jesus to the southern territories, where he is said to have performed many miraculous healings. Biblical Scriptures reveal that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Mount Lebanon was very slow where paganism persisted in mountaintop strongholds.


Distribution of Lebanon's religious groups according to 2009 municipal election data.
An estimate of the area distribution of Lebanon's main religious groups.

Before the Christian faith reached the territory of Lebanon, Jesus had traveled to its southern parts near Tyre where the scripture tells us that he cured a possessed Canaanite child. [nb 1][1][2] Christianity in Lebanon is almost as old as gentile Christian faith itself, early reports relate the possibility that Saint Peter himself was the one who evangelized the Phoenicians whom he affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch.[3] Paul also preached in Lebanon, he had lingered with the early Christians in Tyre and Sidon.[4] Even though Christianity was introduced to Lebanon after the first century AD, its spread was very slow, particularly in the mountainous areas where paganism was still unyielding.[5]

The earliest indisputable tradition of Christianity in Lebanon can be traced back to Saint Maron in the 4th century AD, being of Greek/Eastern/Antiochian orthodox origin & the founder of national and ecclesiastical Maronitism. Saint Maron adopted an ascetic recluse life on the banks of the Orontes river in the vicinity of HomsSyria and founded a community of monks which began to preach the gospel in the surrounding areas.[3] By Faith, liturgy, rite, religious books and heritage, the Maronites were of Orthodox origin.[5] The Saint Maron Monastery was too close to Antioch to enable the monks freedom and autonomy which prompted Saint John Maron, the first Maronite patriarch-elect to lead his monks into the Lebanese mountains to escape emperor Justinian II’s persecution; the Maronites monks finally settled in the Qadisha valley.[3] During the Arab conquest the Christians, particularly the Maronites were not persecuted; nevertheless the influence of the Maronite establishment spread throughout the Lebanese mountains and became a considerable feudal force. It wasn’t until the Crusades that the western world knew of the existence of the Maronites.[3] In the 16th century, the Maronite Church adopted the catechism of the Catholic Church and merged with it.[5] Moreover, Rome dispatched Franciscan, Dominican and later Jesuit missionaries to Lebanon to secure the conversion of the Maronites to Catholicism.[3]

Spurring from their turbulent history, the Maronites formed a secluded identity in the mountains and valleys of Lebanon,_led by the Maronite patriarch who voices his opinion in temporal issues_ identify themselves as a unique community which by religion and culture is distinct from the predominantly Muslim Arab world.[5] The Maronites played a major part in the definition of and the creation of the state of Lebanon. The modern state of Greater Lebanon was established by France in 1920 after the instigation of Maronite ambitious leaders headed by patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek who presided delegations to France following WWI and requested the re-establishment of the entity of the Principality of Lebanon (1515AD-1840AD). With the creation of the state of Lebanon, Arabism was overcome by Lebanism which emphasizes Lebanon’s Mediterranean and Phoenician heritage. In the National Pact, an unwritten gentleman’s agreement between the Maronite President Bshara el-Khoury and Sunni prime minister Riad as-Solh the seats of presidency were distributed between the main Lebanese religious denominations; according to the pact the President of the Lebanese republic shall always be a Maronite, furthermore, the pact also states that Lebanon is a state with an "Arab face" (not an Arab identity).[6]


The number of Christians in Lebanon has been disputed for many years. There has been no official census in Lebanon since 1932. But official records confirm that in 1926 when the state of Lebanon was officially announced and recognised by the allies the Christians formed 84% of the population of the Mount Lebanon district. Many argue over the percentage and population of Christians in Lebanon. One estimate of the Christian share of Lebanon's population as of 2014 is 41%.[7] Therefore, the country has the largest percentage of Christians of all the Middle Eastern nations.

Lebanese Christians[7][8][9][10]
Year Percent

The Maronite Church, a church in communion with the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest and politically most active and influential denomination of Lebanon's Christians. The Greek Orthodox Church forms the second largest proportion of Lebanese Christians. The Armenian Apostolic Church also forms a large portion of the Christian population in Lebanon. Other branches of Christianity, including the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church loyal to the Pope, are very common in Lebanon. The Latin Rite Roman Catholic Church, the Coptic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Syriac Orthodox are also important Christian churches within Lebanon. These branches of Christianity are very influential in daily business and in the economy of Lebanon. In the Lebanese Parliament, Christians hold 64 seats in tandem with 64 Muslim seats. The Maronite Catholics holds 34 seats, the Greek Orthodox 14, and the Armenian, Greek Catholic, and Protestant make up the remaining 22.

Churches and monasteries in Lebanon[edit]

Maronite Church of Saidet et Tallé in Deir el Qamar, Lebanon


The main Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, is St. George Orthodox Cathedral, which is situated in the middle of Centerville in downtown Lebanon. The Seat of the Maronite Catholic Church is in Bkerké. There are monasteries in Lebanon which run by both the Maronite and Orthodox Church. The Holy Monastery of Saint George in Deir El Harf, Saint John the Baptist Monastery in Douma, both date back to the 5th century. The Balamand Monastery in Tripoli is a very prominent Orthodox monastery that has a seminary and a University associated with its monastery.

Current political and religious issues[edit]


Syriac Christianity[edit]

Maronite Syriac Church of Antioch[edit]

The Maronites are the largest Eastern church in Lebanon and represent an indigenous church. They are also the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon, representing 22% of the Lebanese population.





Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch[edit]


Assyrian Church of the East[edit]

The Nestorians-Assyrians in Lebanon were refugees who had fled their native lands. Moreover, a number of Nestorians fled Iraq and Turkey during and after World War I due to the Assyrian Genocide. Even today refugees continue to flee from Iraq into Syria, Lebanon or Jordan due to continuous unrest in Iraq.


Other Christian denominations[edit]

Melkite Greek Catholic[edit]


Antiochian Greek Orthodox[edit]

Saint George Orthodox Cathedral in Downtown Beirut

The Greek Orthodox adhere to the Orthodox Eastern Church, which is actually a group of autocephalous churches using the Byzantine rite and 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). The final split took place in 1054. From that time, with the exception of a brief period of reunion in the fifteenth century, the Eastern Church has continued to reject the claim of the Roman patriarchate to universal supremacy and has 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. There are also divergences in ritual and discipline.

The Greek Orthodox include many free-holders, and the community is less dominated by large landowners than other Christian denominations. In present-day Lebanon, the Greek Orthodox 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 rite has become known in the past for its pan-Arab orientation, possibly because it exists in various parts of the Arab world. However, present and past circumstances have slightly shifted this outdated stereotype, from the 1958 Lebanon Crisis to the Lebanese civil war.

The church has often served as a bridge between Lebanese Christians and the Arab countries. Members of the rite constitute 8% of the population.[9][13]



Armenian Orthodox or Gregorian[edit]

The Gregorian Church was organized in the third century and became autocephalous as a national church in the fourth century. In the sixth century it modified the formulations of the Council of Chalcedon of 451 that confirmed the dual nature of Christ in one person. Instead the Gregorian Church adopted a form of Miaphysitism that believes in the united nature of divine and human in Christ, a belief which slightly differs from the belief of the Copts and the Syrian Orthodox Church. The Armenian Orthodox Church has two catholicos (Sis and Etschmiadzin) and two patriarchs (Constantinople and Jerusalem).


See also[edit]





1. Frank Chatah ( history of the maronite church )

  8. ^ Najem, T. (1998). "The collapse and reconstruction of Lebanon". University of Durham Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Retrieved 7 October 2014. 
  10. ^ "Contemporary Religious distribution of Lebanon's main religions". Retrieved 7 October 2014. 
  11. ^ Krayem, Hassan. "The Lebanese Civil War and the Taif Agreement". American University of Beirut. Retrieved 7 October 2014. 