For the first time, Lebanese President Michel Aoun opens the doors of the presidential palace of Baabda to the celebration of the Annunciation, which since 2010 has been proclaimed an Islamic-Christian national holiday in Lebanon.
The same Maronite President, together with his wife Nadia Chami Aoun, presided over the solemn meeting hosted on March 26th at the Presidential Palace, which saw the participation of Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Bishops of different Churches and Shiite, Sunni and Druse representatives.
During the ceremony – local sources told Agenzia Fides – the story of the Annunciation to Mary in the Gospel of Luke, and the Surah al Imran, which expresses the veneration for Mary in the Q’uran, the Holy Text of Islam, were read.
During the meeting, historian, Hareth Boustany presented the feast of the Annunciation as a moment of national unity which gathers around the Virgin Mary the different communities of believers, in a country that wants to present itself to the world as an example of tolerance and inter-religious coexistence.
Source: www.fides.org