The Maronites believe that their heritage dates back to the time of Jesus. They were one of the Christian sects in the Middle East to remain intact after the Islamic revolution of the seventh century AD. At first the Maronites welcomed the Muslims as saviors from the hated Byzantine rulers.
However, when the European Crusaders attacked Alexandria, the Maronites supported them. This caused the Muslims to question Maronite loyalty and punish them along with the rest of the Christians.
The Maronites eventually fled to the hills of Mount Lebanon to escape persecution by the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century.
They stubbornly survived there for centuries. Taking refuge in small, isolated communities, the Maronites became clannish and fiercely self-protective. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottomans divided Lebanon into two states, one Christian and one Druze a Muslim sect.
The French supported the Maronites in their war with the British-supported Druze. The French again allied themselves with the Maronites from to This cemented the Maronite identification with the West, particularly France. This "Western" identity has led to a sense of separateness from other Arabs, and resentment on the part of their neighbors. Recently, however, Maronites have become more comfortable with their Lebanese identity.
The Maronites have campaigned for an independent homeland since the seventh century AD. However, they are no longer attempting to convert Lebanon into a Maronite state. After surviving in the high mountains of northern Lebanon for many centuries, the Maronites spread southward during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the Maronite Church owned one-fourth to one-third of all the land in Mount Lebanon. During the twentieth century, some Maronites began to move out of the mountains to the cities and coastal plains, especially to Beirut. During the recent Lebanese civil war, more than , Maronites were driven out of their homes and off their lands. The Maronite population is about 1. Although Arabic is the official language of Lebanon, many Maronites also speak French.
Syriac is used for the church liturgy, but Maronites have used Arabic for church records since their beginnings. The door of the Maronite church in the town of Bayt Meri near Beirut is never locked because it is believed that the hand of any thief there would be miraculously paralyzed. The Maronites are Uniate Catholics. They recognize the authority of the Roman Catholic pope, but they have their own form of worship. Their priests can marry, and monks and nuns are housed in the same building.
The Maronites have continued to use the Syriac language for their liturgy instead of Latin. The Maronites hold the orthodox view that Christ has two natures, one human and one divine, that are inseparable yet distinct. Christ is at one with God in his divine nature, and at one with humanity in his human nature. The Qadisha Holy Valley is the Maronites' spiritual center. On the Festival of the Cross September 14 , Maronites set fires on high places all over Mount Lebanon and light candles at home and in churches.
A special Maronite holy day is St. Maroun's Day February 9 , the feast of the Maronites' patron saint, St. The canon is a repetition of the words and deeds of Jesus Christ who, in order to save mankind, died on the Cross and rose again from the dead. Here, the priest genuflects on both knees, followed by a general genuflection by the congregation.
The priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to sanctify the Sacrifice of all the faithful and particularly of those present. The priest concludes the invocation with a prayer for help for his people, for the deceased, for the needs of the Church, and for the entire world. The Chalice is raised before the faithful in order that they may renew their faith and reconfirm their belief in the presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearance of Bread and Wine.
Each member of the congregation now leaves the Church taking with him or her a renewed strength and consolation and encouragement to live as Christ did and with the hope of fulfilling the words of the Apostle St.
Prayer of Praise Doxology. Prayer Before a Meal. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Prayer for the Beatification of Patriarch Duwayhi.
You bestowed your many graces upon Patriarch Estefan Duwayhi. As a true disciple, he responded to them, eager to imitate his.
He sought the children of Lebanon, poor and orphaned, and taught them the words of truth. You traveled through cities and villages, preaching the Kingdom of God. Through his preaching and writing, he announced your Good News as a priest, then as a bishop and later as a patriarch. Your chosen one, Patriarch Estefan, took on himself these words, and passed them to all his children, encouraging them, confirming them, and defending their faith.
You loved your Church and gave your blood to redeem her. We now ask you, 0 Lord, to reveal the abundance of your graces to him, and to show us how great was his response to them, so that the holiness of his life may shine before us. Grant us to see our Patriarch Estefan among the ranks of your saints, so that he may shine like a lighthouse in our land of the East.
A long period of linkages to Rome introduced a number of Latin practices like the Rosary, and fostered a strong devotion to the Immaculate Conception. John Paul II, liturgical reforms have looked to recover important Maronite traditions that had been Latinized. The church is led, under the pope, by the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who is headquartered in Lebanon.
Skip to main content. Maronite devotees carrying the remains of St. Rafka in procession in the hills above the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon. Andrea Pacini Oxford: Clarendon, , This also made them opponents of Muslims who supported the Syrian Christians over the Orthodox Christian, the Byzantines, who were battling the Muslims. Customs and traditions associated with the powerful monks and standing up to Muslim persecution that grew out of this period still exist today. In the early years of their existence the Maronites lived mostly in Syria and were strongly linked with the city of Antioch, with the Maronite Patriarch residing in Antioch.
Some years later, when France took charge of Syria including Lebanon at the end of World War I, it repaid the Maronites by shaping the future nation of Lebanon to their advantage. In the 12th century when the Crusaders arrived on the coast of Syria, the Maronites welcomed them. By the time the Crusaders took control of the region, the Maronites had renounced Monothelitism and accepted Roman Catholicism.
Some scholars argue that the Maronites did this for practical reasons, namely too strengthen their position against the Muslims. During the Crusades, Maronite Catholics struck up a military alliance with the Crusaders against the Muslims, which did not win them many points with the Muslims over the long run. The Maronites have been allied with Rome since the Crusader period and were the first Syrian Middle Eastern church to join Rome and was thus the first Uniate church.
In the 18th century an effort was made to Latinize the Maronite churches liturgical procedures and administration and this lead to a conflict within the Maronite church that called for a return to old Maronite traditions. The Maronites are led by a cardinal, known as both a cardinal and a patriarch.
Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir served in this position from to He was a leader in the effort to drive the Syrian forces out of Lebanon. He was succeeded by Bechara Boutros al-Rahi. The cardinal sometimes resides in Bkirki, the mountain-top seat of Maronite church. The Maronites have lost considerable power in recent years in Lebanon.
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