The Christic Cycle on the Facades of Maronite Churches

This article was originally published in French by Ici Beyrouth on March 19, 2022. The original can be found here.

By Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon

The facades of Romanesque and then Gothic churches in the West present very animated biblical scenes intended to catechize the spectator. The Maronite Church did the same, but in its own way. It is not the images of hell and paradise that interest this tradition. It is the Eucharist as the incarnation of the Word in the flesh and then Its salvation/sacrifice that are at the center of the representation. The different elements of the façade thus trace the Christic cycle.

Ascetic austerity

Simplicity constitutes the principal character of architecture and art among the Syriacs in general and among the Maronites in particular. The concept of asceticism and austerity is found everywhere as a basic principle and constitutes, according to Charles Malik, “the splendor of the Maronite rite“. There is no room for Greek imperial pomp, nor for virtuosity and embellishments, because each element of the composition must have a meaning and a message. The whole should be read as an icon in what Bishop Simon Atallah calls “the nature and climate of Syriac liturgies“.

In this ascetic atmosphere, only the soteriological message allows itself a decorative space in which it is expressed through the art of Syriac symbols and epigraphs. For the church, the facade of the entrance allows itself a decoration concentrated on the vertical axis of a fictitious pyramid which structures it. This refinement, or enrichment, is then more or less timid or avowed. It can also be reduced to a simple symmetry located on a part of the facade in the axis of the door.

The facade acquires an iconographic value in the Christian sense of the icon. Because the latter, as Philippe Sers correctly explains it, is “not illustrative but representative“. It is not intended for delight but for reading. We can therefore consider the Maronite facade with its pyramidal composition as a kind of iconostasis where the Christian cycle and the theology of Salvation are read.

The kind of composition observed in the majority of Maronite churches of the medieval style (a style which will last until the 19th century) is quite simple. And yet, that does not prevent it from revealing constants, highlighting artistic canons linked to an architectural tradition.

Our Lady of the Seeds (Zrou‘) in Kphiphen

The Church of Our Lady of the Seeds (Zrou‘) in Kphiphen offers us one of the most accomplished examples of pyramidal compositions typical of the art of Syriac epigraphs of Lebanon. At the base, the portal receives the faithful who have come to meet Christ in his flesh and in his blood. Its welcoming role towards the Eucharistic celebration, is that defined by Patriarch Estéphanos Douayhi and by the inscription of the door of Mor Awtel of Kfar-Sghob, both quoting Isaiah “your doors will always be open; neither by day nor by night will they be closed” (Is, 60, 11).

The Host and the chalice

Above this portal, the epigraph deploys its pure Syriac writing. Hereby, it expresses only the Word in its Old Testament condition, without name and without face, therefore without the slightest ornamentation. But then, the Melto (Word) is incarnated. Here, above the epigraph, the Melto offers his blood in a Kosso (chalice) for all those who have come to celebrate this mystery. The Host of the Qurbono figures even higher. It is divine light and enters the sanctuary through the circle of the oculus-host.

The Eucharist is central. It is the purpose of the mass; it is the mass. It is no coincidence that, in Syriac, the two terms Qurobo (celebration of the mass) and Qurbono (Eucharist) come together in a common source. But, more than that, among the Maronites, the mass itself is simply called Qurbono, no longer distinguishing itself from the Eucharist. Thus, the representation of the latter on the facade becomes that of the entire mass. And at Our Lady of the Seeds, the two elements of the divine meal (Ukharistia) are opposed to the (Grossé) serpents, fruits of Evil, which tarnished the image of Adam and his descendants.