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MARONITES
Who are they? Where do they come from?

The Maronite Catholic Church, sometimes called the Maronite Rite, had its beginning in the city of Antioch, Syriac which was the first See of Saint Peter, where the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).

From Antioch, Saint Peter went to Alexandria and then to Rome, where he was martyred and then buried on the Vatican Hill.The name "Maronite" is derived from Saint Maron, a holy priest and monk who lived in the vicinity of Antioch and who died in the year 410 AD. Saint Maron converted a pagan temple, ministered to the people of God along the Orontes River - south of Antioch in Syria, and performed many healings of body and spirit. After his death, a monastery was built with 800 monks living within its walls.

From the early centuries of the church, the Maronites abided by the precepts of the Holy Ecumenical Councils. Many among them were martyred for defending the teachings of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon and of Pope Saint Leo in the year 451. For many centuries the Maronites were the only Christians in the east who were in complete communion with our Holy Father the Pope in Rome and have always maintained that unity.

The Maronites looked constantly towards world Christian unity, despite the dissentions in the East among various Christian sects. They lived under the Byzantines for centuries but maintained their autonomous church and rite.

As the Arabization of the Middle East took place in the early 7th century AD., most of the peoples of the region were converted to Islam. The Maronites took refuge in Mount Lebanon to preserve their identity and faith.

For more than seven centuries, the Maronites withstood the onslaught by several dynasties, including the Umayyades, Abbassides, Mamelukes, and Ottomans. Lebanon became their homeland, which they defended fiercely along with other persecuted minorities. The Maronites cherished their church and spoke the Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic which was spoken by Jesus, His Mother, and His Apostles. Syriac/Aramaic is still used in parts of the Maronite Liturgy.

In the 19th century, many Maronites emigrated to the west, particularly to the United States. Seeking both freedom from oppression and economic opportunity, tens of thousands of Maronites joined lawful and hard working emigrants in America.

In 1966, Pope Paul VI appointed the first Maronite Bishop for the faithful of the United States. Now there are two Maronite Diocese, called Eparchies, in the United States -- The Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, Eastern USA, and The Eparchy Our Lady of Lebanon Church, Western USA.

WHO WE ARE

Maronite church, one of the largest Eastern ritechurches, prominent especially in modern Lebanon. The church is in canonical communion with the Roman Catholic Church and is the only Eastern rite church that has no counterpart outside that union.The Maronites trace their origins to St. Maron, or Maro (Arabic: Mārūn), a Syrian hermit of the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and St. John Maron, or Joannes Maro (Arabic: Yūḥannā Mārūn), patriarch of Antioch in 685–707, under whose leadership the invading Byzantine armies of Justinian II were routed in 684, making the Maronites a fully independent people

byblos-church-maronite-catholic-lebanon-

The Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in communion with rome, has a history reaching back to the fifth century. The monks of the monastery of St. Maron, from which the Church takes her name, were fierce opponents of the Monophysite heresy who learned to be independent during the violent theological struggle. At one point, the Monophysites killed three hundred fifty monks loyal to the teachings of the council of Chalcedon. Correspondence of the time between St. Maron [the monastery] and Pope Hormisdas reveals that Rome recognized a degree of autonomy among the Maronites even then.
   In the seventh century, during the conflict with the Arabs, the Patriarchs of Antioch moved to Constantinople and were appointed by the emperor, thus leaving the Chalcedonians in Syria without a patriarch. In response, the monks of St. Maron and other local bishops elected the first Maronite patriarch in 685.
   By the mid-eighth century, most Maronites had moved to Lebanon and established a tightly-knit Christian society presided over even in temporal affairs by the patriarch. The Crusades brought the Maronites into direct contact with the West, and in 1215 the Maronite patriarch participated in the Fourth Lateran Council and later received the pallium from Pope Innocent III.
   From that time on, ties have been very strong between the Maronites and Rome, leading to a degree of Latinization of this Oriental Church. The use of Syriac, however, has been retained in the Maronite Liturgy.
   Because of constant political turmoil and intermittent war with Muslims, many Maronites have left Lebanon. The Maronite patriarch still resides in [Lebanon] but has jurisdiction over dioceses in Lebanon,
Syria, Egypt, Australia, Brazil and the United States.