During our passage in front of a church in Beit-Chbéb in the summer of 1992, a cherub, born several thousand years ago on the coast of Phoenicia, came crashing down at our feet. We lifted our eyes, and all the cherubs on the lintels of the doors and windows had been hammered and thrown to the ground. “We are purifying this church of these foreign influences,” was the prompt reply to our attempt to stop the vandalism.