St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology, and Antiochian Orthodox
Research Section for Studies and Documentation (The University
of Balamand)
The Institute of
Theology predates the University as it was created in 1970 as an independent
theological institute headed then by Bishop Hazim (now Patriarch Ignatius
IV). It joined the University of Balamand upon its foundation in 1988; and
its aim is to prepare clergy and theologians for the Antiochian Orthodox
Christian Church.
It possesses about 150 manuscripts of Christian texts written in Arabic
language dated from 14th cent. Its library is very active as centre of studying
orthodox Christian literature, history and Arabic palaeography.
The participation of the above in the NOESIS project will be of great importance for the history of the manuscripts in the collection, whose production methods and materials used are very rare. The institute will give access to its collection for digitisation and will provide relevant local historical information and act as the second co-ordinator of historical research.
The University also hosts the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Near
Eastern Heritage, which includes the Antiochian Orthodox Research Section
for Studies and Documentation. The academic research team in this section
is very active in the archiving, research and interpretation of Greek and
Arabic manuscript. They will assist the rest of the consortium in developing
the user requirements specification, the various system evaluation tasks
and provide significant parts of the research staff training and regional
laboratory setups.