Abstract

The Russian schools in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon had accomplished an important role in educating and teaching Arab Orthodox at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. They prevented Orthodox from converting to Protestantism and to Catholicism and gave them the means to participate in the Arab cultural and political revival. After examining the relations of Russia with the Ottoman Empire and the relations of the Russian church with the oriental churches (Antioch and Jerusalem) this research is focused on the imperial policy of foundations and constructions of schools undertaken by the Association of Palestine, which had been initiated by members of the imperial family, clerics from the church and Orientalists such as Kithrovo, who has been the first secretary of this association. This study is also analyzing the program of the Russian schools by describing the different courses based on the analysis of their textbooks, and other materials.

Bio

Dr Souad Slim was born in Beirut in 1952. She got her B.A. and M.A. in History at the École supérieure des lettres in Beirut. She received her first PhD in History from Sorbonne Paris IV 1984 under the supervision of Professor Dominique Chevallier and her second PhD in History of Christian-Muslim relations from the University of Birmingham in 2001 under the supervision of Professor Jorgen Nielsen. In her research, she has applied the methodology of quantitative and serial history on Lebanese historiography.
She is currently Director at the Institute of Archaeology and History and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Balamand.

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