NNA – Maronite Patriarch Bshara Butros al-Rahi visited, on Sunday, the Convent of “Our Lady of Qannoubine” in the Holy Valley, where he presided over Assumption Mass marking Saint Mary’s Day, and inaugurated the “Hall of the Patriarchs” who lived at the Convent between 1440 and 1845, before the Patriarchal Seat was established in Diman.
In a word of tribute to the souls of the late Patriarchs, al-Rahi praised their “struggle, strength and attachment to their land despite persecution, keeping their feet rooted in Lebanese soil while they cast their eyes to the sky.”
“It is our turn now to remain deeply-rooted in our teachings, our values and our history,” he added.
“The 25 Patriarchs who lived here were not hiding out of fear but rather to save the Church, thereby signaling the start of the real resistance within the Maronites, an unarmed resistance that relied on prayer, fasting and deprivation,” said al-Rahi.
“We must follow in their footsteps in order to preserve Lebanon, its culture and values,” he added, hailing all those who are opposing the attempt to distort the beauty of Lebanon.
Al-Rahi concluded by expressing his heartfelt wishes for a blessed Holiday, hoping that our Virgin Mary would preserve this country and its people.
Accompanying the Patriarch during his visit to the Convent where Culture Minister, Raymond Araiji, United States Ambassador to Lebanon, Elisabeth Richards, and Lebanese Ambassador to Argentina, Antonio Andari, among other prominent officials and religious clerics.
