Maronite Church

Maronite monk and pilgrims, Mount Lebanon

The Patriarch of Antioch Anastasius II died in 609, and Constantinople began to appoint a series of titular patriarchs, who resided in Constantinople. In 685, the Maronites elected Bishop John Maron of Batroun as Patriarch of Antioch and all the East.[19] Through him, later Maronites claimed full apostolic succession through the Patriarchal See of Antioch. While this installation of a patriarch was seen as a usurpation by the Orthodox hierarchy, John received the approval of Pope Sergius I, and became the first Maronite Patriarch of the oldest see in Christianity.

The Eastern Mediterranean under Umayyad rule, with the Mardaites zones showed in Mount Lebanon and the Amanus

In 687, as part of an agreements with Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Byzantine emperor Justinian II sent 12,000 Christian Maronites from Lebanon to Armenia,[27] in exchange for a substantial payment and half the revenues of Cyprus.[19] There they were conscripted as rowers and marines in the Byzantine navy.[28] Additional resettlement efforts allowed Justinian to reinforce naval forces depleted by earlier conflicts.[29] The Maronites struggled to retain their autonomy against both imperial power and Arab incursions on the part of the Damascus Caliphate.

John Maron established himself in the remote Qadisha Valley in Lebanon. In 694, Justinian sent troops against the Maronites in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Patriarch.[30] John Maron died in 707 at the Monastery of St. Maron in Lebanon. Around 749 the Maronite community, in the Lebanon mountains, built the Mar-Mama church at Ehden. Meanwhile, caught between the Byzantines and the Arabs, the monastery at Beth-Maron struggled to survive.[31]

1779 painting of a Maronite nun from Mount Lebanon, with brown jilbab, blue headscarf and black hijab

After they came under Arab rule following the Muslim conquest of Syria (634–638), Maronite immigration to Lebanon, which had begun some time before, increased, intensifying under the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (813–33).[30] The Maronites experienced an improvement in their relationship with the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Constantine IV (reigned 668–685) provided direct ecclesiastical, political and military support to the Maronites. The new alliance coordinated devastating raids on Muslim forces, providing a welcome relief to besieged Christians throughout the Middle East.

During this period the region was dominated by the Abbasids, who persecuted the Maronites. Around AD 1017, a new Muslim sect, the Druze, emerged. At that time the Maronites, as dhimmis, were required to wear black robes and black turbans and they were forbidden to ride horses.

To eliminate internal dissent, from 1289 to 1291 Egyptian Mamluk troops descended on Mount Lebanon, destroying forts and monasteries.[32]

Following the Muslim conquest of Eastern Christendom outside Anatolia and Europe in the 7th century and after the establishment of secured lines of demarcation between Islamic Caliphs and Byzantine Emperors, little was heard from the Maronites for 400 years. Secure in their mountain strongholds, the Maronites were re-discovered in the mountains near Tripoli, Lebanon, by Raymond of Toulouse on his way to conquer Jerusalem in the Great Crusade of 1096–1099. Raymond later returned to besiege Tripoli (1102–1109) after the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, and relations between the Maronites and European Christianity were subsequently reestablished.[33]

The Maronites assisted the crusaders and affirmed their affiliation with the Holy See of Rome in 1182.[34] To commemorate their communion, Maronite Patriarch Youseff Al Jirjisi received the crown and staff, marking his patriarchal authority, from Pope Paschal II in 1100 AD. In 1131, Maronite Patriarch Gregorios Al-Halati received letters from Pope Innocent II in which the Papacy recognized the authority of the Patriarchate of Antioch. Patriarch Jeremias II Al-Amshitti (1199–1230) became the first Maronite Patriarch to visit Rome when he attended the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215.[34] The Patriarchate of Antioch was also represented at the Council of Ferrara in 1438.[35]

Peter Hans Kolvenbach notes, "This contact with the Latin Church enriched the intellectual world of Europe in the Middle Ages. Maronites taught Oriental languages and literature at the universities of Italy and France."[31]

In the Ottoman Empire, indigenous concentrated religious communities dealt mainly with the provincial administration. Officially, Maronites had to pay the jizya tax as non-Muslims, but sometimes the monks and clergy were exempt because they were considered to be "poor".[36]

Fakhr-al-Din II (1572–1635) was a Druze prince and a leader of the Emirate of Chouf District in the governorate of Mount Lebanon. Maronite Abū Nādir al-Khāzin was one of his foremost supporters and served as Fakhr-al-Din's adjutant. Phares notes that "The emirs prospered from the intellectual skills and trading talents of the Maronites, while the Christians gained political protection, autonomy and a local ally against the ever-present threat of direct Ottoman rule."[37] In 1649, Patriarch Yuhanna al-Sufrari placed the Maronites under French protection, and the French opened a consulate in Beirut.[38]

The Khāzin sheikhs subsequently increased in power and influence. In 1662, with the mediation of Jesuit missionaries, Abū Nawfal al-Khāzin was named French consul, despite complaints by Marseille merchants that he was not from Marseille.[36] The Church prospered from the protection and influence of the Khāzins, but at the expense of interference in church affairs, particularly ecclesiastical appointments, which the Khāzins saw as an extension of their political influence.[37]

In 1610, the Maronite monks of the Monastery of Saint Anthony of Qozhaya imported one of the first printing presses in the Arabic-speaking world; however, that press printed in the Syriac language, not Arabic. The monasteries of Lebanon later became key players in the Arabic Renaissance of the late 19th century as a result of developing Arabic, as well as Syriac, printable script.

Bachir Chehab II was the first and last Maronite ruler of the Emirate of Mount Lebanon.[39] A convert from Sunni Islam, his rivalry with the Druze leader Bashir Jumblatt caused tension between the two communities. In the 1822 war between Damascus and Acre, they backed opposite sides.

Archbishop of Beirut Tobia Aoun (1803–1871)

The relationship between the Druze and Christians has been characterized by harmony and peaceful coexistence,[40][41][42][43] with amicable relations between the two groups prevailing throughout history, with the exception of some periods, including 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war.[44][45] In the spring of 1860, war broke out between the Druze population and the Maronite Christians. The Ottoman authorities in Lebanon could not stop the violence and it spread into neighboring Syria, with the massacre of many Christians. In Damascus, the Emir Abd-el-Kadr protected the Christians there against the Muslim rioters.

French emperor Napoleon III felt obliged to intervene on behalf of the Christians, despite London's opposition, which feared it would lead to a wider French presence in the Middle East. After arduous negotiations to obtain the approval of the British government, Napoleon III sent a French contingent of seven thousand men for a period of six months. The troops arrived in Beirut in August 1860 and took positions in the mountains between the Christian and Muslim communities. He then organized an international conference in Paris, where the country was placed under the rule of a Christian governor named by the Ottoman Sultan, which restored a fragile peace.

The Maronite Catholics and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early Eighteenth Century, through a governing and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.[46]

Maronite orientalist Joseph Simon Assemani presided as papal legate for Pope Clement XII. The synod drafted a Code of Canons for the Maronite Church and created the first regular diocesan structure.[34] The Council of Luwayza led to a more effective church structure and to gradual emancipation from the influence of Maronite families.[47] Education was declared a major task. Through the joint efforts of the Church and French Jesuits, literacy became widespread.

Saint Charbel

Due to closer ties with the Latin Church, the Maronite Church is among the most Latinized of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Contacts between the Maronite monks and Rome were revived during the Crusades. The Maronites introduced to Eastern Churches Western devotional practices such as the rosary and the Stations of the Cross.[31] Late in the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII sent Jesuits to the Lebanese monasteries to ensure that their practice conformed to decisions made at the Council of Trent.[32] The Maronite College in Rome was established by Gregory XIII in 1584.[37] The Maronite missal (Qurbono) was first printed between 1592 and 1594 in Rome, although with fewer anaphoras.

Patriarch Stephan al-Duwayhî (1670–1704), (later declared a "Servant of God"), was able to find a middle ground between reformers and conservatives, and re-vitalized Maronite liturgical tradition.[35]

The Synod of Mount Lebanon sought to incorporate both traditions. It formalized many of the Latin practices that had developed, but also attempted to preserve ancient Maronite liturgical tradition. The Synod did not sanction the exclusive use of the Roman ritual in the administration of Baptism. However, in the Eastern tradition, the oil of catechumens is blessed by the priest during the baptismal rite. This blessing was now reserved to the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday. A practice common among all the Eastern Churches is to administer Baptism and First Communion together. Unlike in other Eastern Catholic churches and similar to the Latin Church, Holy Communion is to be given only to those who have attained the age of reason; priests were forbidden to give Communion to infants.[48]

In Orientale lumen, the Apostolic Letter to the Churches of the East, issued 2 May 1995, Pope John Paul II quotes Orientalium Ecclesiarum, the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Eastern Catholic Churches:

It has been stressed several times that the full union of the Catholic Eastern Churches with the Church of Rome which has already been achieved must not imply a diminished awareness of their own authenticity and originality. Wherever this occurred, the Second Vatican Council has urged them to rediscover their full identity, because they have "the right and the duty to govern themselves according to their own unique disciplines. For these are guaranteed by ancient tradition and seem to be better suited to the customs of their faithful and to the good of their souls."[49]

Cardinal Sfeir's personal commitment accelerated liturgical reforms in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992 he published a new Maronite Missal.[35] This represents an attempt to return to the original form of the Antiochene Liturgy, removing the liturgical Latinization of past centuries. There are six Anaphoras.

Patriarch Sfeir stated that Sacrosanctum concilium and the Roman liturgical changes following Vatican II apply to the Maronite Church. Sancrosanctum Concilium says, "Among these principles and norms there are some which can and should be applied both to the Roman rite and also to all the other rites. The practical norms which follow, however, should be taken as applying only to the Roman rite, except for those which, in the very nature of things, affect other rites as well."[50]

The head of the Maronite Church is the Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant, who is elected by the Maronite bishops and resides in Bkerké, close to Jounieh, north of Beirut. He resides in the northern town of Dimane during the summer.[16]

There are four other claimants to the Patriarchal succession of Antioch:

• two other Eastern Catholic, also in full communion with the Papal Holy See of Rome :
  • the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Alexandria and Jerusalem of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite)
  • the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of the Syriacs of the Syriac Catholic Church (Antiochian Rite)
• two Orthodox :
  • Eastern Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
  • Oriental Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church

The Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant since March 2011 is Bechara Boutros Rahi. When a new Patriarch is elected and enthroned, he requests ecclesiastical recognition by the Pope, thus maintaining communion with the Holy See. As an Eastern Catholic Patriarch, the Patriarch is usually created a Cardinal by the Pope in the rank of a Cardinal Bishop; he does however not receive a suburbicarian see (required to become Dean), even ranks below those six, but is known by the title of the patriarchate of his sui iuris Church.

Clerical celibacy is not strictly required for Maronite deacons and priests of parishes outside of North America; monks, however, must remain celibate, as well as bishops who are normally selected from the monasteries. Around 50% of the Maronite diocesan priests in the Middle East are married.[51] Due to a long-term understanding with their Latin counterparts in North America, Maronite priests in that area have traditionally remained celibate. However, in February 2014, Wissam Akiki was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the U.S. Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon at St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral in St. Louis. Deacon Akiki is the first married man to be ordained to the Maronite priesthood in North America and will not be expected to uphold a vow of celibacy.[52]

Despite the many archiepiscopates, none is a Metropolitan abstraction made of the Patriarch of Antioch, who has a single Suffragan (Jebbeh–Sarba–Jounieh) and hence an ecclesiastical province. In Latin America, two Maronite eparchies are suffragans of Latin metropolitans.

The Maronite church has twenty-six eparchies and patriarchal vicariates as follows:[53]

A map depicting the dioceses of the Maronite Church by number of faithful

• Maronite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch see above

Worldwide Immediately subject to the Patriarch

• In Lebanon:
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Antelias
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Baalbek-Deir El Ahmar
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Batroun
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Jbeil
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Joubbé, Sarba and Jounieh (sole Suffragan of the Patriarch of Antioch)
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Sidon
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tripoli
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Zahleh
• In the Holy Land:
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land, in Israel whose Archeparch holds the offices of Patriarchal Vicar of:
    • Patriarchal Exarch of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine in the Palestinian Territories and
    • Maronite Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Jordan in (Trans)Jordan
• In Syria:
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Damascus
  • Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Latakia
• In Cyprus: Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Cyprus in Nicosia
• In Egypt: Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Cairo

Exempt, i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See:

• • In Africa: Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Annunciation of Ibadan, with cathedral see being Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, in Ibadan, in Nigeria
  • In South America: Maronite Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Colombia, with pro-cathedral see being Church of Our Lady of Lebanon, in Bogotá, in Colombia

Subject to the Synod in matters of liturgical and particular law, otherwise exempt, i.e. immediately subject to the Holy See and its Roman Congregation for the Eastern Churches:

• In Europe:
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Paris in France
• In North and Central America:
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Maron of Montreal, in Canada
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles in the United States[54] (Central US, US West Coast)
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn in the United States[55] (US East Coast)
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of the Martyrs of Lebanon in Mexico in Mexico
• In Oceania:
  • Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Maron of Sydney, in Australia

Suffragan Eparchies in the ecclesiastical provinces of Latin Metropolitan Archbishops; both in South America:

• Maronite Catholic Eparchy of San Charbel in Buenos Aires in Argentina, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires
• Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of São Paulo in Brazil, suffragan of the Archdiocese of São Paulo

• Four Titular archbishoprics (none Metropolitan): Cyrrhus of the Maronites, Laodicea in Syria of the Maronites, Nazareth of the Maronites, Nisibis of the Maronites
• Nine Titular bishoprics : Apamea in Syria of the Maronites, Arca in Armenia of the Maronites, Arca in Phoenicia of the Maronites, Callinicum of the Maronites, Epiphania in Syria of the Maronites, Hemesa of the Maronites, Ptolemais in Phœnicia of the Maronites, Sarepta of the Maronites, Tarsus of the Maronites.

• Lebanese Maronite Order[56]
• Antonin Maronite Order[57]
• Mariamite Maronite Order[58]
• Congregation of Maronite Lebanese Missionaries[59]

Maronite Pastoral Center in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

Immigration of Maronite faithful from the Middle East to the United States began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. When the faithful were able to obtain a priest, communities were established as parishes under the jurisdiction of the local Latin bishops. In January 1966, Pope Paul VI established the Maronite Apostolic Exarchate for the Maronite faithful of the United States. In a decree of the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, Bishop Francis Mansour Zayek was appointed the first exarch. The see, in Detroit, Michigan, with a cathedral under the patronage of Saint Maron, was suffragan to the Archdiocese of Detroit. In 1971, Pope Paul VI elevated the Exarchate to the status of an Eparchy, with the name of Eparchy of Saint Maron of Detroit. In 1977, the see of the Eparchy of Saint Maron was transferred to Brooklyn, New York, with the cathedral under the patronage of Our Lady of Lebanon. The name of the Eparchy was modified to Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn.[18]

In 1994, the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon was established with the cathedral at Los Angeles, California, under the patronage of Our Lady of Lebanon.[18] John George Chedid, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, was ordained as the first Bishop of the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles at the Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Los Angeles, California, where he served until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 80. In December 2000, Robert Joseph Shaheen succeeded Chedid as eparch.

The two eparchies in the United States have issued their own "Maronite Census," designed to estimate the population of Maronites in the United States. Many have been assimilated into Western Catholicism absent Maronite parishes or priests. The "Maronite Census" was designed to locate these Maronites.

Eparchies operate in São Paulo in Brazil, as well as in Colombia, México, France, Australia,[64] South Africa, Canada and Argentina.[61]

Former Brazilian president Michel Temer, the first Arab-Brazilian to have led the nation, was the son of two Maronite Catholic Lebanese immigrants.[65][66]

The history of the Lebanese community in South Africa dates to the late 19th century, when the first immigrants arrived in Johannesburg, the biggest city in the Transvaal, having come from Sebhel, Mesyara, Becharre, Hadath El Jebbeh, Maghdouché and other places. It is recorded that in 1896, the first Maronite and Lebanese immigrants arrived in Durban, Cape Town, and Mozambique, and congregated around their local Catholic churches.

• The Maronite Patriarchate at Bkerké
• Maronite eparchies

• Maronite Rite diocese based in Sydney, Australia
• Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn
• Eparchy of Saint Maron of Canada, Montréal, Canada

• The Lebanese Maronite Order
• Maronite Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• The Maronite Monks of Adoration, Most Holy Trinity Monastery—monastery in Massachusetts