Episcopal Press and News
Reconstruction of Beirut Church Is Sign of Hope
Episcopal News Service. January 24, 1992 [92017]
All Saints Episcopal Church in Beirut, which once had an enviable location on beachfront property in the West Beirut hotel district, now finds itself located in no-man's-land on the former Green Line dividing the city.
Massive artillery shelling during the civil war had reduced buildings near the church to rubble. The church, concealed by trees, withstood the barrage.
When the British envoy arrived in Beirut last fall, one of his first requests was to see the church. An Arab interpreter, not well versed in English, reportedly translated his request as "I want the church back," and Lebanese authorities, in an effort to mend relations, responded positively.
Although the government had designated the area off-limits for private reconstruction, the church has moved ahead with plans to restore its historic building.
Since it was closed in the late 1970s, the building was home to Syrian soldiers, then squatters and prostitutes. "The soldiers stripped it of its furnishings and burned everything in an effort to keep warm," said a church official. "Only the stone altar remained standing."
Precious stained-glass windows, installed when the church was built at the turn of the century, were removed by an elderly British woman at the height of the war and taken to safety in the mountains. They have been installed in the church once again.
"We opened the church for its first service on December 26," said Bishop Samir Kafity, president-bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, which includes Lebanon.
Last year, Kafity returned for the blessing and reconsecration of the church and discovered that the land nearby had become the city's garbage dump and the church itself a hostel for prostitutes. But he refused to move the service elsewhere and led the celebration from the church's porch.
From the early 1900s, when it was founded, until 1948, All Saints Church primarily served the needs of Anglican expatriates in Beirut. After the creation of the State of Israel, Anglican Palestinians arrived in Beirut, and an Arabic-speaking congregation was formed.