We are an independent, not-for-profit research center focusing on the history of Levantine Christianity, it's knowledge production, its Saints, and its contribution to humanity. It is also concerned with human, intellectual, and cultural relations between the people of the East and the West on the basis of mutual respect. The Center relies on an a distinguished group of enlightened academics and clerics in the Arab world, and bridges relations with similar centers, universities, and churches in the West. The Center also publishes books specialized in the cultural and religious heritage of the Levant, translating these books into other languages, reprints selected books from the Levant's rich cultural heritage, and produces documentaries about Eastern Christians, their role, culture, churches and saints. The Center organizes conferences on Christian presence and culture and publishes their results in special books. The Center chose for its emblem Apollodorus of Damascus's bridge on the Danube River, as a symbol of the relationship between East and West.