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32-462: As the distance between the center of the northern Bekaa and the south became important because of its central valleys and on the international line of the most important economic centers and the largest commercial markets, Bar Elias has good neighborly relations with the rest of the towns and villages in the province. Easily accessible from all directions and in the center of the Bekaa Valley, Bar Elias

64-816: A monk and chronicler . He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking up the religious life. Theophanes attended the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 and resisted the iconoclasm of Leo V the Armenian , for which he was imprisoned. He died shortly after his release. Theophanes the Confessor, venerated on 12 March in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church , should not be confused with Theophanes of Nicaea , whose feast

96-581: Is Greek Catholic , 90% of the Christians of Bar Elias are Catholic Christians and 10% Maronite Christians . There used to be a number of Druze living in Bar Elias, but their number declined because of communal tensions. Bar Elias is situated at the heart of Lebanese agriculture, the Bekaa which is known for its numerous vast plains. Like neighboring towns and villages, Bar Elias boasts many restaurants. Bar Elias

128-577: Is a town of Lebanon , near the Syrian border, located in the Bekaa Valley . The population is 2,400, consisting almost entirely of Armenians . The total area is about twenty square kilometers (7.7 square miles). Since 1984, the ruins of the Umayyad settlement of Anjar are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site . The town's foundation is generally attributed to the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I , at

160-404: Is an open gate to all guests and visitors. Bar Elias is 900 m above sea level, at a distance of 51 km from Beirut via Damascus-Chtoura. It is spread over both sides of the international line between Beirut and Damascus over the exterior 4 km. A lovely green plain extends across distances up to Anjar to the east, Zahlé to the west, Kafr Zabad and Addalhamiah to the north, and Almarj to

192-633: Is commemorated on 11 October. Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac, governor of the islands of the Aegean Sea , and Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. His father died when Theophanes was three years old, and the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V (740–775) subsequently saw to the boy's education and upbringing at the imperial court. Theophanes would hold several offices under Leo IV

224-484: Is credited with many miracles that occurred after his death, which most likely took place on 12 March, the day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology . At the urgent request of his friend George Syncellus , Theophanes undertook the continuation of Syncellus' Chronicle ( Χρονογραφία , Chronographia), during the years 810 to 815. The language used occupies a place midway between the stiff ecclesiastical and

256-462: Is in operation to serve Anjar's small Armenian Evangelical community. The Protestant community school was established in 1948 by Sister Hedwig Aenishänslein as part of her missionary work in Anjar. In 1953, the school, which had already become an intermediate school, was promoted into a secondary school. It has day classes as well as boarding facilities for students from other regions who stay there throughout

288-497: Is predominantly Sunni Muslim. There are, however, a number of Christians who live in the town. There are more than four mosques in the town and two churches. The Mufti El Mais, a Sunni religious leader associated with Future Movement , is from Bar Elias. The municipality of Bar Elias is located in the district of Zahlé, one of the eight districts in Lebanon. Free elections produced a Municipality council of 18 members representing most of

320-400: Is valuable for having preserved the accounts of lost authorities on Byzantine history for the seventh and eighth centuries that would be otherwise have been lost. The work consists of two parts, wherein the first provides a chronological history arranged per annum, and the second contains chronological tables that are regrettably full of inaccuracies. It seems that Theophanes had only prepared

352-645: The Armenian Apostolic Church and Holy See of Cilicia . Armenian Apostolic Saint Paul Church is the second largest Armenian church in Lebanon. The Armenian Apostolic community has its own school, Haratch Calouste Gulbenkian Secondary School. In 1940, the chief editor of the Armenian newspaper Haratch in Paris, Shavarsh Missakian, organized a fundraising campaign among the Armenians living in France which enabled

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384-686: The Cardo maximum , running north to south, and the Decumanus Maximus , running east to west, divide the city into four quadrants. The two main avenues, decorated with colonnades and flanked by about 600 shops, intersect under a tetrapylon . The plinths, shafts and capitals of the tetrapylon are spolia reused in the Umayyad period. Smaller streets subdivide the western half of the city in quarters of different size. Main monuments: The majority of Anjar's Armenians are Armenian Apostolics (Orthodox) who belong to

416-492: The Sea of Marmara . Later, he built a monastery on his own lands on the island of Calonymus (now Calomio ), where he acquired a high degree of skill in transcribing manuscripts. After six years he returned to Sigriano, where he founded an abbey known by the name "of the big settlement" and governed it as abbot . In this position of leadership, he was present at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and signed its decrees in defense of

448-485: The veneration of icons . When Emperor Leo V the Armenian (813–820) resumed his iconoclastic warfare, he ordered Theophanes brought to Constantinople. The Emperor tried in vain to induce him to condemn the same veneration of icons that had been sanctioned by the council. Theophanes was cast into prison and for two years suffered cruel treatment. After his release, he was banished to Samothrace in 817, where overwhelmed with afflictions, he lived only seventeen days. He

480-486: The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic , the village rapidly imposed strict measures and set an example for the rest of the country. The Umayyad city ruins cover 114,000 square meters and are surrounded by large, fortified stone walls over two meters thick and seven meters high. The rectangular city design of 370 m by 310 m is based on Roman city planning and architecture with stonework borrowed from the Byzantines . Two large avenues,

512-628: The Armenian Catholics, who also run the Armenian Catholic Sisters School. In the beginning, the school had two divisions, St. Hovsep for the male students and Sisters of Immaculate Conception for the female students. In 1954, these departments were united. 1973 saw the official opening of the Aghajanian Orphan House, already serving as an Armenian Catholic orphanage since 1968. The Armenian Evangelical Church of Anjar

544-483: The East of Lebanon. Its weather is known for its dryness. It rarely rains in Bar Elias in the summer, there is indeed a lack of humidity. The summers are very warm, with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius. The winters are rather cold, and also characterized by heavy snow. Bar Elias' population has grown since its founding. At the end of the eighteenth century, Bar Elias had less than a thousand inhabitants and 50 houses. By

576-512: The Khazar. He was married at the age of eighteen, but convinced his wife to lead a life of virginity. In 779, after the death of his father-in-law, they separated with mutual consent to embrace the religious life. She chose a convent on an island near Constantinople, while he entered the Polychronius Monastery, located in the district of Sigiane (Sigriano), near Cyzicus on the Asian side of

608-471: The beginning of the 8th century, as a palace-city. Syriac graffiti found in the quarry from which the best stone was extracted offer the year 714, and Byzantine and Syriac sources attribute the establishment of the town to Umayyad princes, with one Syriac chronicle mentioning Walid I by name, while the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor recorded that it was Walid's son, al-Abbas , who started building

640-550: The building of the "Haratch" Elementary School next to the newly established St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church. The official opening of the school took place in 1941. The administration of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation contributed to the expansion of the school, which was named in honor of Calouste Gulbenkian . Our Lady of the Rosary Armenian Catholic Church in Anjar serves as church for

672-655: The civil war, the Syrian Army chose Anjar as one of its main military bases in the Beqaa Valley and the headquarters of its intelligence services. Following the civil war, Anjar started to rebuild economically. Many of its inhabitants immigrated to other countries, mainly to Europe , Canada , and the United States . Nevertheless, today Anjar is an example to many other entities in the region because of its low crime rate , reduced air pollution , and living standards. During

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704-494: The families in the town. Bar Elias houses many political parties and political families. Since 1992 - date of the first elections after the end of the war - all the elected Sunni Muslim deputies for Zahlé district were originally from Bar Elias: Ali Maita (lawyer), Dr. Mohamad al Mais and Dr. Assem Araji. Anjar, Lebanon Anjar (meaning "unresolved or running river"); Arabic : عنجر / ALA-LC : ‘Anjar ; also known as Hawsh Mousa ( Arabic : حوش موسى / Ḥawsh Mūsá ),

736-479: The five ecumenical patriarchs, a complex system which sometimes leads to considerable confusion. The first part, though lacking in critical insight and chronological accuracy, greatly surpasses the majority of Byzantine chronicles. Theophanes's Chronicle is particularly valuable beginning with the reign of Justin II (565), as in his work, he then drew upon sources that have not survived his times Theophanes' Chronicle

768-449: The late 1850s, the population jumped to about 7-10,000 people. The population continued to grow throughout the twentieth century. Today, Bar Elias is home to about 60-80,000 Lebanese. Bar Elias is the largest Sunni town in much of the Bekaa Valley. 15-20% of the city is Christian ; Zahlé province, where Bar Elias is located, has a Christian majority. Like the Christians in Zahlé whose majority

800-513: The rest of the country, where policing is provided by the central government, Anjar has its own municipal police wearing dark green uniforms and reporting to the municipality instead of the ministry of internal affairs. t Theophanes the Confessor Theophanes the Confessor ( Greek : Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής ; c. 759 – 817 or 818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became

832-452: The south. It consists of a vast land area of about 35000 dunums (3500 hectares), of which about 7000 dunums are residential and the rest agricultural. In 1838, Eli Smith noted Burr Elyas as a Sunni Muslim , Greek Catholic and Maronite village in the Beqaa Valley . The town is situated 52 km (32.31 mi) to the east of the Lebanese capital Beirut . Bar Elias is located in

864-570: The tables, leaving vacant spaces for the proper dates, but that these had been filled out by someone else ( Hugo von Hurter , Nomenclator literarius recentioris I, Innsbruck, 1903, 735). In the chronological first part, in addition to reckoning by the years of the world and the Christian era, Theophanes introduces in tabular form the regnal years of the Roman emperors, of the Persian kings and Arab caliphs, and of

896-489: The town in 709–10. Historian Jere L. Bacharach accepts Theophanes' date. Although earlier materials were re-used, much of the city is built on virgin soil. After being abandoned in later years, Anjar was resettled in 1939 with several thousand Armenian refugees from the Musa Dagh area. Its neighborhoods are named after the six villages of Musa Dagh: Haji Habibli, Kebusiyeh, Vakif, Kheder Bek, Yoghunoluk and Bitias. During

928-406: The vast bulk of its contents are the work of Syncellus; on this model, Theophanes' main contribution was to cast Syncellus' rough materials together in a unified form. Theophanes' part of the chronicle covered events from the accession of Diocletian in 284 (which is the point where the chronicle of George Syncellus ends) to the downfall of Michael I Rhangabes in 813. This part of the chronicle

960-416: The vernacular Greek. He made use of three main sources: first, material already prepared by Syncellus; second, he probably made the use of a set of extracts made by Theodore Lector from the works of Socrates Scholasticus , Sozomenus , and Theodoret ; and third, the city chronicle of Constantinople. Cyril Mango has argued that Theophanes contributed but little to the chronicle that bears his name, and that

992-408: The winter. Anjar's economy is mostly based on services, with very few agricultural and industrial activities. The biggest private employer is the company "Shams" (literally "Sun"), a local family-run business that started out as a small restaurant in the 1960s. The municipality is also an important employer. It pays salaries for teachers, public servants , and law enforcement personnel. Unlike

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1024-453: Was much used by succeeding chroniclers, and in 873–875 a Latin compilation was made by the papal librarian Anastasius from the chronicles of Nicephorus , George Syncellus, and Theophanes for the use of a deacon named Johannes in the second half of the ninth century and thus was known to Western Europe. There also survives a further continuation, in six books, of the Chronicle down to

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