The Maronite Church is under the Holy See of Rome. It is a rite of the Catholic Church with its own specific culture and tradition with its own celebration of the Divine Liturgy according to its culture and tradition. It is part of the eastern Church but that does not mean that it is separate form the Western. All rites of the Catholic Church are one in teaching and in the celebration of the sacraments.
The Maronite Church has its own liturgy, discipline, patriarch and hierarchy as well as its own historical, theological, spiritual, cultural and social heritage.
It began as a group of Catholics, of Antioch who followed the hermit St Maroun. St Maroun is the leader of the Maronite Church and all descendants who followed his faithful teachings and traditions of the Apostles are the Maronites.
The Maronites are the direct descendants of the people who received the Catholic faith from the Apostles. They joined the hermit St Maroun and followed his rule and discipline some become monks of hermits and the lay people were known as “those of St Maroun’s.”
St Maroun’s monastery was built to preserve and defend the teachings of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451), which clarified the teaching of the Church concerning Jesus Christ as both human and Divine. In 517AD 350 Maronite Monks were martyred for defending the degrees of that very Council and their feast day is on July 31st. The Holy Father of that time, Pope Hormizdes, encouraged the Maronites to strengthen their faith and to follow the example of the martyrs to be true soldiers of Christ.
Around 685, the Maronites appointed a Patriarch, St. John Maroun, who became the first Patriarch on the Maronite Church. The appointing of the Patriarch was a very important event in the history of the Maronites, which led to another persecution of 500 martyrs. The monastery of Bet Moroon was damaged. Many Maronites left their lands in Syria and joined their brethren in the mountains of Lebanon. In the valleys of Lebanon, the Maronite Church began to grow. The Aramaic/ Syriac Maronites joined the Phoenician Maronites and the Mardaites in Lebanon. Protected by the mountains of Lebanon, the Maronites and their Patriarch were organizing their Church away from persecution.
For 350 years, the Maronites have been isolated in the valleys and mountains of Lebanon until the beginning of the crusades. When the Crusaders invaded the East, they were surprised when they found out about the existence of the Maronites. At the end of the crusades and after the defeat of the Crusaders, the Maronites were attacked by the Mamlooks between 1268 and 1283. They were persecuted and their Patriach was sent to death. The Maronites had to learn how to survive and to protect their freedom.
In 1516, the Ottomans defeated the Mamlooks. The Maronites were granted protection by France. They expanded in Lebanon and mixed with other minorities. The Maronites built churches, founded religious orders, formed schools, and cultivated arid lands. The valleys and the mountains were filled with monks and hermits.
Over the years the Maronites Church showed great zeal and resilience and produced many great Saints, some of which have been canonized such as St Charbel, St Rafqa, St Nemtallah Hardini, and many others who have yet to be canonized.
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