Saint Cyprian & Justine Monastery – KFIFAN

  Deyr is an Arabic word that equals in Syriac (DAYRO), it’s meaning in Latin is Monasterium (monastery). It is a location where a group of monks live in community with each other. The monastery is distinguished by a traditional architecture of a square form, in which quietness prevails.

  The name: Monastery of Kfifan is named after the village of Kfifan, where it is located. The word Kfifan of Syriac origin. It could be a derivative of the word (Kfifa) which means curved or bent. It also may denote a small place of Domes & Arcs, in an indication to the presence of a village over a curved land between two valleys.

Location of the Monastery and its History

  Saint Cyprian & Justine Monastery – KFIFAN (Batroun-North Lebanon) is situated on a hill that is 450m above sea level, and is surrounded by the villages: Kfifan, Jran, Derya, Abdelly, Smar-Jbeil. It goes back to the seventh Christian century, because we find a description for it dated in the year 717 as follows: “Stony construction knot with a length of 20 “Hashemite yard” and a width of five “Hashemite yard”, divided into four rooms…”

It became a Patriarchal Seat in the year 1230, in the days of Patriarch Daniel El-SHAMATI. The Lebanese Maronite Order took ownership of it in the year 1766 in ruins from the Emir Youssef SHEHAB. They refurbished, constructed and acquired for this monastery titles of land which surround the monastery. They achieved this through by the toil and hard labor of its monk’s determination and the endeavor to succeed.

   The monastery included a monastic scholasticate to teach Philosophy, Theology, Literature and Law between the years 1808 till 1874. Teaching restarted again in the same in the year 1892. At different periods it became a novitiate in the years of- 1899, 1939, 1944, 1950, 1977 up until the present day.

Monastery of Sanctity  

  Saint Cyprian & Justine Monastery – KFIFAN was filled with the scent of sanctity, the fragrance of incense and aroma of Holy Chrism, its Good News and graceful annunciation all over the world, until it became a center of intersection between heaven and earth. The sanctity of the Holy God was transfigured through Saint Neematullah and the blessed Estephan Nehmeh along with the prayers of our sanctified monks.      

  It is interesting to mention that Saint Charbel, was brought up in this monastery under the supervision of Saint Neematullah for a period of five years. The monastery then became a place for pilgrimage for believers from all over the world. They come to pray, obtain blessing, and to ask the intercession of the Saints for spiritual and physical healing. Proclaiming, hymning, chanting, and glorifying God in one voice and in one breath “Glory to God in Heaven and peace on earth and goodwill for all men”. The sanctity of the Father Neematullah El-Hardini and the blessed brother Estephan Nehme spread in Lebanon and around the world, they were both the ideal for asceticism, prayer, fasting, silence, quietness, meditation and dedicated monks fulfilling the Will of God, His inspiration and abiding according to his Holy Word, to everyone who knew them, heard about them or visited their sepulchers (tomb).

  The Monastery of Kfifan is bounded from the east by an old Church on the name of Our Lady of Seeds and from the west by a church on the name of Our Lady of the Vineyard known as Our Lady of RAMAT, which made the monastery a special Pilgrimage for Saint Mary. The Churches of her beatitude Our Lady the Virgin Mary surrounds it from all sides, the latter of which is the church and statue or the Saint Virgin with the name of “Mary Mother of Novices”, and the Cabella (Shrine) of Transfiguration. Saint Nehmtallah and the blessed brother Estephan Nehme absorbed their holiness from the spirituality of the Virgin Mary. They followed her footsteps, and the footsteps of her son Jesus Christ. Her Divine Chaplet never left their hands, and they whispered her name all the time.

Monastery of Novices

  Those meditating in the past & present of the Monastery of Saint Cyprian & Justine–Kfifan are perplexed in finding an adjective that suits the magnitude of its monastic and spiritual ancestry. It takes a unique position in the hearts of the monks specially those who took their first monastic steps in its spaces and learnt the principals and depth of prayers in the corners of its church. It also taught them how to take care of the land in its gardens and vineyards.

  The Lebanese Maronite Order selected the monastery of Kfifan to be the Novitiate, and it has placed its faith in the monastery and its monks to give the necessary and required teachings for those seeking and who are called to the true vocation of serving Christ. The novitiate has established itself as a fruitful field for the Word of God and a school of holiness.   

  In every corner, in every capacious space of the monastery you catch the shadow of Saint Nimatullah and the blessed brother Estephan Nehme, where prayers, meditation, silence and quietness prevail. The Novitiate according to the monasticism constitution means that: “It is a period of monastic experience, during which the novice tests himself and the Order is also testing him. In this period he is trained to listen to the Words of God, and practice to live the true Monastic life and to abide by its bylaw. He is introduced to its requirements and values, in the solemnity of meditation, prayers and struggle.”

Moreover the out spreading of agricultural land, the fields of oaks, olive trees, pine trees and vineyards that surrounds the Monastery, create the appropriate atmosphere and opens new realms for the novice, through which he discovers his true vocation. He realizes more and more the meaning of monastic life, existentialism, the importance of climbing up the ladder of perfection and the contest to heaven.

 The Life of the Martyrs Cyprian & Justine 

  Cyprian was born in Antioch for an honorable pagan family of high social standards. He was raised up on worshiping idols and practicing magic. He continued on this path for thirty years. Since he pitied the poor, God was merciful and pulled him out of the hem of infidelity.

  The young pagan Aghlaous had fallen in love with the young girl Justine. He wanted to marry her, but she refused and said she was engaged to Jesus Christ. So the young man resorted to the magician Cyprian, in order to attain his aim. So he started using all means of magic, but he failed, and the demons acknowledged their inabilities.

  Then Cyprian said: “How ignorant I am! If a young weak Christian girl wins over the devils by just praying and drawing the sign of the cross, so how mighty is the God of Christians?” At that moment he decided to worship the same God worshiped by Justine. So he requested from Aphtimos the Bishop

of Antioch to prepare him for acquiring the Sacrament of Baptism. So he was baptized,  after accepting the ultimate teachings of the Bible, and repented truthfully.King Diocletian gave an order when he came to Nicodemy to torture Cyprian and Justine and whip them brutally and cruelly. But God safeguarded them from any harm. So the king ordered their beheading. As a result they were both crowned by the grace of martyrdom in the year 304. Their relics were transported to Rome and were buried in the Church of Saint John Lateran. The Church celebrates their feast on the 2nd of October.