Bkerké
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Bkerké (Arabic: بكركي also Bkerke or Bkirki) is the see of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate, located 650 m above the bay of Jounieh, northeast of Beirut, in Lebanon.
Though now exclusively used by the church, the area was owned by the noble Khazen family. The clergy use it under a special waqf.[1][2]
History
The see of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate was originally in Antioch, but due to persecution, it moved first to Saint Maron's Monastery on the Orontes River and then to varied locations in Mount Lebanon, such as Kfarhay, Yanouh, Mayfouq, Lehfed, Habeel, Kfifan, al-Kafr, and Hardeen in the Byblos region. It then moved to Qannoubine in the Kadisha Valley because of intensified persecution and remained from 1440 to 1823 when it moved to Dimane and lastly, in 1830, to Bkerké.[3] Today, Maronite Patriarchs use Dimane as a summer residence and Bkerké as a winter one.
The earlier building on Bkerké site was a monastery settled in 1703. In 1830 it became the winter residence of the Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch. The present red roofed structure was built in 1893[4] during the time of Patriarch John Peter El Hajj.
References
- ^ An Interview with Cheikh Malek el-Khazen. CatholicAnalysis.org. Published: 28 July 2014.
- ^ Bkerke El Khazen waqf. Khazen.org. Retrieved: 29 November 2014.
- ^ The Maronite Patriarchate
- ^ "Bkirke". ikamalebanon. Retrieved 29 January 2011.