Our Lady of Ainebel -Why the Dahr
El-Assi Hill
to erect the shrine of the Virgin
Mary,
Mother of Light, Em El-Nour?
Five arguments or reasons to justify our
view such an option:
The main reason is drawn from the history and sacred
geography.
A careful reading of the Gospels
tells us easily the places where Jesus had traveled in the Galilee and the
Decapolis (the pagan cities) which included parts of the current Lebanese areas
in South and Bekaa. Several historians, geographers and researchers have
discussed issue of concern to Ainebeliotes preparing now to build a shrine to
the memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Light, Em El Nour. Therefore, according
to biblical and geo-historical sources, it is not impossible to follow in the
footsteps of Jesus , his disciples and sometimes his mother Mary , on the Lebanese trails.
What a joy for Ainebliotes if their small town, and especially the Dahr El Assi
Hill, is situated on the paths of Divine Master and His Mother Mary? The
following analysis, based on geo-historical and biblical arguments, tries to
provide an answer to this question, following 6 steps:
I- From Yaroun to Cana and Tyr, urgent
to pass by Ainebel and Dahr-El -Assi:
a. Taking the border of Yaroun village as
a starting point of the journey of Jesus into Lebanese land, some historians
argue that Jesus left Capernaum, a town on the shores of Lake Tiberias, to
proceed to Cana and Tyr. It is on the actuel Lebanese soil where Our Lord has
shown his first glory, especially during the famous wedding in Cana (read: Jn
2:1-12) and at the Haramoun Mount (read the 2nd Epistle of Peter: 1 .16
to 18, referring to the Holy Mountain)
b. Between
Tyre and Sarafand Jesus healed a Lebanese young girl, called Berenice ,
daughter of the Canaanite or Syro-Phoenician woman (Mt 15,21-29), called Justa (Adila
in Arabic) according to some traditions .Adloun, the Lebanese town situated between Tyr and Sarafand must have its
name derived from the name of this woman whom Jesus had said: "O woman,
great is your faith" Mt 25,21-29)?
c. Jesus visited Sidon according
the text of the Gospel (Mc 7, 24-31) and Maghdouche -according to some
historians, based on the Gospel texts and traditions. From that location He continues
his journey to the cities of the Decapolis , more than ten cities in
South Lebanon, Bekaa, Syria and Transjordan. Mary would have expected her Son
on a hill near the town of Saida. (Al-Mantara)
d. At Mount Hermon and its vicinity, held the
Transfiguration, rather than in other sites, according to Italian-Lebanese researcher
Martiniano Roncalia in his book "In the footsteps of Jesus in Phoenicia /
Lebanon” edited on 2004.
e. In Caesarea Philippi, Banias, near
Marjayoun, Jesus, announcing the founding of his Church, said to Peter,
"Peter, you are Peter (rock), and upon this rock I will build my
Church"
f. In the former South Lebanon. Jesus would have traveled to the Bekaa region,
according to the biblical texts and traditions in the footsteps of the ancient
biblical prophets and fathers: Abel, Noah, Shit, Lahia Youshaa, Elijah, Jonah,
etc.. Is Ainebel name derived from the name of Abel? Possibly. The Arab
Christians called Jesus Abil.
II. Ainebel halfway between Tiberias and Tyr:
In this geo-historical and biblical context, presented above, Alfred
Durant and other Biblical Atlas, used to situate Ainebel, even if not
explicitly cited ,on the main Halfway that Jesus
would take in moving between the region of Galilee and that of Tyr. To
join Cana from Yaroun, near Jish or Jiscala, birthplace of the family of St.
Paul, Jesus had to pass inevitably through Wadi Yaroun, whether to engage in
the paths leading to Wadi el Ouyoune, through
current land of Rmeich and Dibl, Kafra and Yater, or to take the path of
Tibnin between Doueir and Chalaboune lands. Has he passed accross Deir Intar
near Tibnin (the verb Natara in Arabic means to wait or watch, as well as Mantara regarding Maghdoucheh) ? Some traditions underlines this
fact. In all case , being raised similar questions are legitimate. Relying on
various map and Bible Atlas, edited by eminent scholars, we simply retain the idea
that Alfred Durand underlines in his map attached, showing clearly the way of
the passage of Jesus on Ainebel land.
III-A panoramic view: North portal of Ainebel, Dahr El
Assi also offers a panoramic view:
At North-East, Haramoun, Jabal El Sheikh, so long sung by the poets and the Bible, stands with
all its majesty, its summits crowned with snow during the four seasons .It is
visible from the Dahr El Assi Hill ;the book of Psalms says: "The north and
south, Thou who created them, Tabor and Hermon have shouted your name for
joy" .About the same mountain the book of "Song of Songs" says: “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from
Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana,from the top of Senir, the summit of
Hermon, from the lions' dens and the
mountain haunts of the leopards.” (4.8);
At the west , like a beautiful painting, hills and
valleys of Jabal Amel are spread ,joined to one of the purest horizons surrounding
the legendary City of Tyre, with all its
cultural and glorious image , to Naqoura Cape;
At the south ,rises gradually chain of mountains beginning from
Rass El Naqoura, through Alma, Mansoura, Jish and kfar Berim until Jarmaq or
Mount Meiron, the highest peak in Palestine-Israel (1200 m);
At the East, the haze often hides behind
Yaroun and Maroun El Rass, the mysterious region of Houla welcoming streams
from Haramoun and feeding the Jordan River where Jesus received baptism from
John the Baptist. At Houla visible from Dahr El
Assi, we can see the beginning of the first milestones of the deepest geographical
depression on the face of the earth ,and finds its the deepest point on the
shores of the Dead Sea , with 394 meters below the level of the
Mediterranean sea.
IV-" El-Assi" ,"against the current, inaccessible”,
qualification and name imported from the
Quadisha valley and El-Assi River :
In
addition to geographical and biblical arguments mentioned above, Dahr El-Assi
draws its name in ainebliote traditions dating
back to the time of the foundation between 1597 and 1602, when the Emirs Maan
had consolidated the borders of their area power, based largely on Christian
allies. The first arrivals to Ainebel originating Hadath El Jebbeh in northern
Lebanon, had baptized by the name of "El-Assi" the highest hill in
their farm because of its western inaccessible slope . Furthermore,
originally, El-Assi River takes its source in northern Lebanon and opening into
the sea near Antioch (City, now in Turkey, where the first Christians had
receive for the first time their name ) ."Inaccessible
, against current” ,El-Assi, as a name given by
the first inhabitants of Ainebel is also one of the cave "El-Assi"
overlooking the Quadisha valley (Holy Valley) , the ancient seat of the
Maronite Patriarchate, symbol of identity ,National Sanctity and peaceful
resistance to the conquerors of all times. Quadisha is the kernel of the
idea of independance and sovereignty of Lebanon and its coexistential culture.
Historians report that in the "El-Assi" cave, a small group Hadath El
Jebbeh population fled ,under Mamluks (14th century) to escape the massacres
perpetrated by the occupiers against the local population ; but discovered by the enemy, the habitants found a
tragic death; Six centuries later ,the speleologists (cavers) discovered in the
last thirty years (1977) the mummies of the
cave El-Assi victims. Is there any relationship between these El- Assi
cave victims and the first inhabitants of Ainebel?
If such an act came to be uncovered by
historians, it will can better explain the strong attachment of ainebliotes to this
hill so full of memories ,so associated to their heritage, known or unknown,
past and present. In fact, they are attached to this
site , even unconsciously, as a very precious treasure.
"Inanimate thing, do you have a soul
attached to our soul and strength it to love? "Said the romantic poet, before such a situation.
V-Site of memories touching the bottom of the
collective ainebliote spirit:
In addition to
the memories and events so laden with symbolism surrounding the Dahr El Assi hill,
for both the ancestors and the current ainebliote generations , we have to accumulate
, over the years, other memorabilia relating to the collective ainebliote soul,
alternating joys and sorrows, bravery and disappointments, fears and hopes,
faith, sometimes rebellion, but always passion to live.
For all these reasons, away from any tendency, Dahr El Assi Hill, loaded
with many sweet and nostalgic ainebliote memories, remains the privileged, the
most appropriate and most suitable on all levels, biblical, historical,
ecological and poetic, to house an object as valuable as that of the shrine of the Virgin Mary: Gift of Heaven for
humanity, and gift of Lebanese Galilean territory for Heaven.
Joseph Khoreich
Beirut du 2 - 12 -
2009
