There is no ambiguity in Bkerke's stance on the issue of electing a president for the republic. Bkerke does not intervene in naming candidates but specifies the qualities required. It has previously been drawn into naming and presenting lists since 1988, but all have been unsuccessful attempts. For the Maronite Patriarchate, the danger threatening Lebanon today is greater than merely choosing a president. It considers that electing a president should be the beginning of correcting the course threatening the Lebanese entity to regain Lebanon's true identity. Therefore, Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi emphasizes in his presidential sermons the importance of electing a savior president, which is a historic mission entrusted to Bkerke since before the establishment of "Greater Lebanon."
In late September 1921, a year after declaring "Greater Lebanon" from the Pine Palace, General Henri Gouraud visited Maronite Patriarch Elias Howayek at his summer residence in Diman, amidst circulating news causing turmoil regarding Syrian unity, which the patriarch viewed as threats to Lebanon's independence—a declaration by Gouraud himself. Despite the importance of the guest, who took great effort to travel from Beirut to Diman as France’s commissioner in Lebanon and Syria, Patriarch Howayek did not hesitate to candidly express his concerns sharply. According to the book "Political Documents of Patriarch Elias Howayek" by Father Estephan Ibrahim Khoury, the patriarch said: “Mr. General, you know how pleased we are with your visit... our confidence in you permits us to speak frankly about some matters of the country. Years ago, while passing through Egypt, I met a French commissioner in Cairo, and we discussed justice and courts in various countries. The commissioner said that 95% of France's courts deliver correct justice and the rest are under suspicion. I told him that 95% of our state courts do not deliver justice, with the rest being between doubt and certainty. Today, Mr. General, we wish to hope that, thanks to the assistance you bring, the situation will improve, and 95% of our courts will operate as we desire, delivering justice among people.” He continued, “You have declared, Mr. General, the independence of Lebanon with its natural borders, and you know how greatly we rejoiced and how immense our gratitude was. However, there have been signs for some time of dangers threatening that independence. In the country, there is noise and whispers regarding Syrian unity or union with Syria. You know, Mr. General, that the Lebanese do not want this and will not accept it. When I traveled to Paris and carried delegations signed by all sects of Lebanon in the name of all Lebanese, I demanded there the independence of the country and its natural borders, and you know that in my talks with Monsieur Clemenceau and in the letter he sent me, there was an official declaration in a manner leaving no room for doubt that our independence is not open to debate, and that Lebanon enjoys its complete independence from any neighboring government. If corrupt individuals come to you and say that the Lebanese have changed their minds, do not believe them. I speak on behalf of all Lebanese, and I say that the Lebanese are today more adamant about independence than they ever were in the past... Moreover, Lebanon has never succumbed to foreign rule. Our ancestors never accepted descending from these barren mountains, defending their freedom and rights, to prevent the hands of conquering invaders from reaching them...”
After the patriarch’s speech was met with applause multiple times, General Gouraud could not contain his astonishment and emotion, standing affected by what he heard, affirming the respect for Lebanon's independence: “The greatest proof that we uphold our promises is my presence now at your table, your Excellency, as you are the representative of the Lebanese nation. I repeat our pledge to Lebanon while raising a toast to you and to Greater Lebanon.” The general spent that night as the patriarch's guest and departed the following morning, reaffirming his promises and pledges.
## Between Freedom and Coexistence
It is true that a hundred years have passed since that event, and it is true that General Gouraud has departed, Patriarch Howayek has passed away, and France is no longer the same France, but Bkerke remains Bkerke from Elias Howayek to Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, while the issue of Lebanon's independence is still on the table, and the echo of Bkerke's words remains the same in defense of that independence. It is the same phrase that Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir said: “If we are given a choice between coexistence and freedom, we choose freedom.” It is as if the patriarch's sermons today tend to revive the same equation whenever the choice becomes narrow between freedom and coexistence amid the grand talk surrounding Lebanese identity and the identity of Greater Lebanon, and about who deserves credit for Lebanon, which "Hezbollah" insists would not have become existent on the map without it.
## What Does Bkerke Want?
Starting from this Maronite patriarchal background, al-Rahi defined his positions in his sermon on July 5, 2020, before the time of electing a president, being sensitive to the seriousness of the phase entered by President Michel Aoun's term, during which he compromised legitimacy and its decisions to the secretary-general of "Hezbollah." Al-Rahi condemned giving priority to personal gains by those in power and accused them of emptying the state treasury, supporting the “October 17 Revolution” and stating that “its fire will not be extinguished.” This revolution was attacked by “Hezbollah” Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on November 11, 2022, calling it an American conspiracy. After al-Rahi defended “the Lebanon of civilization that they want to kill,” he outlined the goals, saying: “The stage we have reached leads us to issue this call: We urge the President of the Republic to work on lifting the blockade on legitimacy and national free decision. We ask friendly countries to hasten to rescue Lebanon as they did whenever it faced danger. We call on the United Nations to reaffirm Lebanon's independence and unity, to implement international resolutions, and to declare its neutrality. Lebanon's neutrality is the guarantee of its unity and its historic positioning in this phase full of geographical and constitutional changes. Lebanon's neutrality is its strength and a guarantee of its role in stabilizing the region and defending the rights of Arab countries and the cause of peace, and in establishing the correct relationship between the countries of the Middle East and Europe due to its position on the Mediterranean coast.”
## Renewed Pledge and Call
In his sermon on July 12, 2020, al-Rahi renewed this pledge and call when he said: “In order to protect Lebanon and its message from the threats of rapid political and military developments in the region, to avoid getting involved in the policies of axes and regional and international conflicts, and to prevent foreign interference in Lebanon's affairs, and with a view to safeguarding its supreme interests and national unity and civic peace, opening promising horizons for its youth, and committing to international legal decisions and Arab consensus and the rightful Palestinian cause, and demanding the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Heights and the northern part of the village of Ghajar, and implementing related international legal resolutions, I launched the call to the international community to declare Lebanon's neutrality for its own good and for the good of all its components and the objectives mentioned.”
He added: “I have done this faithfully to the message of this patriarchal edifice, which is mindful of all Lebanese without discrimination or exclusion, and it has played a pioneering role in the two previous stations in Lebanon's life: first, the declaration of Greater Lebanon on September 1, 1920, during the venerable Patriarch Elias Howayek's term; and second, the declaration of its completed independence in 1943 during the term of Patriarch Antonine Arida. Today, we must reach the third and final stage, which is its neutrality. Thus, the centenary will be a starting point towards Lebanon's neutrality and its new active role. Perhaps this role is one of the divine gifts... This means that the Lebanese want to emerge from the suffering of isolation, stagnation, and neglect. They want partnership and love to work together to save Lebanon and its rising generations. They want bold stances to rescue the country, not small account settling. They want a free state that speaks for the people and returns to it in fateful decisions, not a state that relinquishes its decision and sovereignty, whether towards the internal or external fronts.”
He stated: “They do not want any party to unilaterally determine the fate of Lebanon, its people, land, borders, identity, formula, system, economy, culture, and civilization, which have become deeply rooted in the first hundred years of its life! They reject any popular or parliamentary majority from meddling with the constitution, the covenant, and the law, and dismantling Lebanon’s civilizational model, and isolating it from its brothers and friends from countries and peoples, transferring it from abundance to poverty, and from prosperity to decline, from progress to backwardness.”
## Principles Beyond Presidential Elections
This talk is not related to the upcoming presidential elections; rather, it is an act of faith in Lebanon and in the message of Bkerke, which believes that this “Lebanon” cannot have its history distorted as “Hezbollah” tries to do. Bkerke has been and will remain against any party unilaterally determining Lebanon's destiny and against any popular or parliamentary majority meddling with the constitution, the covenant, and the law. Within this framework, the patriarch’s presidential sermons specify the qualifications for the president, the role of deputies, and the parliament. Below this ceiling, no dialogue with “Hezbollah” or others can proceed, and no election can take place for any president who does not embody Bkerke's aspirations or withstand its demand for full sovereignty and efforts to lift the blockade on legitimacy and the free national decision and to work for the declaration of Lebanon's neutrality.
Thus, there is no need for him to name presidential candidates. The calls he issues carry a list of names and reject another list, and those who understand that Bkerke's specifications do not apply to them should refrain from running for office. The presidency, according to the sermons of Patriarch al-Rahi and previously Patriarch Sfeir, is not for rent, and “Hezbollah” and its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, cannot appoint whomever they wish to this presidency, as it is, according to Bkerke's logic and Lebanon's history, a representation of legitimacy. Under this legitimacy, “Hezbollah” and others must yield.
If “the party” considers itself greater than legitimacy and that the presidency should serve it on the pretext of not being stabbed in the back, then “the party” should not stab the presidency and the republic in the back.
## Reviewing Accounts
And for anyone who considers himself “Hezbollah's” candidate for this task, he should reconsider his accounts, as his Maronite identity obligates him to be within the ceiling raised by the patriarch, which has been a constant roadmap for the primary position in Lebanon that expresses the state's sovereignty and its legitimacy over all other presidencies and political positions. No candidate can hide behind the argument that there is no veto from the patriarch on anyone, because this statement is inaccurate. The patriarch's sermons name many, even if they do not explicitly mention them. Just the fact that Hassan Nasrallah gathers those he considers his presidential candidates and weighs between them, trying to convince one to support the other, irrespective of whether the names are Sleiman Frangieh or Gebran Bassil or any other name, means they should both be excluded from Bkerke's list.
For the Maronite patriarchate, the presidency is not a political position but a symbol of the state, which can only be held by one who matches Bkerke's aspirations and demands and the magnitude of the historic mission required today from the president. A president who can free the decision of legitimacy. This is the strong president that Lebanon wants and that Bkerke wants, and it is no wonder if “Hezbollah” rejects him and prevents his arrival, wanting him to be a missile among its missiles. This is a battle of wills, and the current confrontation is not the first and will not be the last.
