Owing to Lebanon’s sectarian political structure, men of religion play an important and controversial role in the political, social and cultural issues of the country. Each sect aims to increase its number of clerics or sheikhs and encourages the younger generation to follow in this direction. While the number of Christian clerics is much higher than that of Muslim sheikhs, the country has been witnessing a decline in the former, compared with the growing number of sheikhs.

Training

• Clerics

There are two kinds of clerics:

• Monks
Monks enter a monastery in the early stages of their education and receive standard schooling, in addition to religious studies. After completion of a secondary school degree, students head for theology schools in Lebanon or abroad. Some Christian theology schools in the country are located in Kaslik and Harissa (for all Christian sects), Balamand (only for the Greek Orthodox sect) and Hibrieh (for Maronite and Catholic sects).

One year is devoted to religious studies before students move on to the 5-year program, which consists of philosophy and theological studies. After completion, students may be designated as monks in their original monastery.

• Priests
Priests at a diocese are usually appointed by the archbishop or the patriarch, and tend to be retirees. Most priests have a family whose members have also received religious studies at a monastery or religious institute for a period of three years.

• Muslim sheikhs

• Shiia
The primary requirement to enter religious schools in the Shiia sect is completion of an elementary education. Some religious schools also require a student to have a secondary degree. Five to ten years are then spent studying the Islamic faith (through the Koran, the Hadith and general history). However, Shiia religious studies do not follow any fixed curriculum. ...Full Story