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Concept
Armenians in Lebanon
Summary
The Armenians in Lebanon (Լիբանանահայեր; الأرمن في لبنان; Arméniens du Liban) are Lebanese citizens of Armenian descent. There has been an Armenian presence in Lebanon for centuries. According to Minority Rights Group International, there are 156,000 Armenians in Lebanon, around 4% of the population. Prior to the Lebanese Civil War, the number was higher, but the community lost a portion of its population to emigration. After surviving the Armenian genocide, and initially settling in shanty towns in Lebanon, the Armenian population gradually grew and expanded until Beirut (and Lebanese towns like Anjar) became a center of Armenian culture. The Armenians became one of Lebanon’s most prominent and productive communities.
Armenians first established contact with Lebanon when Tigranes the Great conquered Phoenicia from the Seleucids and made it part of his short-lived Armenian Empire. When the Roman Empire established its rule over both Armenia and ancient Lebanon, some Roman troops of Armenian origin went there in order to accomplish their duties as Romans. After Armenia converted to Christianity in 301, Armenian pilgrims established contact with Lebanon and its people on their way to Jerusalem; some of whom would settle there.
The Catholic Armenians who fled to Lebanon in the declining years of the 17th century may be credited with establishing the first enduring Armenian community in the land. The Maronites further acted on the Armenians' behalf in 1742, when they interceded with the Vatican to win Papal recognition for the patriarch of the Armenian Catholics. In 1749, the Armenian Catholic Church built a monastery in Bzoummar, where the image of Our Lady of Bzommar is venerated. The monastery is now acknowledged as the oldest extant Armenian monastery in Lebanon. Alongside it was built the patriarchal see for the entire Armenian Catholic Church.
In 1890's the Hamidian massacres had produced a trickle of Armenian refugees into Lebanon.
The Armenian presence in Lebanon during the Ottoman period was minimal; however, there was a large influx of Armenians after the Armenian genocide of 1915.
Official source
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