Kfarsghab in Zgharta District in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon predates Christianity. As with most villages in the Qadisha valley, Kfarsghab's history began with the settlement of the Maronites in Mount Lebanon during the 7th century. According to local tradition, the church of Saint Awtel was built on the ruins of a pagan temple. The existence of pagan temples is attested to in a Greek inscription mentioning the date 272 AD found in the Mar Mama church in Ehden.Yammine, Y.: Daleel Ehden, page 14. The monastery of Mar Sarkis and Bakhos in Ehden may also have been built atop pagan ruins.Abi-Khalil, S.: Tarikh Al-Qiddissayn Sarkis wa Bakhos Ehden, page 9
Around 1000 AD A possible reference to Kfarsghab appears in a letter found in the Cairo Geniza dating between 1011 and 1037 AD.WArdini, E.: A Dictionary of Lebanese Place-NAmes, page 263.
Mamluk period – 1252–1517 Maronite historians mention Kfarsghab in connection with events of 1283 at the end of the crusading period.Douaihi, Es.: Tarikh Al Azminah, pages 261-262. It is related to the invasion of Jebbet Bsharri by the Mamluk army and the collaboration of Ibn Al Sabha from Kfarsghab with the Mamluks. El Douaihy (1630–1704) wrote in Tarikh Al-Azminah about the role of Ibn Al Sabha during this invasion:
And it was related that the fort that was in Hawqa could not be taken by the Army, which was then advised by Ibn Al Şabĥa from Kfarşghab to divert the water source of Bcherray and direct it against the fort. They thus took it (the fort of Hawqa) by the force of water and brought it to the ground. For that reason, they (the armies) authorized Ibn Al Şabĥa to dress in white Bash Yanis (White clothes reserved to the only Muslims) and the rest of the slaves served him (Ibn Al Şabĥa) and he was very powerful with them. Then, he (Ibn Al Şabĥa) repented of his bad actions and returned and constructed the Monastery of Hawqa close to the fort for the housing of the monks. And the waterway [used to destroy the fort] became reserved since those times and till our days for the usage of the Monasteries in turns, thus on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays for the Monastery of Qannubine, on Wednesdays for the Monastery of Hawqa Blawza, and on the rest of the days (of the week) for the town of Hadshit and its Waqfs.
This 'betrayal' can be understood in a historic context. At the beginning of the 13th century, three main powers existed more or less peacefully in the Middle East: the Byzantines, the Franks, and the Ayyubid Sultans in Cairo, Egypt. Each power had its allies in the region. The failure of the Seventh Crusade and the defeat of the Mongols heralded the rise of a new power, the Mamluks of Egypt, from 1250 AD. Seeking legitimacy in the Muslim world, Baibars attacked the Franks, seizing Antioch in 1268. From that date, the pre-existing divisions of the native Christians of Lebanon between Pro and Anti-Franks became more marked. The anti-Frankish party found in the Mamluks the strong ally it was missing since the First Crusade in 1099. After a first limited Mamluk incursion in Jebbet Bsharri against the village of Hadath in 1268, the Mamluk armies came back to the region in 1283 and also returned in 1290 after the fall of the Frankish city of Tripoli in 1289. These campaigns were directed against the allies of the Franks in Jebbet Bsharri according El Douaihy. Their success reinforced the position of the anti-Frankish party to which Ibn Al Sabha belonged.
During the Mamluk period in Lebanon (1290–1517), few mentions of the village are found.
In 1470 Kfarsghab is mentioned in conjunction with the construction of Saint Awtel's Church.Abi Khattar, A., Moukhtasar Tarikh ... , page 139. In fact,; the author refers to a text of the Patriarch El Douaihy in his book Tarikh Al Azminah. On the other hand, the historians (including AïnTourini) agree on saying that the construction of the church of Saint Awtel goes to the same period and on the same style as those of Saint Roumanos in Hadchit and another church in Madinat Al Ras (village now extinct). However the Patriarch El Douaihy dates the construction of Saint Roumanos church to the year 1518, El Douaihy, S.: Tarikh Al Azminah, page 397. Therefore, the first church of Saint Awtel could have been built at the end of the fifteenth century It is the only church in Lebanon dedicated to this Saint whose tradition is shared by the Maronite, Orthodox and Jacobite churches.
The village is mentioned indirectly at the end of the conflict between the Jacobites and Maronites. Profiting from the troubles in Jebbet Bsharri (or maybe called upon for help by the Jacobites), the Muslim Muqaddams of the neighbouring region of Ďanniyeh attacked Ehden in 1489 hoping for a quick victory. The inhabitants of Ehden and of the neighbouring villages, including Kfarşghab, despairing of the help of the Muqaddam of Bsharri, ‘Abdel Mon‘em, pushed back the attackers.El Douaihy, Es.: Tarikh Al Azminah, page 364
Ottoman period – 1517–1918 Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of conquest and expansion. By defeating the Mamluks in 1517, it achieved control over the Middle East. Jebbet Bsharri entered 4 long centuries under the Ottoman rule.
16th century The first Ottoman Census of 1519 found 14 Christian males over the age of15, all married. Historians estimated the total population by using an average of 6.6 inhabitants per adult male, which gave about 92 inhabitants.Khalifeh, I. K.: North Lebanon in the Sixteenth Century, pages 30-65. The tax money amounted to 1,600 Akçes1 Akçe = 0.384 g of silver in 1584. In 2007 value, it will be 0.2 US$ approximately and its payment reserved to the Waqf of the heirs of Saad Al Moulouk.
The second census of 1571 recorded 12 males in Kfarsghab. The tax amounted to 2,892 Akçes paid to the Waqf of the Two Holy Mosques. There was an amount of 1,068 Akçes paid as Jizya.
In spite of the tax increases due to inflation, the population of Kfarsghab decreased between 1519 and 1571. This decrease is attributed to the economic difficulties of the 16th century in the Middle East, but also to the struggle between Maronites and Jacobites. Kfarsghab stands in the middle of four historical centers of Jacobites in the region: Bqoufa, Bane, Hadshit and Bsharri. However, the Jacobites were driven out around 1550. Both censuses show that Kfarsghab was inhabited by Christians but without distinction between Jacobites and Maronites.
Around 1600, the Kfarsghab population merged with that of the neighboring village of Qaryat Moussa due to religious disputes. The inhabitants of Qaryat Moussa had been suspected of being Jacobites since the end of the 14th century.El Debs, Y.: Al Jamii Al Moufassal …, pages 154 & 160 & 188. According to the author, the hermit Elisée of Hadath - accused by Gibrail Ibn Al Qalaii of being Jacobite - lived in 1391 and was taught by Farah, the priest of Qaryat Moussa. Later, in 1487, the Jacobite priest Nouh of Bqoufa (the future patriarch of the Jacobites) attracted young Maronites, notably Moussa and Hanna: sons of Ibrahim Ibn AlHajj Moussa of Bqoufa and Moussa of Qaryat Moussa. From 1495, with the death of the Muqaddam (chief) of Bcharri, Abdul Mouneem, protector of the Jacobites, these latter began losing their influence in Jebbet Bsharri. Consequently, the Jacobites left the region of Ehden/Bqoufa establishing themselves in Hadchit, Hardine and Kfarhaoura. Maronite Patriarch Mikhail Al Rizzi (1567–1581) was accused of being Jacobite because he came from Bqoufa. However, the Al Rizzi family lived in the higher part of Bqoufa and the Jacobites lived in the lower part. Qaryat Moussa is on the border of this lower part of Bqoufa; hence the assumption that some Jacobites lived in Qaryat Moussa. The struggle between Maronites and Jacobites in the region lasted until the mid-16th century. The Jacobite population dwindled over time possibly due to economic hardship and the harshness of the climate.Abi Khattar, A.: Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal…, page 65. According to the author, Bqoufa residents left because of heavy snowfall and political conflict. According to local tradition, Qaryat Moussa was abandoned due to the displacement of the village water source in the wake of seismic activity from the middle of the sixteenth century till the middle of the eighteenth century.Seismic hazard in Lebanon, last accessed on November 1, 2015The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D. - pp.374-375, last accessed on November 1, 2015
Historical references of Qaryat Moussa persist till the end of the 16th century, after which the village disappears from the historical records. The Ottoman census found 9 males in 1519, all Christians and only 7 of them married. The second census, in 1571, recorded 12 males.
Another reference concerns a Maronite synod that took place in 1598 in Saint Moura, the church of Qaryat Moussa.Douaihi in Radd Al Touham cited by Dr. Antoine Daou in the Accounts of the First Seminar on Jebbet Bcharri History 1998, page 276. This Synod - called by the Patriarch Youssef AlRazzi from Bqoufa - aimed to complete the work done in the previous synods of 1595 and 1596 for the alignment of the Maronite Church practices with those of the Holy Roman See, banning definitively the Jacobites' accusations that tarnished the reputation of his two predecessors. The priest at the time of the 1598 synod, Ibrahim of Qaryat Moussa, was an important aide of the then Patriarch Youssef AlRizzi (1596–1608).Douaihi Es.: Tarikh Al Azminah, page 461 AinTourini mentions another synod in this church in 1644.Abi Khattar, A.: Moukhtasar Tarikh Jabal ..., page 111. According to him, this synod was summonsed by the Patriarch Youssef Halib from Akoura. This Synod took place in fact in the Monastery of Mar Youhanna Hrash
Another point of view on the merger and the location of the synod comes from Father Youakim Moubarac when introducing his translation into French of the canons of the Synod:Moubarac, Y.: Pentalogie Antiochienne / Domaine Maronite - Volume 1 - Part 1, page 526. Popular tradition in Kfarsghab states that Saint Augustine Church hosted the first Maronite Synod ever gathered.
We put into this translation a particular care because Day`at Moussa overlooks by some hundred meters the village where we were born. However, we cannot help to have some doubt as to the precise location of this Synod. Mart Moura's church, the generally assumed location for that synod celebration, is well known and its patronal saint's day is still celebrated every year with the fervent participation of the faithful from our village Kfarsghab, on September 24. Also, we think that there lies our village of origin, before unknown reasons to the local memory made us go down.
But my family acquired in the time of my father a plot of land upper than Mart Moura. It is called Marg el-Dayr and it belonged to the family Mousa. Its conversion into an orchard caused the cleaning of an oratory in decline devoted to Saint Augustine. Would it be rather there the place of celebration of the synod? I prefer to believe it because the place in question is on the border of the famous village of Bqoufa, also ruined, but from which we know that the prelates of the family Rizzi are originated, prelates who led our Church in those times with three successive patriarchs.
Mart Saint Moura Church belongs to Kfarsghab. Restored in the 1990s, it is used once a year on Mart Moura's Day (24 September). On that day all the villagers in Kfarsghab participate in celebrating a mass, praying especially for the rest of the souls of the forebears of Kfarsghab buried in the cemetery located next to the church.
The modern Kfarsghab results from a merge between Kfarsghab and Qaryat Moussa around 1600.
The 17th century