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This article sheds new light on the Aramean movement in northern Israel, drawing from studies on nationalism, racialisation, ethnic conflict and minority mobilisation. In 2014, Israel allowed members of several churches to identify as Aramean. The pivotal role in the Aramean minority's distancing of itself from the Arab identity was played by the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association (ICAA). Specifying and partially adapting Yusri Hazran's concept of ‘Druzification’, meaning the Israelis' conscious policy of minoritising indigenous populations and encouraging their conscription to the army, the term ‘Druzification from below’ is proposed to stress the bottom‐up character of the Aramean movement in the north of the country as well as the agency of Middle Eastern Christians. My general standpoint is that ‘Druzification from below’ can be perceived as an adaptive strategy—a survival response to structural political conditions and urbicidal practices of the ethnocratic state and adaptation to external threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to a review of the life and literary heritage of Ğirmānūs Farḥāt (1670–1732), the Maronite archbishop of Aleppo, a significant figure in the history of Arabic literature. Living a century before the beginning of the Arab literary revival (the so-called Nahḍa), this scholar, writer and poet made a lot of efforts to make this revival possible. A large number of works on syntax, lexicology, morphology, stylistics, and rhetoric belong to the archbishop. Through his works, he sought to raise the educational background of the Christian population of the Middle East and destroy the idea that a Christian could not be fluent in the sacred language of the Koran. Ğirmānūs Farḥāt became famous for his zealous church service: he was the ideological encourager of the Lebanese monastic order and the archbishop of the one of the most important cities in Ottoman Syria. His dynamic educational and scientific activity resonated with many scientists and writers of that time. The interest in the figure of the archbishop appeared at the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century, and S. al-Šartūnī, J. Manash and I. Yu. Krachkovsky played an integral role in this process. In this paper, an attempt is made to give a comprehensive view of the figure of Ğirmānūs Farḥāt and to determine what caused the interest of scientists in his heritage.

This paper deals with the question of the perception of language in the twentyfirst century by secular representatives of the Maronite community. It is divided into two parts: first, the main aspects of the language role in identity construction (elaborated mainly by Benedict Anderson and Rogers Brubaker), are provided; second, the analysis of the perception of language by the political and cultural representatives of the Maronite community, which was conducted by gathering empirical data, on the fieldwork trip to Lebanon in December 2022, where several semi-structural interviews were carried out. The research suggests that the Maronite community is famous for its multilingualism, in which Syriac, Lebanese Arabic and French languages have contributed substantially to the historical development of the Maronite community and the construction of its modern collective identity. Throughout this process, each language played an important role in forming and explaining various aspects of modern Maronite identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the question of the collective memory of the Maronite community in the 21st century as reflected by the secular representatives of the community, based on a fieldwork trip to Lebanon in December 2022. The article is divided into two parts: firstly, the main aspects of the collective memory in the field of identity studies are assessed; secondly, the modern Maronite collective memory represented by the political and cultural representatives of the Maronite community is analysed. The paper provides conclusions about the golden age of Lebanon, the perception of the Phoenician legacy and the connections between Lebanon and the Maronites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tiempos Modernos is the property of Tiempos Modernos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on empirical research, this article explores how Maronite young people participate in their church liturgy in Lebanon. It uses theories about religious identity development of emerging adults in general and Maronite identity in particular to analyse the data. It establishes that in a rapidly changing context, Maronite emerging adults interact with their church liturgy through a dynamic junction of commitment and exploration processes. The liturgical participation offers a space for engaging with the political, cultural and economic layers of what is called 'maronitism'. The data harvested indicates that this liturgical participation is fraught with ambiguity and places the emerging adults' social-spiritual identity in tension with the dominant discourses of their community maintained so far by both the religious and political elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional foraging of wild vegetables (WVs) has played an important role in the post-Neolithic development of rural local food systems of the Near East and the Mediterranean. This study assessed the WVs gathered by the ancient Maronite Arabic diaspora of Kurmajit/Kormakitis village in Northern Cyprus and compared them with those gathered by their Cypriot and Arab Levantine neighbors. An ethnobotanical field survey focusing on WVs was conducted via twenty-two semi-structured interviews among the few remaining Maronite elderly inhabitants (approximately 200); and the resulting data were compared with those described in a few field studies previously conducted in Cyprus, Lebanon, and coastal Syria. Wild vegetables in Kormakitis are grouped into a folk category expressed by the emic lexeme Şxex, which roughly corresponds to the Greek concept of Chorta (wild greens). The large majority of Şxex have Greek folk phytonyms and they overlap for the most part with the WVs previously reported to be gathered by Greek Cypriots, although a remarkable number of WVs are also shared with that of the other groups. The findings address a possible adaptation of Maronite WV foraging to the Greek one, which may be explained by the fact that the Maronite minority and the majority Greek communities lived side by side for many centuries. Additionally, after Turkish occupation in 1974, a remarkable migration/urbanization of Maronites to the main Greek centers on the southern side of the isle took place, and Kurmajit became part of Cypriot trans-border family networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional foraging of wild vegetables (WVs) has played an important role in the post-Neolithic development of rural local food systems of the Near East and the Mediterranean. This study assessed the WVs gathered by the ancient Maronite Arabic diaspora of Kurmajit/Kormakitis village in Northern Cyprus and compared them with those gathered by their Cypriot and Arab Levantine neighbors. An ethnobotanical field survey focusing on WVs was conducted via twenty-two semi-structured interviews among the few remaining Maronite elderly inhabitants (approximately 200); and the resulting data were compared with those described in a few field studies previously conducted in Cyprus, Lebanon, and coastal Syria. Wild vegetables in Kormakitis are grouped into a folk category expressed by the emic lexeme Şxex, which roughly corresponds to the Greek concept of Chorta (wild greens). The large majority of Şxex have Greek folk phytonyms and they overlap for the most part with the WVs previously reported to be gathered by Greek Cypriots, although a remarkable number of WVs are also shared with that of the other groups. The findings address a possible adaptation of Maronite WV foraging to the Greek one, which may be explained by the fact that the Maronite minority and the majority Greek communities lived side by side for many centuries. Additionally, after Turkish occupation in 1974, a remarkable migration/urbanization of Maronites to the main Greek centers on the southern side of the isle took place, and Kurmajit became part of Cypriot trans-border family networks.

Historians of migration have extensively studied the economic, social, and political impact of migration and the secular changes amongst diasporic communities, but changes in religious faith, practice and institutions remain opaque. Yet, they form part of the most intimate aspect of the lives transformed in movement and were, in fact, the most active fault line in diasporic communities and at home. However, in relation to religion in the Middle East, historians have hardly paid any attention to movement of people and ideas across and beyond the geographical boundaries of the region. This makes our understanding at best incomplete and, in some instances, incorrect in identifying the sources, dynamics and reasons for change in religious institutions and faith. This article attempts to fill these lacunae by looking at an example of how migration inflected religious institutions and how faith and religion shaped the migratory experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While assuming, as a starting point, that communities in Lebanon are 'spaces' where various techniques of domination and control are reproduced to prevent their members from questioning the religious, identitarian or political hegemony, in this paper we argue that the Maronite community's resizing process has created in-between border spaces within this community, where new discourses aimed at questioning this system of control arise. To justify this in-between border spaces' relevance to understanding discourses of dissent, the analytical category of liminality will be explored. This will help answer the questions of why counter-hegemonic discourses arise in marginal spaces and how these spaces become liminal. We contend that the manifest incapacity of the Maronite elites with regard to bordering and ordering the 'margins' of their own community is weakening the elites' (political and religious) control over these new spaces: they became 'arenas' where dissent potentially coagulates and new social realities free from the community control system can emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1989 SOLIDE, a grass root movement from within the right wing Christian opposition to the Syrian military security emerged in order to campaign for the recovery of the disappeared. Drawing on oral history, interviews, fieldwork at SOLIDE's protest tent in downtown Beirut, and documentary analysis, I trace the genealogy and politics of SOLIDE's activism from the late 1980s to the present, showing that SOLIDE's activism underwent profound changes in response to Lebanese political developments. Beginning as an avowedly political campaign, in the aftermath of the war it turned into a human rights-focused NGO, a shift that was only possible because of an alliance with a group of the mothers of the disappeared; gender stereotyping enabled SOLIDE to present itself as fundamentally apolitical. With the establishment of a protest tent in downtown Beirut in 2005, in the period after the Syrian withdrawal until the end of its sit-in in 2015, SOLIDE took on the characteristics of a social movement. Analysis of the various phases of activism demonstrates that in Lebanon the boundaries between humanitarianism, often of religious inspiration, and human rights activism, supposedly secular, are porous, as too the boundary between party-political activism and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of Israel, and the Zionist movement before it, has always considered itself to be facing an existential threat from hostile surroundings. Hence, seeking alliance with non-Arab nations and ethnic minority groups in the area was seen as a means of confronting this challenge. During the early decades of its existence, the Israeli establishment adopted the concept of the alliance of the periphery and the alliance of minorities developed by Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion and his protégée, Reuven Shiloah, the founder of the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad. This research project will demonstrate that, in opposition to apologetic and ideologically-motivated arguments that deny that alliance with minority communities has been a systematic policy, the minorities' alliance has for decades been an important foundation of Israeli strategy vis-à-vis the Arab world. Furthermore, the article will argue and demonstrate that the 'Minorities Alliance' is derived from ideological, historical, and strategic considerations anchored in the very existence of Zionism and Israel. Furthermore, and on the same note, this conception and strategy cannot be disconnected from the self-perception of Zionism, its self-directed reading of Jewish history, and the Zionisation of the milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé: Cet article propose l'édition-traduction de cinq actes de vente notariés inédits, qui décrivent l'achat de terres au profit du Patriarcat maronite de Qannūbīn au IXe/XVe siècle. Ils attestent la reconnaissance de cette institution ecclésiastique par les autorités mameloukes, si bien que ses représentants pouvaient conclure des transactions pour son compte, ce devant le substitut du cadi shāfi'ite. S'ensuit le respect et l'utilisation par le Patriarcat de la théorie juridique et notariale islamique laquelle règlemente la pratique commerciale entre dhimmī -s mais aussi entre musulmans et non-musulmans. Ces documents fournissent en sus des indications sur le statut et la nature des terres dans cette région et sur le montant du kharāj. L'acte V, établi par une autorité notariale chrétienne, reflète l'autonomie des institutions dhimmī -s sous les Mamelouks ; sa reproduction et conservation montrent également le besoin du Patriarcat d'apporter à tout moment une preuve de propriété de ses biens immeubles. This article presents the edition and translation of five unpublished notarial deeds that describe the purchase of lands for the benefit of the Maronite Patriarchate in the 9th/15th century. They attest the recognition of this ecclesiastical institution by the Mamluk authorities, so that its representatives could conclude transactions on its behalf, before the deputy of the shāfi'ī qadi. The Patriarchate respects and uses the Islamic legal and notarial doctrine which regulates commercial practices between dhimmī -s but also between Muslims and non-Muslims. These documents provide, in addition, information on the status and nature of lands in this area, and on the amount of kharāj. The fifth deed, drawn up by a Christian notarial authority, reflects the autonomy of dhimmī institutions under the Mamluks; its reproduction and preservation also highlight the need of the Patriarchate to provide proof of ownership of its immovable property at any time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Maronite–Syria relationship is troublesome, and one can say that the two sides are diametrical opposites. The Maronites, in general, represent the aspiration for an independent Lebanon, while Syria considers Lebanon a part of "Greater Syria" and aspires to annex the Lebanese territories. The Maronite community has consistently resisted these aspirations. However, the Maronite community is not a coherent one, which is reflected in its approach toward Syria. In fact, the Maronite leadership has adopted three different approaches toward Syria: an integrative one that aspires to full cooperation with Syria; a separatist one that strongly considers Lebanon and Syria to be separate states; and a pragmatist one that adheres to intimate or unfriendly ties according to local Lebanese interests. This article introduces the three Maronite approaches and claims that one cannot disassociate these approaches, especially the pragmatist one, from the Syrian policy toward Lebanon, which includes changing alliances according to Syria's political interests. Moreover, the article suggests that these approaches will remain in place regardless of which Maronite leader supports each one and regardless of who will rule in Syria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay examines the Lebanese Civil War, the subsequent Taif Accord that was signed in 1989, and the significance of sectarianism in Lebanon following its independence from France that led to the civil war. It discusses the accord's recognition of demographic changes in Lebanon, sects in Lebanon such as Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Shiite Muslims, and political change in Lebanon.

The article talks about the political and social involvement of the Lebanese church in the Lebanese Civil War. Topics discussed include the term Lebanese Christians being mainly associated with Maronites, however Christian sects including Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic also protected their communities during the war, and the war bringing to the fore power struggles among Christians.

In 1578, at the behest of Syriac Maronite Patriarch Mihail ar-Ruzzy, Pope Gregory XIII sent three Jesuits to Lebanon to assist the Maronites in ecclesiastical reform. However, the mission's superior, Tommaso Raggio, desired to leave Lebanon, insulted Mihail, and did little to help the Maronites. Within a year of arriving, Raggio was recalled. The mission's failure due to Raggio's actions, especially when compared to subsequent successful missions, illuminates three aspects of Catholic missionary activity. First, missionaries and their superiors had to agree on a given mission's specific objectives. Second, successful missions required missionaries who understood the world in which they found themselves. Third, evangelization was a negotiated process between the clergy and the faithful that often hinged on whether communities felt that missionaries were serving their needs. These three issues point to early modern missionary Catholicism's need to be conciliatory rather than rigid in its evangelizing and reform efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le religieux maronite Buṭrus al-Tūlāwī (1657-1746) est bien connu auprès des chercheurs pour le rôle que ses ouvrages jouèrent dans les sphères religieuse et intellectuelle au Proche-Orient du XVIIe au XIXe siècles. Son œuvre philosophique a encore été peu étudiée. Dans un article précédent, avec Maroun Aouad, nous avons établi un inventaire détaillé des codex – connus et nouvellement identifiés – contenant l' un ou l' autre des textes philosophiques de notre auteur, où nous avons détaillé les noms des copistes, des possesseurs, des glossateurs, parmi d' autres détails sur l' histoire de ces témoins. Il conviendra de mettre à profit les informations répertoriées dans ce travail de description des codex – toujours en cours, d' ailleurs – afin d' analyser la diffusion de cette œuvre, vaste entreprise compte tenu du nombre de ses témoins connus (153 répartis dans 143 manuscrits). Dans cet article, nous proposons une étude préliminaire portant sur les colophons de huit témoins emblématiques de la Logique – deuxième volume de la philosophie d' al-Tūlāwī –, ainsi que sur d' autres inscriptions paratextuelles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on meeting of bishops of the Catholic Eastern Rite Churches in Europe and Liturgical Year and Mystagogy: Entering into the Paschal Mystery. It mentions quotations from recent magisterial documents of the Catholic Church and presence of hierarchs from many sui juris Churches, including bishops from various Greco-Catholic Churches, as well as Maronite, Chaldean, and Armenian bishops. It also mentions Alexandrian style of mystagogy and ethical life reflecting God.

Copyright of Journal of Modern Turkish History Studies / Çagdas Türkiye Tarihi Arastirmalari Dergisi is the property of Journal of Modern Turkish History Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study I will examine the negotiation of multiple identities in the Maronite Community of Cyprus which comprises four villages in the occupied territories (Kormakiti, Asomatos, Karpashia, Agia Marina) and a large number of displaced population in the area of Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol, and especially the extent to which some identities are negotiable, while others are not. I will analyze the concept of collective identity in relation to religious and ethnic factors (Maronite, Arab origin vs the Orthodox Cypriots of Greek origin), differences within the community in relation to language (use of a particular Arabic dialect only by the inhabitants of Kormakiti, while other villages speak the Greek-Cypriot dialect) and a deliberate identification with Lebanon through Catholicism and similarities in history.

[fr] Expert en documents arabes dans la « République des Lettres », Abraham Ecchellensis se livre dans son oeuvre à un essai de synthèse caractéristique de son temps : il tente de concillier l’attente de connaissances des savants de son temps avec son engagement catholique et controversiste, et avec son identification, en tant que maronite, comme porte-parole de la culture arabe, y compris musulmane. Il fournit au public des traductions de textes philosophiques et scientifiques arabes musulmans qui lui paraissent participer d’une « sagesse » universelle. Mais une curiosité désintéressée pour l’islam ne peut s’afficher : elle doit prendre les formes de la controverse anti-protestante ou de l’apologie catholique. Chez Ecchellensis cette posture s’accompagne d’une expurgation de toute terminologie islamique dans la langue arabe, et d’un recours à la littérature arabe chrétienne élaboré aux premiers siècles de l’Hégire.

The question of the unity of Christendom, its force of expansion and its relations with its enemies is central to the Grant estoria de Ultramar. Curiosity for this text is usually focused on the Song of Antioquia and the mythical origins of the lineage of Godefroy de Bouillon but, if the epic dimension of the Grant estoria de Ultramar stages violent confrontations between Christians and Muslims, it also presents more complex exchange situations with the Byzantine Greeks, Eastern Christians, Nestorians, and Armenians, as in the case of the reintegration of the Maronite heretics... The imperative of the Crusades is based on the assertion of the weakness and decadence of the Christian world and the recalling of the councils along the route of the Crusaders underlines the threat of internal divisions and the need to punish heretics.

The article focuses on the Cyprus Crisis in 1974 in the United Nations Security Council. Topics include Cyprus is stated to have a turbulent history throughout the centuries, which continued since it was granted independence from the Great Britain in 1960 and at that time, independence was not the desired outcome for the overwhelming majority of its population, which comprised a Greek Cypriot majority community, a Turkish Cypriot community and smaller groups (Maronites, Armenians, and Latins).

This article explores one of the Galilee battles that took place during the 1948 War. During the Israeli 'Operation Hiram' of October 1948 the IDF forces occupied large parts of the central Galilee including the Palestinian Arab village of Jish. Until October 1948 the majority of the population of Jish was Muslim. Today the population is predominantly Maronite Catholic and Melkite Greek Catholic Christians, with a Muslim minority. However, unlike many of the destroyed Palestinian villages in this region, Jish managed to survive the Nakba despite the hard battle of Jish, although many of its Muslim inhabitants were driven out to Lebanon. It is interesting to observe that local Christian leaders successfully coped with a major military operation. The article gives us a new perspective based on original sources on what took place in the Galilee and on the fate of the local Arab (Muslim and Christian) population in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the inclusion of women deacons in the canons of the National Synod of Mount Lebanon of 1736, which formalized Latinization of the Maronite Church, providing for codification of its particular law. The canons were approved in forma specifica by Pope Clement XII and have never been modified or overruled, thereby giving evidence of the liceity of ordaining women deacons in the Catholic Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, on Good Friday, Catherine, a Maronite mystic, wife and mother of three, relives Christ’s sufferings in the course of a ritual known as insilâb (crucifixion). She unveils the wounds on her body to a crowd of worshippers gathered around her. Although this ritual is in keeping with a long imitatio Christi tradition formalized and theorized over the centuries, as well as following a predetermined and predictable ‘script’, it entails moments of disorder. This is because the insilâb is centred on an ‘enigma body’ which ‘condenses’ the Virgin and her Son, the saint and her believer. As a living icon offered to the sight and touch of hundreds of worshippers, her body blurs the border between the divine and mundane worlds; the sacred and the profane; female and male; parent and child; past and present; image and living person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new fossil lobster from the Cretaceous of Lebanon, Charbelicaris maronites gen. et sp. nov., is presented here, while the former species ‘ Cancrinos ’ libanensis is re-described as Paracancrinos libanensis comb. nov. P . libanensis is shown to be closer related to the contemporary slipper lobsters than to Cancrinos claviger (lithographic limestones, Jurassic, southern Germany). A finely-graded evolutionary scenario for the slipper-lobster morphotype is reconstructed based on these fossil species and extant forms. The evolutionary changes that gave rise to the current plate-like antennae of Scyllaridae, a key apomorphy of this group, are traced back through time. The antenna of what is considered the oldest slipper lobster became petaloid and consisted of about 20 fully articulated elements. For this group the name Scyllarida sensu lato tax. nov. is introduced. In a next evolutionary step, the proximal articles became conjoined and a lateral extension appeared on peduncle element 3. The entire distal petaloid region is conjoined already at the node of Verscyllarida tax. nov. In modern slipper lobsters, Neoscyllarida tax nov., the distal region is no longer petaloid in shape but asymmetrical. The study also emphasizes that exceptionally preserved fossils need to be documented with optimal documentation techniques to obtain all available information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maruniler, yaklaşık iki asır Memlüklerin idaresi altında yaşamıştır. Bu dönem boyunca, Marunilerle Roma Kilisesi arasında Haçlılar döneminde başlamış olan ilişkilerin devam ettirilmesinde ve geliştirilmesinde Fransisken misyoner rahiplerin büyük rolü olmuştur. Biz, bu makalede Memlükler dönemi boyunca Fransisken misyonerlerinin Marunileri Katolikleştirme faaliyetlerini inceleyeceğiz.