As seen on the Hezbollah backed Al Manar television.
The event: A mass celebrated by the opposition in the St. Georges Cathedral
for Lebanon’s sake.
Event transmitted live by Al Manar now that a major Christian part is their
ally.
Priest:
“Min ajli sayyidina was ilahina was moukhallisina Yasou’ al Massih wa min
ajli tadbirihi al khalassi (For the remembrance of our Lord and God and Sav-
ior Jesus Christ and for his salvatory redemption)”
[Rotating over-impression on the screen goes: It is now the “Azan” (Moslem
prayer) of noon according to Beirut’s time]
[Cut – without any warning to:]
Muezzin chanting:
“Achhadou anna la ilah illa Allah, Achhadou anna la ilah illa Allah, Ach-
hadou anna la ilah illa Allah (I testify that there is no God but Allah)”
[Cut back - without any warning to the mass- with the people chanting an old
Syriac prayer]
“Kyriye layson, kyriye layson, kyriye layson” (God answer our prayer, God
answer our prayer, God answer our prayer)
This is Lebanon. In all its absurdity. In all its surrealism. Lebanon in a
nutshell. A nutshell hard to crack. A code so impossible to break. “You never
bather in the same water twice” said Heraclites. And you never see the same
Beirut twice, I say, I say. A mad city, with a memory as faithful as that of
Parkinson’s patient, an entity with a purposefully elusive identity, a prostitute
with a forever regenerated virginity, a demon with a perpetual redemption
towards the heavens. I am Beirut, you are Beirut, he is Beirut, she is Beirut, it
is Beirut, we are Beirut, you are Beirut, they are Beirut. And it is never twice
the same city.