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The Maronite
Orthodox Church
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The Church
A History of the Maronite Movement
Saint Maron
Saint Maron, was born in the middle of the 4th century, ordained a priest Saint Maron later became a hermit, living on the mountain of Taurus near Antioch. it is though that he spent his entire life in the mountains, at a place called "Kefar-Nabo" located on the mountain of Ol-Yambos. The holiness of Saint Maron, and the many miracles attributed to him, caused him to draw a very large following. Eventually the stories surrounding the saint, brought the attention of the empire. St John of Chrysostom wrote a letter to him about 405 A.D. sending him expressions of his love and respect, and asking that he pray for him.
Saint Maron is considered the founder and spiritual father of the Maronite movement, which had a very profound impact on the history of Lebanon. Abraham of Cyrrhus, Saint Maron's first disciple now called St Maron is considered the Father of the spiritual and monastic movement now called the Maronite Church which had a profound influence on Lebanon. Saint Maron's first disciple Abraham of Cyrrhus, known as the Apostle of Lebanon, began preaching the gospel to the many pagans living in Lebanon at the time.
Deeply monastic, with a heavy emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic style of life. Saint Maron believed that God was ever present in the physical world, and that to separate the spiritual from the temporal was impossible.
Saint Maron held to the peaceful solitude of the mountain life. He lived in the open air exposed to the forces of nature such as sun, rain, hail and snow. His extraordinary desire to come to know Gods presence in all things, allowed St Maron to transcend such forces and discover that intimate union with God. He was able to free himself from the physical world by his passion and fervor for prayer and enter into a mystical relationship of love with God.
St Maron was a mystic who started this new ascetic-spiritual method that attracted many people to become his disciples. Accompanying his deeply spiritual and ascetic life, he was a zealous missionary with a passion to spread the message of Christ by preaching it to all he met. He sought not only to cure the physical ailments that people suffered, but had a great quest for nurturing and healing the "lost souls" of both pagans and Christians of his time. After his death in the year 410 AD, his spirit and teachings lived on through his disciples.
John Maron
John Maron was the son of Agathon, the governor of Sarum and Anohamia, grandson of prince Alidipas, and a member of the Frankish royal family which governed Antioch. Born in the late 7th century, he was educated in Antioch and the monastery of Saint Maron studying mathematics, sciences, philosophy, theology, linguistics and scripture. He became a monk at the monastery of Saint Maron, adding the name Maron to this own.
John studied Greek and patrology in Constantinople. Returning to Saint Maron's, he wrote on such diverse topics as teaching, rhetoric, the sacraments, management of Church property, legislative techniques, and liturgy. He composed the Eucharistic Prayer which still bears his name. Noted teacher and preacher, he explained Catholic dogma to the Council of Chalcedon, wrote a series of letters to the faithful against Monophysitism and Monothelitism, and then traveled Syria to explain the heresy.
Bishop in 676, assigned to Mount Lebanon with a mission to oppose heresies, keep the Maronites united with Rome, and support the faithful in an area being invaded by Arabs. He traveled extensively in the areas involved in combat, preaching, conducting Mass, tending to the sick, and sheltering the homeless. It was during this terrible period that he was given the gift of healing, curing many praying over them.
The Maronites made up the bulk of the Maradite army, the so-called "Brass Wall" that shielded Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire from Arab expansion. In 685 the Maradites used their power and importance to choose John Maron, one of their own, as Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. John received the approval of Pope Sergius I, and became the first Maronite Patriarch of the oldest see in Christianity.
The Byzantine emperor Justinian II feared the growing power of the Maradite army, and was angered that his approval had not been sought for the appointment of John as Patriarch. He sent his army to defeat the Maradites and capture John. They managed to win battles against the Maradites, overrun Antioch, and destroy the monastery there, killing 500 monks in the process. John, however, escaped to Lebanon. When Justinian's army followed, the Maradites, under the leadership of John's nephew Ibrahim, defeated them decisively, sending them home empty-handed. John then founded the monastery of Reesh Moran (head of our Lord) in Kefer Hay, Lebanon, and moved his see to Mount Lebanon. The Maradites sealed themselves off from the outside, and founded their own national and religious identity, though still part of the Catholic Church, with John seen as one of their great founders.
History of the Maronite Orthodox Church
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The Maronite Orthodox Church
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