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Launching ceremony of the book “The History of the Zahlei Families of Syriac Orthodox Origin”translated

July 20, 2026 · 1 min read

Launching ceremony of the book “The History of the Zahlei Families of Syriac Orthodox Origin”

His Excellency, the most respected Metropolitan Antonius (Al-Suri), represented by Father Avram (Habtot), the Most High Priest in Jerusalem, participated in the launching ceremony of the book “The History of the Zahle Syriac Orthodox Families of Orthodox Origin,” by the author, Mr. Asaad Joseph Sharro, at the Municipal Palace under the patronage of the Mayor of Zahle Al-Mu’allaqa and the care of Engineer Salim Ghazaleh and the organization of the Zahle District Cultural Council and in cooperation with the Department of Syriac Studies. A number of religious, official, cultural and social actors participated in this meeting.

Source: Site: أبرشية زحلة وبعلبك · Read the full story →

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Laura Baker

Thanks for sharing this. It's good to see Metropolitan Antonios represented by Fr. Afram Habtout at the launch of Assad Joseph Sharro's book on the original Syriac Orthodox families of Zahle. I hope the book gets into some of the old family stories from the area that are starting to fade.

Марія Ткаченко

It is interesting that the book about the ancient Syrian Orthodox families of Zahle was presented in the municipal palace under the patronage of Mayor Selim Ghazaleh. It is a pity that the post did not mention whether Asad Joseph Charro's book contains stories about those families who first settled there back in Ottoman times. I hope one of our people will be able to get it and tell me about it later.

Emma Mitchell

I noticed Fr. Afram Habtout stood in for Metropolitan Antonios at the municipal palace launch. It would be nice if the book includes some of those early Ottoman-era family stories from Zahle that Laura mentioned, the ones that are fading away. I hope they make it available at the church hall soon.

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ანა კაპანაძე

I am glad that Metropolitan Antonios Father Afram Habtuti was presented at the presentation of this book. It is very interesting how deeply Asad Joseph Sharom went into the old Syriac-Orthodox surnames of Zakhle, especially those that settled during the Ottoman period. It would be good if the book was also available in the church so that we could get to know it.