The Patriarchal Monastery of Saint Elias – Shwayya (or Deir Mar Elias Shwayya;[1] Arabic: دير مار إلياس شويّا البطريركيّ)[2] is a stauropegic monastery of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch,[3] perched atop a sandstone cliff in the Matn District, thirty-one kilometers from Beirut.
Standing at an altitude of 1150 meters, it overlooks the resort towns of Bikfaya, Khinshara, and Shwayr, and a string of small mountainside villages such as Zighrine, Shwayya, Ayn Teffaha, Shrine, and Jouar. The entire region is covered with lush pine forests, and the area surrounding the monastery is unusually diverse in flora, with oak, eucalyptus, willow, and maple trees, orchards of apples, pears, prunes, and peaches, and vines terraced on the slopes.
The stones of the monastery are hewn from the cliff, and, from a distance, the monastery dissolves into its background, seeming to rise beyond the cliff as a natural continuation. Elias or Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, is a Christian saint also venerated by Muslims and especially the Druze. Together with St. George and St. Michael, he forms a trinity of military saints to whom several churches and monasteries in Lebanon are dedicated. As defender of the true faith, he did not hesitate to use force in slitting the throats of the priests of the Canaanite god Ba'al, worshipped by the king of Israel, Ahab, and his wife Jezebel. Even though he is an Old Testament figure, Elias is regarded as an example of the monastic life because of his long residence in the wilderness, during which he was fed by ravens. The Greek Orthodox monastery lies next to a Maronite monastery also dedicated to Elias, which belongs to the Mariamite (previously Aleppine) order.[4]
The monastery is a summer residence of the patriarchate, and meetings of the Holy Antiochian Synod are regularly held there. St. Elias Shwayya also remains a popular place of pilgrimage. On the saint's feast day of July 20, people from all regions take part in liturgical celebrations held at the monastery.