The religious tourism and the pilgrims

Lebanon Roots is a tour operator specialized in religious tourism and pilgrims. Lebanon is a multi-confessional state, where you can count around 18 different religion communities. One of the phenomenal privileges of Lebanon is that you can discover all these communities willing to live together peacefully in the same Land.
Lebanon is an integral part of the biblical land of Christ: in Tyre, you can envision Christ as he preached to the multitudes, in Cana he performed his first miracle, in Maghdouche Virgin Mary waited for him…
The Christ was the first to evangelize Lebanon. Than, the holy scriptures report that Jesus prophesied and did miracles in the area running from Tyre to Sidon, the first one being water turned into wine in Cana. Jesus even praised the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon for their faith. Talking to the pharisians, he reminded them of the prophet Elie being fed, during a starvation, by a widow from Sarepta (south of Sidon). We also know that up on Hermon Mount, Jesus transfigured in front of his apostles. Saint Paul often visited the Christians living on the Lebanese coast, going through Tyre before being arrested. From north to south and east to west, crossing Bekaa planes and mountains, one can found place of worship for all confessions. The harmonious relationships existing in such a multiconfessional country show how much: the principles of faith, respect, tolerance and friendship are deeply rooted as values of its foundation.
The Middle East belongs to the Arab world. It is the very place where different faiths meet. Islam is often linked and associated to this geographical place but other religions are also very present since this is where monotheistic religions first started to exist with to major places of pilgrimage= Jerusalem, known in the three monotheistic religions as a holy place and Mecca, worshipped by Muslim people. Concurrently to these two places, there is a developed net of holy places where an important devotion exists for saints, prophets and so on.

Religious tourism is a type of cultural tourism whose aim is to get people discover and get familiar with holy places, religions and different communities. Religious and cultural itineraries also represent an opportunity to favor dialogue between cultures and to promote peace thanks to a better knowledge of nature, history, art, religious tradition and local ways of life. In this last case, we have an inter-religious or ecumenical approach. Lebanon and the Middle East are the ideal places where one can meet people belonging to different religious communities living together but having different beliefs and different holy and worship places.
Lebanon itself has 18 religious communities, Christians, Muslim, druses and Jewish.

Pilgrimage is a path of faith going through these holy places and sanctuaries where God revealed himself. Lebanon can be characterized by a large number of pilgrimage places. Virgin Mary worship has a great importance. The number of worship places dedicated to her along with people attending masse and oratories are truly amazing. Parallel to this deeply rooted worship of Virgin Mary, people also worship numerous saints. Thus, we have saints who took part in the Christ's redemption, those who were his forerunners, his apostles, his martyrs, the church fathers, PHD beholders whose knowledge influenced the church organization, confessors, those whose holy life was a good example of the Christ's life, the virgins who underwent martyrdom for their virginity and faith and finally the men and women who dedicated their life to God.

* Lebanon Roots is the exclusive agent for the monasteries of the Lebanese Maronite Order, handling all the promotion and bookings for different types of accommodations, restoration, possibilities of celebration…