For the first time in more than 1,000 years, and due to the occasion of the anniversary of Saint Maroun, a mass was held at Mar Maroun Al-Asi monastery cave. The monastery is located on the banks of Al Asi river, north of Bekaa valley, Lebanon.
The mass was presided over by the General Secretary of the Lebanese Maronite Order, Father Michel Abu Taka, and in the presence of clerics and activists of the northern Bekaa.
Abu Taka considered the mass as a “point of convergence between all the other heavenly religions and to establish divine values.” He said, “the people of the region from different religions embrace this holy monastery.”
The monastery of Saint Maroun is a sacred, historical, and archaeological landmark in a region which was founded about 1,500 years ago. It was recently rehabilitated and received hundreds of Lebanese from various regions.
The cave consists of three layers; The main one where Saint Maroun inhabited it and made it into a monastery as well as a monastery that his followers built afterwards. They called it “Mar Maroun Palace” and stayed there for many decades.
