(ANSAmed) - ROME - Starting tomorrow, one of the most beautiful Paleochristian churches in Rome, Santa Maria in Cosmedin, will host Eucharistic celebrations in Arabic, which will become a weekly religious appointment for Middle Eastern worshippers. There are many Arabic-speaking Christians - especially Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese - who live and work in Rome, even on Sunday, Christian news agency MISNA explains. ''For them,'' said Archimandrite Mtanius Hadad - rector of the basilica, which for centuries has been entrusted to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church -, ''we decided to set one day a week, Thursday, to take part in a mass in their native language, but we are extending an invitation to all Romans to come and listen to the celebration with the Byzantine liturgy in Arabic.'' ''Eastern Catholic Churches, with their liturgical and linguistic heritage passed down through the centuries, remind everyone that Christianity arrived from the Middle East, and they can offer a richness both in ecumenical, cultural and inter-religious dialogue,'' Monsignor Hadad added. This eastern community has run the church for years, with one of the most famous symbols in Rome, the 'Bocca della Verita'', kept in the church's portico. The world famous face also inspired the name of the new cultural centre set up recently by religious and secular Melkites at the church, with courses in Arabic, iconography Byzantine choral singing. (ANSAmed).

There are some liturgies still in Italian, because I still get requests for the texts of the liturgy, Byzantine chant in Italian, etc.

The requests for Italian liturgies have come from Rome as well.