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Maronite Church

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Maronites (Arabic: الموارنة; Syriac: ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group[21] native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of West Asia, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the largest concentration long residing near Mount Lebanon in modern Lebanon.[22] The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the rest of the Catholic Church.[23][24]

Maronites
الموارنة
ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ
Flag of Lebanon (1918-1920).svg
Maronite flag
Total population
c. 7–12 million[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Map of the Maronite Diaspora 2.png
Regions with significant populations
 Lebanon 1.4 million (2006)[7]
File:Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil3–4 million (incl. ancestry)[8]
 United States1.2 million (incl. ancestry)[8]
File:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina750,000[9]
 Mexico167,190[9]
 Australia161,370[9]
 Canada96,100[9]
 Syria50,000–60,000[9]
 France51,520[9]
File:Flag of Venezuela.svg Venezuela25,000[10]
 South Africa20,000[11]
 Cyprus13,170[9]
 Israel10,000[9]
 Egypt6,350[nb 1][9]
 Nigeria5,850[12]
 Germany5,400[10]
 UK5,300[10]
File:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium3,400[10]
 Côte d'Ivoire2,250–3,000[12]
 Italy2,500[10]
 Sweden2,470[10]
 Switzerland2,000[10]
 Jordan1,000–1,500[9]
Jerusalem and  Palestine504[9]
Languages
Lebanese Aramaic (Historical and native)[16][17]
Classical Syriac (Liturgical)[18][19]
Religion
Christianity (Maronite Catholic Church)
Related ethnic groups
Other Lebanese Christians[20]

The Maronites derive their name from Saint Maron, a Syriac Christian whose followers migrated to the area of Mount Lebanon from their previous place of residence around the area of Antioch, and established the nucleus of the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church.[25]

Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical scriptures[be specific] state that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was very slow where paganism persisted, especially in the mountaintop strongholds of Mount Lebanon. During the 5th century AD, Saint Maron sent Abraham of Cyrrhus, often referred to as the Apostle of Lebanon, to convert the still significant pagan population of Lebanon to Christianity. The area's inhabitants renamed the Adonis River the Abraham River after Saint Abraham preached there.[26][27]

The early Maronites were Hellenized Semites, natives of Byzantine Syria who spoke Greek and Syriac,[28] yet identified with the Greek-speaking populace of Constantinople and Antioch.[29] They were able to maintain an independent status in Mount Lebanon and its coastline after the Muslim conquest of the Levant, keeping their Christian religion, and even their distinct Lebanese Aramaic[30] as late as the 19th century.[25] While Maronites identify primarily as native Lebanese of Maronite origin, some wish to identify as Arab Christians.[31] Others identify as descendants of Phoenicians. Some Maronites argue that they are of Mardaite ancestry, and other historians, such as Clement Joseph David, Syriac Catholic archbishop of Damascus, reject this.[32][33]

Mass emigration to the Americas at the outset of the 20th century, famine during World War I that killed an estimated one third to one half of the population, the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war and the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1990 greatly decreased their numbers in the Levant; however Maronites today form more than one quarter of the total population of modern-day Lebanon. Though concentrated in Lebanon, Maronites also show presence in the neighboring Levant, as well as a significant part in the Lebanese diaspora in the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Africa.

The Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, under the patriarch of Antioch, has branches in nearly all countries where Maronite Christian communities live, in both the Levant and the Lebanese diaspora.

The Maronites and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in Ottoman Lebanon in the early 18th century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in the Ottoman Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.[34] All Lebanese presidents, with the exception of Charles Debbas and Petro Trad, have been Maronites as part of a continued tradition of the National Pact, by which the prime minister has historically been a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of the National Assembly has historically been a Shi'ite.

Maronite Church Media

  • Coat of Arms of the Maronite Patriarchate

  • St. Maron: Russian orthodox icon

  • Remains of the arch of Brad Cathedral north of Aleppo, Syria, where Saint Maron's tomb was attached

  • Artist depiction of Maronite monk and pilgrims, Mount Lebanon

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

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

  • Depiction of Saint Charbel, a popular saint in Lebanon

  • The Peshitta is the standard Syriac Bible, used by the Maronite Church, amongst others. The illustration is of the Peshitta text of Exodus 13:14–16 produced in Amida in the year 464.

Notes

  1. ↑ Numbers were higher before the 1956–1957 exodus and expulsions from Egypt

References

  1. ↑ Dagher, Carole. Bring Down the Walls: Lebanon's Post-War Challenge (2000). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-312-29336-9. doi:10.1057/9780230109193.
  2. ↑ Gemayel, Boutros. Archbishop of the Maronite Church in Cyprus. maronite-institute.orgThe Maronite Research Institute.
  3. ↑ Moussa, Gracia. Maronites: the face of Christians in the Middle East. geopolitica.info (22 September 2014)L’Associazione Geopolitica.info.
  4. ↑ The Maronite Church "A bridge between East and West". cmc-terrasanta.org (10 June 2016)Christian Media Center.
  5. ↑ Bejjani, Elias. St. Maroun & His followers the Maronites (10 February 2008)Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council.
  6. ↑ Hugi, Jacky. Aramaic Language Project in Israel Furthers Recognition of Maronites. al-monitor.com (15 March 2013)Al-Monitor, LLC..
  7. ↑ Burger, John. Christians in Lebanon: A short history of the Maronite Church. Aleteia (10 September 2020). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tu, Janet. Maronite Mass gets trial run at Shoreline parish. seattletimes.com (17 November 2001)The Seattle Times.
  9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 Current Maronite Dioceses. Catholic Hierarchy (2023)David M. Cheney.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 Statistics. Maronite Heritage (9 February 2011)Fr. Antonio Elfeghali.
  11. ↑ The Struggle Of The Christian Lebanese For Land Ownership In South Africa. The Marionite Research Institute.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Parishes. annunciation-eparchy (2023)Maronite Eparchy – Africa.
  13. ↑ Educational Policies that Address Social Inequality: Country Report: Cyprus Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, page 4.
  14. ↑ Judith Sudilovsky (2012-06-22). Aramaic classes help Maronites in Israel understand their liturgies. http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2012/aramaic-classes-help-maronites-in-israel-understand-their-liturgies.cfm. Retrieved 2018-11-18. 
  15. ↑ Daniella Cheslow, (2014-06-30) Maronite Christians struggle to define their identity in Israel, The World, Public Radio International. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  16. ↑ Hitti, Philip. Lebanon in History (1957). India: Macmillan and Co Ltd. p. 336.
  17. ↑ Schulze, Kirsten E. Nationalism, Minorities and Diasporas: Identities and Rights in the Middle East (1996). Magee College: Tauris Academic Studies. p. 162. ISBN 9781860640520.
  18. ↑ Iskandar, Amine. About the origin of the Lebanese language (I). syriacpress.com (27 February 2022)Syriacpress.
  19. ↑ Iskandar, Amine. Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 13: The Three Syriac Scripts. syriacpress.com (26 November 2021)Syriacpress.
  20. ↑ Haber, Marc. Genome-Wide Diversity in the Levant Reveals Recent Structuring by Culture. PLOS Genetics 9 (2) (28 Feb 2013). p. e1003316. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1003316.
  21. ↑ *Fattouh, Emily Michelle. Adaptive Leadership and the Maronite Church. M.A. In Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers (2018)Digital USD.
  22. ↑ Hagopian, Elaine C.. Maronite Hegemony to Maronite Militancy: The Creation and Disintegration of Lebanon. Third World Quarterly 11 (4) (October 1989)Taylor & Francis, Ltd.. p. 104. doi:10.1080/01436598908420194. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  23. ↑ Moubarak, Andre. One Friday in Jerusalem (2017). Jerusalem, Israel: Twin Tours & Travel Ltd. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-9992-4942-0.
  24. ↑ Malone, Joseph J. The Arab Lands of Western Asia, Prentice-Hall, 1973, Page 7
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Mannheim, I. Syria & Lebanon handbook: the travel guide (2001)Footprint Travel Guides. p. 652–563. ISBN 978-1-900949-90-3.
  26. ↑ El-Hāyek, Elias. Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands (1990)Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. p. 408–409. ISBN 0-88844-809-0.
  27. ↑ AbouZayd, Shafiq. Iḥidayutha: A Study of the Life of Singleness in the Syrian Orient, from Ignatius of Antioch to Chalcedon 451 A.D. (1993). Oxford: Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies. p. 304. ISBN 9780952077602.
  28. ↑ Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar. Syriac Identity of Lebanon – part 4: Why is Spoken Lebanese a Syriac Dialect? (in English) (9 June 2020). Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  29. ↑ Lebanon in Crisis: Who Are the Maronites? (in en-us). CNEWA (13 August 2020).
  30. ↑ Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar. About the origin of the Lebanese language (I) (in English) (27 February 2022). Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  31. ↑ Williams, Victoria R.. Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to Survival [4 Volumes] (24 February 2020)Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 706. ISBN 9781440861185.
  32. ↑ Moosa, Matti. The Maronites in history (2005)Gorgias Press LLC. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-59333-182-5.
  33. ↑ SUERMANN, Harald. Maronite Historiography and Ideology. Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 54 (3) (2002-07-01). p. 129–148. doi:10.2143/jecs.54.3.1071.
  34. ↑ Deeb, Marius. Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah: The Unholy Alliance and Its War on Lebanon (2013)Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817916664.


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