I was always intrigued why Maronites visit 7 churches on the Thursday of Mysteries, the day preceding Good Friday. So I decided to finally get an answer and ask my hometown’s priest.

Anciently, Jerusalem only had seven churches. So it became customary for its people to visit those churches on Thursday of Mysteries. And the tradition kept going. There’s no religious reason to visit 7 churches. It’s simply a tradition that’s a byproduct of the culture present at that time – and that tradition has lived on.

So I figured, why have it stop with me?

Here are the 7 churches I visited yesterday:

1 – St. Charbel (From whom the Maronite saint took his name) Church – Ebrine

2 – St. Charbel (Maronite Saint) Church – Ebrine

3 – St. John the Baptist Church, Ebrine:

4 – The Virgin Mary’s Church – Ebrine

5 – Convent of the “Sainte Famille” Church – Ebrine

6 – St. Georges’ Church – Rashkida

This is hundreds of years old. It’s currently being renovated by my hometown’s parish as Rashkida is not a Christian town.

7 – St. Anthony’s Church, Ebrine