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==Education==
The first clerical school was established at the monastery in 1832 by the [[Archimandrite]] Athanasius Kaseer of Damascus. This school, unfortunately, closed in 1840 after seven years of operation. The school re-opened in 1899 after [[Meletius II (Doumani) of Antioch|Meletius II Dumani (Doumani)]] was elected [[Patriarch]], with the [[Bishop]] of Tripoli, Gregorios Gregory IV (Haddad), charged with its supervision. The school was closed again with the beginning of World War I. After the war it opened on a lesser scale of operation. In 1962, Patriarch Theodosius VI (Abu RjailyAbourjaily) initiated a move to improve the instruction at the school with the appointment of Bishop [[Ignatius IV (Hazim) of Antioch|Ignatus (Hazim) ]] as administrator of the school.
In 1965, Metr. [[Antony (Bashir) of New York|Antony (Bashir)]] of the [[AOCA|Antiochian Archdiocese of North America]] assumed the responsibility of upgrading the educational standard for the Church of Antioch when, at a general convention of the American Archdiocese, a decision was made to establish a theological institute on the hill of Balamand near Tripoli. The institute, [[St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology (Tripoli, Lebanon)|St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology]], was officially opened on [[October 7]] , 1971, ending the education programs that were held at the monastery.
