BATRUN dei MARONITI. — Patriarchal diocese of Antioch of the Maronites. B. is the Arabic translation of Botri. This is the ancient diocese of Gebajl (Biblos) and Botri. Its bishops resided outside it, in Kisravān; but the Synod of Luaize (1818) and the decree of confirmation issued by the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide on 4 April 1819 established their residence in the monastery of S. Giovanni Marone at Kfarhai. On 6 May 1837, by order of the Holy See, the patriarch left the diocese of Tyre and Sidon and assumed that of Botri and Gebajl, within whose limits the patriarchal see of Qannūbīn is situated.
BIBL.: S. Congr. Orientale, Statistica della gerarchia e dei fedeli di rito orientale, Città del Vaticano 1932, p. 60; Annuario pontificio, 1948. Pietro Sfair