were part of it. In 1743 they asked for, and obtained, confirmation of Pope Benedict XIV for their Constitutions — that is, the rule of St Basil adapted to their circumstances. In 1745 the rule was printed in Arabic at Rome for them. They formed a chapter which, in 1751, elected Augustine Za'arur Superior General. In the same year Benedict XIV sent them a Brief, Etsi persuasum,[1] telling them to observe their rite exactly, and to send all acts of their chapters to Rome to be confirmed. Gradually a number of other houses were built for the Salvatorian monks, so that they became a large Congregation. Many of them have always served in parishes. Indeed, it seems that this was their founder's idea. They are less strictly organized as a monastic order than their rivals of Shuwair. Cyril VI resided at their mother-house, Dair alMukhallis. His successor, Maximos II, represented the other party, of Shuwair. Athanasius V was again a Salvatorian and lived there. So there has been an alternation of influence between the two Congregations.
The story of Shuwair[2] begins a little later. Gerasimos and Sulaimān, formerly students of the Jesuit missionaries, entered the monastery of Balāmand[3] near Tripoli. They converted many monks to union with Rome; but the others finally expelled them and their party. So they went to Cyril V and received his approbation. Encouraged by him, they then founded a monastery of St John the Baptist (Mār Ḥanna) near the village of Shuwair, in the district Kesruān, between Beirut and Ba'albek. Others came to join them. But Gerasimos and Sulaimān disagreed; so that Sulaimān went back to Balāmand.[4] Gerasimos remained Superior of Mār Ḥanna at Shuwair. In 1718 these monks built their church; soon
- ↑ "Bullarium Ben. XIV" (ed. Prati, 1846), tom. iii, pars i, pp. 274-275.
- ↑ The history of the Shuwairites is told at full length by one of their monks, Paul Bacel, in the Echos d'Orient, vi-xvii, in a series of twenty-two articles, bringing it down to 1794. Here will be found a translation of their Constitutions, lives of their great men, and full details of their story. Like most French writers, he spells Chouér and Chouérite. I apply my usual principle of transliteration. "Shuwairite" is an ugly hybrid compound; but I fear "Shuwairiyin" would look too odd in English.
- ↑ Balāmand is an old Cistercian monastery, built and then abandoned by the crusaders. The name is said to be "Bel mont." Another explanation is ἡ παλαιὰ μάνδρα.
- ↑ This was not apostasy. Sulaimān became Archimandrite of Balāmand and spent his life trying to make his monks Uniates. He died in 1712.
