Balamand University - from Cistercian Monastery to Eastern Orthodox University

On Saturday 8 January, 2011, Dean Sabra's 'Contemporary Eastern Churches' class made our last field trip up the coast of Lebanon to Balamand University. It overlooks Tripoli. On this site the Cistercians founded a monastery during the Crusades in the 1100s A.D. It includes the only original Cistercian Church in the world, with the only Cistercian bell tower.


It was abandoned in 1250 when the Muslims recaptured the region, then renewed 300 years later as a Greek Orthodox monastery when the Ottomans gave it to the Orthodox to become the main church in this region. Monks came from Tripoli, Aleppo and Palestine to reestablish the monastery in the Orthodox tradition. It was abandoned again in the 1950s. In the late 20th century, the site had become a shelter for goats, but was extensively renovated. 


The monastery was a center of learning, translating Greek texts into Arabic, copying, editing, engaging in exegesis, and writing commentaries on the Patristics (early Christian writers). 1,200 manuscripts are in the archives of the monastery. It is also rich icons.


Our guide was Professor Nicolas Abu Mrad, a Professor of Old Testament in the theological faculty. We met with Dean (Auxilary Bishop) Ghattas Hazin of the theological faculty (nephew of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church in this region). After visiting the monastery, we traveled to the Convent of Our Lady of Kattoun to visit with Sister Lucy and see the renovation of beautiful ancient mosaics in the convent church. 


The weather was wet & chilly but the hospitality was generous. Dean Hazin reminded us that as Protestants, the Orthodox (like the Roman Catholics) don't fully recognize us as a Church (for we don't have the continuity of apostolic succession), but the Orthodox have ecumenical relations with the Protestants through the Middle East Council of Churches and friendships & scholarly organizations.


The renovated monastery was one of the most impressive Christian sites in our five field trips. Wet talked with Prof. Mrad about the iconography and the fact that much of Orthodox liturgy is based on the Old Testament, although the Orthodox usually read only from the New Testament in their services of the Lord's Day today.


At Our Lady of Kattoun Convent, we saw some very old and venerated icons that were stolen during the Lebanese civil war, and then returned to the Convent by the thieves. In the Orthodox tradition, convents and monasteries serve as centers of spiritual direction, for retreats, and pastoral care. Laity usually do not turn to their local priest for these functions, but go on retreats to the monasteries and convents for spiritual renewal. 


Some of our students were impressed with the simply faith of Sister Lucy who was a participant in the Orthodox Youth Movement of the mid-20th century that renewed the Orthodox tradition in the Middle East.