Places and Persons
Morkarzel, Salloum A.
Places and Persons WITH BENEFIT OF CLERGY By SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL A SMALL valiant nation that has successfully defended its faith and its liberty against the heaviest odds over an uninterrupted...
...This is used only on the most formal occasions...
...It is the highest point of habitation on the road to the cedars of Lebanon, nestling snugly on a ledge of the mountain at an altitude of 1,230 meters...
...They maintain a college in Rome and have been accorded many privileges by the Holy See in consideration of their unshaken loyalty to the Faith...
...Father Jahjah secured the hydroelectric concession and formed a wholly native company to exploit it in spite of the harassing impediments of foreign interest...
...He was most solicitous for the well-being of the Maronites of America of whom there are about 125,000...
...The walls were also bare except for a few sacred pictures...
...Admirals of French fleets visiting Syrian waters are lacking in tact if they do not visit Bekerkey, and when the Patriarch elects to return the call he is given a salute of twenty-one guns, like the head of a state...
...The success of these undertakings is due to the implicit confidence the people have in the disinterested leadership of their priests...
...It was in strict keeping with the traditions of extreme austerity characteristic of the Maronite clergy from time immemorial...
...Then the mystery was cleared...
...From the viewpoint of tradition and historical associations, this summer seat is representative of Maronite prestige and ruggedness of character...
...AH the personal luxury that the powerful Patriarch of the Maronites enjoys is a plain iron bed, two chairs and an apology of a wardrobe...
...The Patriarch, a vigorous man of eighty-six and of truly patriarchal appearance, entered alone, and proceeding to the corner of the room where a large cushion was spread on the floor he squatted on it in oriental fashion, the rising sides of the divan serving as his back-rest...
...The tappings were the equivalent of the dinner bell, and at their sound doors opened on various corridors and numerous bishops, priests and secretaries joined the imposing procession...
...I was surprised that those nearer him made no effort to assist him...
...He did so slowly and with apparently painful effort, supporting himself with both hands on the edge of the divan...
...Throughout the almost continuous internecine feuds and wars with native and foreign enemies, and the trying times following the crusades, the Patriarch, as the ranking prelate in the Maronite hierarchy, was the accredited representative of his nation in both political and religious matters...
...The Maronite country abounds with elements of the strangest romance...
...Will it succeed in maintaining its traditions under changing circumstances which call for the same strength of character, but different tactics...
...The furnishings were of the simplest: windows with wooden shutters but no curtains, an unpretentious divan with stationary masnads, or back-rests, running along the four walls, and a solitary table in the centre on which were a few books...
...We read that the president of the republic, on the occasion of his reelection, inaugurated his new term of office by paying a visit of courtesy to the seat of Maronite ecclesiastical authority...
...For fifteen centuries the Maronite clergy had guided the destinies of their people in religious, social and political matters...
...They stood in their places motionless and silent...
...It is the country of the biblical cedars of Lebanon and was traversed by almost all the great world conquerors of ancient times...
...Their clergy has the right of choice between marriage and celibacy...
...Then Bishop Akel took us for a tour of inspection through the building...
...Two potent factors have helped the Maronites maintain their independence and homogeneity during the long succession of centuries—the ruggedness of their mountains and the guiding influence of their clergy...
...How the Maronite clergy of Lebanon are watching over the destinies of their people, in the manner traditional in that biblical land for fifteen centuries, was graphically illustrated to me that same afternoon when I visited Bcharri...
...We stood for the Patriarch to pass...
...Even the chaotic conditions resulting from the world war could not alter it...
...Twice while I was in the Patriarch's room official papers were brought to him to sign, and on both occasions I observed the same surprising characteristic...
...Bekerkey, the official seat of the Maronite Patriarch, near Beirut, is still a name to conjure with in matters affecting the political destinies of the country...
...It would be a most grievous calamity if the precious legacy which has come down to us through fifteen centuries should be lost in a generation...
...Can the action of the aged Patriarch be interpreted as a good augury...
...Close by this city still flows the river Adonis, associated in Greek mythology with the death of the god of that name...
...It overlooks Wadi Kadisha, or the Sacred Valley, so called because of its many monasteries and hermitages where the disciples of Saint Maron first took up their abode...
...Will his nation act likewise...
...This tradition has come down unbroken...
...They belong to the Roman Catholic faith and comprise one of the Eastern Uniate churches...
...There is, however, another reception hall on the upper floor of Ad-Deeman, furnished in a style befitting the dignity and prestige of the nation which the Patriarch represents...
...After lunch I asked for an autographed photograph of His Beatitude and he conducted me to his private room...
...Then the situation became clear to me, and as I watched the laborious efforts of the aged Patriarch struggling under the weight of his years, summoning the strength of the spirit to overcome the weakness of the body, the whole history of the valiant Maronite people, struggling for centuries against the heaviest handicaps, flashed through my mind...
...Bishop Arida consented to act as president of the company on the representation that he was accelerating the economic rehabilitation of his people...
...It is part of old Phoenicia and claims the authentic site of the city of Byblos where the cult of Astarte once saw the heyday of its vogue and splendor...
...A corridor led to the roof of an extension building from which we could admire the elaborate new chapel under construction...
...My visit coincided with the inauguration of the service from the hydroelectric project of Nahr Kadisha, or the Sacred River, an undertaking 100 percent native in construction, operation and control...
...At a certain point at the intersection of the corridors he halted, raised his cane and tapped three times on a block in the marble pavement...
...He chooses to assume this position for reasons of both comfort and humility...
...Politics and economics were discussed until noon, when the Patriarch made an effort to rise...
...The lowly cushion was the Maronite Patriarch's exalted throne 1 I was told that he receives princes in this informal fashion...
...Through fifteen centuries this nation has fought enemies both of elements and of men...
...The French High Commissioner of Syria must be persona grata with Bekerkey, and is bound by tradition to call on the Patriarch to exchange expressions of good-will between France and the Maronites...
...The Patriarch repeated the operation again and again and before the echoes of his tapping had stopped reverberating through the vaulted corridors he proceeded in the direction of the dining-room...
...I was fortunate in having the opportunity to interview the Patriarch in these surroundings while on my visit to Lebanon in the summer of 1929...
...The whole atmosphere of the place was of such simplicity as to be severe in its quiet dignity...
...Is it not strange," he remarked that fully 50 percent of our people have now migrated to lands across the seas I We ask the Almighty to grant them the grace of persevering in the faith of their forefathers...
...It was brought about by the indomitable initiative and perseverance of a Maronite priest, Father Tanius Jahjah, with the wholehearted encouragement and support of his bishop, the Right Reverend Antoun Arida...
...Rather, the momentum which it had gathered during 1,500 years seems to have carried it beyond its natural bounds, so that the Maronite Patriarch was conceded the highly complimentary distinction of representing all the religious groups of Lebanon—Christians and non-Christians—at the Versailles peace conference...
...These people are the Maronites, named after their patron saint, Maron, who lived in the fifth century...
...Places and Persons WITH BENEFIT OF CLERGY By SALLOUM A. MOKARZEL A SMALL valiant nation that has successfully defended its faith and its liberty against the heaviest odds over an uninterrupted period of fifteen centuries, still maintains itself in its old traditions in the mountain fastness of Lebanon...
...Bishop Paul Akel, secretary to the Patriarch, conducted us by the main entrance and through a labyrinth of vaulted corridors to a large reception hall whose windows on the one side opened in the direction of the cedars, and on the other on Wadi Kadisha...
...But from this vantage point a view could be had of something greater than man could ever build—the Sacred Valley, with its many natural temples, winding its way in a majestic sweep to the hill on which nestles the grove of the cedars of Lebanon, called the Holy Cedars of the Lord...
...Their liturgy is maintained in the old Syriac, which was the spoken language of the country in the days of Christ...
...No matter how long the document, he never affixed his signature to it until he had read it through...
...Could it be that the code of manners here was so diametrically opposite to that obtaining in civilized countries where the weak and the aged are concerned...
...The success already evident denotes both the fine quality of the leadership and the benefit of the people's implicit confidence...
...The chief, through sheer will power and strength of character, refuses to admit weakness and to accept aid...
...But during the three months of summer the Patriarch takes up his residence at Ad-Deeman, situated in north Lebanon at a short distance from the famous cedars...
...His gait was slow and measured and the company that followed seemed a part of a ceremonious religious procession...
...Nor have the frequent readjustments in political alignment and the administrative changes in Lebanon during the post-war period apparently affected the prestige of the Maronite Patriarch...
...Now they are leading them into the fields of economic enterprise on the modern principle of collective effort...
...How symbolic was the incident 1 Here was the head of a nation who may be deemed old by standards of age among individuals, and here was his nation that may be deemed equally old by standards of life among nations...
...The nearest thing to luxury in the furnishing of his room was a prie-dieu...
...Up the grand staircase we went to the main reception hall which, though not yet completed, gave indications of great sumptuousness...
...Later, in spite of continued foreign opposition, he inaugurated a cement-manufacturing industry...
...Its austere simplicity surprised me...
...To us who were strangers to the routine of this religious establishment every movement was charged with an element of mystery...
...The situation getting beyond my endurance I took a step forward in the direction of the old prelate intending to proffer assistance, but a bishop intercepted, and in a quiet tone laden with despair confided to me: "His Beatitude never countenances assistance from anyone and insists on rising unaided...
...It is an example of an ancient practice working successfully today...
...It has wrought the miracle of transforming a barren mountain into a smiling garden...
...The impregnable nature of their mountain strongholds enabled them successfully to repel Moslem attacks for centuries, and later to offer succor and refuge to the hosts of Christian Europe during the crusades...
Vol. 12 • September 1930 • No. 20
