Orthodox christians in Lebanese policy

Abstract

Background. The article dwells on the current state of orthodox community in Lebanon. The political participation of orthodox community in Lebanon is lack of research except a few authors who are specialized on the history on Antiochian orthodox church and diplomats. The purpose of the article is to study the engagement of orthodox community in domestic politics of Lebanon, its both cultural and civilizational identification in the society of Lebanon, problem of leadership, and relations with other religious groups. Materials and methods. The implementation of research tasks was achieved based on the analysis of previously unpublished works pf lebanese researches May Davie and Georges Khodr. The author relies on the method of constructivist approach in analyzing lebanese society. Results. The article notes the main features of orthodox community in comparison with other religious denominations of Lebanon, estimated population, identity and its transformation during different periods of history. Conclusions. Despite the fact that Lebanese orthodox Christians have rich history, identity and influence their political participation have come down to non-interference in internal political struggle. Nevertheless, rapidly changing circumstances both inside and outside Lebanon demand internal consolidation of Orthodox community in order to protect their interests in multireligious world of Levant. The Lebanese Orthodox community is an integral part of Lebanese society. The Orthodox community combines many identities, but the Arab identity is dominant and undeniable, On the contrary it is emphasized in dialogue with other confessional communities of the country. Due to its neutrality, non-affiliation and balanced relations with the rest of the country’s confessions, the Orthodox community of Lebanon plays an important role in interfaith dialogue in Lebanon. In different periods of Lebanese history, the country’s Orthodox community either held neutrality, for example, during the 1975–1989 Civil War, or supported the Muslim community to defend the territorial integrity of Lebanon (for example, consolidating with the Sunnis during the Crusades and the French Mandat, or cooperating with the Shiite movement Hezbollah during the fight against the ISIS). Nevertheless, non-interference in the internal political life of the country played a negative role for the Orthodox community. It has practically no influential political structures and parties which are necessary to defend its interests. The Orthodox party “Mashriq” became the first political party of the Orthodox community. Despite the failure in its further activities, the creation of the first Orthodox political party shows the desire of the Orthodox community to take a more active part in the political life of the country.

Keywords

• middle east
• lebanon
• orthodoxy
• orthodox community
• antioch orthodox church
• religious denominations