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Seleucia in Syria functioned as the sea-port of
Antioch and lay near the mouth of the Orontes. Paul and his companions sailed from this port on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:4). This city was built by Seleucus Nicator, the "king of Syria." It is said of him that "few princes have ever lived
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The nave is roofed by a series of crossed vaults. It is divided by an intricate wooden separation into two sections: the one in front reserved for men and the rear reserved for women. Each section has two ranks of natural wooden benches and its own thick wooden door. The wooden divider is a piece of
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The men's door is also encased in heavy slabs of white limestone. The upper stone bears an engraving of a simple graded cross. A smaller stone has a chalice engraved on it. Then, an engraved white limestone plate tops the whole commemorating the extension of the church in 1776. The door is of heavy
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A plain rectangular shape is terminated at its
Eastern side by a semicircular half-domed apse. The apse's vault is ornamented with paintings of angels/cherubim on a light blue background. The altar, made of white marble, is centred into the apse and pushed into its wall. The icon representing Saint
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The city of
Antioch-on-the-Orontes (modern Antakya) is located in what is now Turkey. Located on the eastern side of the Orontes River, it was founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, who made it the capital of his empire in Syria. Seleucus I had served as one of Alexander
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The flat roof and the roughly hewn stone of the outside walls give the church an aspect of simplicity and austerity. The bell tower situated at the northern edge of the roof slightly to the left of the main entrance is the example of this minimalistic style as it is formed by a simple stone arch
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with so great a passion for the building of cities. He is reputed to have built in all nine
Seleucias, sixteen Antiochs, and six Laodiceas." Seleucia became a city of great importance, and was made a "free city" by Pompey. It is now a small village, called el-Kalusi.
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406:. There, he joined the monastery of Mar Âba, became monk and made miracles. He left the monastery because he did not want to be elected superior. He was served in his ultimate retirement in the desert by a man whom he had cured from the bite of a snake.
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The Church is separated into two sections: men in front and women in the rear. And in 1795, an intricate woodwork was completed to separate the two sections. It was commemorated by a
Garshuni inscription in Syriac Serta Script that reads as follows:
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In the 1950s, A modern bell tower in white stone and red tiles was added over the women entrance to the west. It was quite different from the style of the church. Eventually, it was dismantled in the 1980s restoring the architecture to its origin.
600:, a six-pointed star. The Women's door is encased into atypical heavy slabs of white limestone, and bears on the upper slab an unusual cross. The shape of the cross doesn't figure in the Maronite crosses tradition. It is a combination between a
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for the other sources and he lived during the 6th century AD. His feast day varies also according to the different traditions. But most sources have corroborating deeds: he escaped a forced marriage arranged by his family, spent some time in
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Mar Awtel was born in mid-3rd century. As a youth he was converted to
Christianity and baptised. He pledged his virginity to God but his father wanted him to marry and thereby break his pledge of celibacy. To escape he left for the city
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While travelling on route in a boat he encountered a severe storm endangering the boat and all on board. He prayed for deliverance and the boat was saved and as a consequence those on board were converted to
Christianity and baptized.
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would have called Saint Awtel, according to Fr
Peeters, Agios Attaros and that they celebrated his feast day between 2 and 7 June. He delivered his fellow passengers who wanted to make him a slave by capturing him. According to the
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369:. There, he converted the pagans of this region, christened them and ended his life in the desert in a monastery which he built nearby and where he lived till his death. In the calendar of the antiochian Church of
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Three higher apertures can be seen on the western wall above the women's entrance: two rectangular narrow apertures and above them in the middle the third aperture made in white stone in the shape of a
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The Church layout is that of old small
Maronite churches, with a single apse and a single nave typical of the 12th and 13th centuries Maronite churches. The interior is divided according to Patriarch
353:, in the 6th century A.D. His two parents were pagan but he was converted very young, became Christian and ran away from the paternal home to avoid marriage. He boarded and ran away to the city of
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Awtel is hanging above the altar in the middle of the apse. The altar is separated by few steps from the chancel, which in turn is separated from the nave by other few steps and an iron parapet.
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In the 1960s, a painting was commissioned to Saliba
Douaihy, a young but already established Lebanese artist. This painting of Saint Awtel could be still seen over the altar inside the church.
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is the only church in the country dedicated to this saint. It is built on a rocky promontory presenting steep faces of around 30 meters altitude, commanding the approaches through the
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Abdallah, Charbel, L'architecture d'une église maronite selon le patriarche Douaïhy, Faculté Pontificale de Théologie de l'Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (Liban), 24 November 2010
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during the Crusades from 1109 till 1289 AD. Kfarsghab was administratively part of the county of Tripoli, which could be an explanation of the origin of this unusual cross.
509:"under the supervision of Father Jibrayeel and Father Brahim priests of the village and the donor was Sheikh Estephan Elias. the Saint patron of the location reward him".
259:, delivered his fellow passengers during a severe storm, went back to his place of birth after the death of his parents and finally became a monk then a hermit.
743:, page 139. In fact, the author refers this date to a text of the Patriarch El Douaihy, not present in the events of that year in Douaihi's most important book
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In the 2000s, the square around the church was renovated and embellished in old stone reflecting the beauty of the architecture and the majesty of the site.
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A white coating covers the inside walls. Natural light comes through two narrow higher windows on the Southern wall and one lower window on the North wall.
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The church is surrounded by a vast square on the Northern and Western sides, cobbled in natural stone. The square is delimited by a natural stone parapet.
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Between 1776 and 1778, the church was extended to accommodate the increasing population of Kfarsghab. The achievement of this renovation is attested by a
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In 1882, the church underwent renovation that was commemorated by engraving on the main entrance door in a mix of Garshuni and Arabic as follows:
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a martyr called Uwaytilyos is mentioned on the date of September 23. But it is not proven whether it is Mar Awtel or another saint.
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man. This cure was the reason for the conversion and baptism of ten thousand pagans. After being a monk for 12 years he became a
768:
Atallah, Micheline, Saint Aquilina's Church And Sanctuary Part III, Journal of Maronite Studies, Vol. 3, Issue 4, October 1999
361:, led an ascetic life in one of its monasteries, then came back to his fatherland before spending some time in the region of
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delicate art and we know from the inscription commemorating its consecration that it was the work of a skilled artisan from
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Of all those references, he concluded that Awtel or Awtilios was born in a city called Magdal or Magdaloun in the land of
735:, in the version of the father Ignatius Tannous AlKhoury revised by Dr. Elias Kattar, editor Lahd Khater, Beirut 1983.
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edited in Beirut in 1914. Youakim Moubarak translated it to French and enriched its contents and published it in his
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book of saints, in a handwritten copy belonging to Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II Rahmani. It is also mentioned in the
759:, page 397. Therefore, the first church of Saint Awtel could have been renovated at the end of the Fifteenth Century
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357:(probably al-Maççîça) delivering his fellow passengers from a tempest where they would have perished. He came to
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493:"This woodwork was achieved by the hand of Master Dumiati in the month of February of year 1795 and that was"
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This article is based on the work of the great historian Father Louis Cheikho sj and especially on his work
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the Great's generals, and the name Antiochus occurred frequently amongst members of his family.
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Valley. Its location is clearly that of a fortified place, echoing the etymological meaning of
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246:. His place and date of birth vary according to the sources. From an unknown place in modern
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year one thousand seven hundred and seventy six by the zeal of Sheikh Abou Youssef Elias".
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672:- Tome II - Volume I - pages 17-18 - éditions du Cénacle Libanais - Beyrouth - 1984
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and in the calendar of Çlîba the Jacobite, on the dates of October 9 and June 3.
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particularly), and on 9 October. A church is dedicated to him in the village of
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689:- Tome II - Volume I - year 1984 - Editor Cenacle Libanais - Beirut - Lebanon.
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oak wood, engraved with biblical verses and a date of renovation in 1882.
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The main entrance of Mar Awtel church built on the ruins of a pagan temple
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until his father died, whereupon he returned to his home and became a
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for the Maronite Sinksar and born in the 3rd century AD, he is from
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Bottom right, the commanding location of Saint Awtel Church in 1896
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Engraving commemorating the extension of Mar Awtel Church in 1776
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where his feast day is celebrated on 3 June and 27 August.
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along with the versions presented by Youakim Moubarac.
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North Facade of Saint Awtel Church, Kfarsghab, Lebanon
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The tradition of Mar Awtel, saint patron of Kfarsghab
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placed over the main entrance that reads as follow:
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712:, year X, 1907, page 672-672, Beirut, Lebanon
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326:Father Sheikho found some information about
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670:Pentalogie antiochienne / Domaine Maronite
319:presented the following version of Father
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538:The modern bell tower to the West - 1966
390:book of saints, he remained 20 years in
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263:Version of the Maronite book of saints (
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16:Christian monk and saint (250–327)
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780:, last accessed on March 4, 2014.
645:The village of Kfarsghab, Lebanon
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234:Saint Awtel is celebrated by the
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505:Right Side:
418:The history
198:Middle East
190:Saint Autel
174:Saint Awtel
43:Mar Awtel,
817:327 deaths
812:250 births
806:Categories
656:References
489:Left Side:
383:Byzantines
351:Asia Minor
146:Attributes
72:Asia Minor
710:Al Maxreq
708:magazine
432:Kfarsghab
412:Kfarsghab
371:al-Bîrûnî
332:Jacobites
328:Mar Awtel
323: :.
293:Byzantium
282:Byzantium
257:Byzantium
244:Maronites
222:Mar Awtel
208:in North-
206:Kfarsghab
202:Maronites
178:Mar Awtel
162:Kfarsghab
156:Patronage
129:Kfarsghab
56:Mar Awtel
45:Kfarsghab
757:41272562
741:21044417
639:See also
598:hexagram
579:Damietta
459:Garshuni
396:Seleucia
388:Jacobite
355:Moumista
340:Assemani
242:and the
226:Maronite
66:Magdal,
604:and an
440:Qadisha
436:Lebanon
400:Antioch
398:and in
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330:in the
315:Father
265:Sinksar
229:Sinksar
210:Lebanon
166:Lebanon
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305:hermit
248:Turkey
238:, the
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77:Turkey
404:Lycia
367:Lycia
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301:pagan
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136:Feast
90:Lycia
68:Lycia
31:Awtel
26:Saint
753:OCLC
737:OCLC
297:monk
216:Life
84:Died
61:Born
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