The Maronite Way: Brief Introduction to the Syriac-Maronite Catholic Church

The Maronite Way: Brief Introduction to the Syriac-Maronite Catholic Church

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree and will spring up like the Cedars of Lebanon. - Psalm 92:12 

Introduction: The Maronite Way 

“Historically centered in Lebanon and Syria, the Maronite church was formed by Syriac Christians who developed their own hierarchy and traditions from the mid-fourth century onwards. During the Islamic conquest, Maronites retreated to the mountains in Lebanon. Though cut off from communication with Rome for 500 years before the Crusades, and for long periods afterwards, Maronites regard themselves not as a church that was eventually “unified” with Rome, having previously been Orthodox, but rather as one that was always united theologically and spiritually with Rome, and which “confirmed” that union when contact was reestablished. There is no Orthodox counterpart to the Maronite Church. 

Migration over the course of the last 125 years has meant that most Maronites today live outside of the region where the church was born and shaped its culture and practice. They fled in particularly large numbers during the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990.1 The 2015 Annuario Pontificio claims about 3.36 million Maronite Catholics worldwide, including about 1.5 million in Lebanon and 64,000 in Syria. The largest numbers outside of Lebanon are living in Argentina (720,000), Brazil (493,000), Mexico (156,000) and Australia (150,000).2 The number of Maronites worldwide is hard to determine precisely because many of those who live outside Lebanon worship in Latin or other Catholic churches if they do not live near a Maronite parish.” - from, Catholics & Cultures • Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, College of the Holy Cross, Worchester, MA.

The Ancient Faith of The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church 

The faith of Christians is grounded in the “apostolic witness” that Jesus Christ is Risen! This apostolic faith, is the ancient faith of Holy Church, whose seeds were sown in the history, Scriptures, and faith of the ancient Israelites. The subject of this faith was born of The Virgin, Jesus the Christ, whose presence was heralded by John the Baptizer and Forerunner, died on the Holy Cross for our sins, rose from the dead for our salvation, and has opened for us the gates of the Kingdom, for our eternal life. 

The Church has been entrusted with this faith, not to remake it, not to reform it, or redefine it anew each day; rather to guard it, proclaim it, and live it anew each day. In a special way the churches of the East: Catholic and Orthodox, Syriac-Antiochene, Byzantine and Alexandrian, have a holy obligation and ministry in keeping the traditions and beauty of the ancient faith alive. As Maronites whose roots are planted in the lands of the Bible; there is given a special calling within the church, to remind all Christians of their biblical roots, their biblical homeland, their biblical languages, and to therefore reveal the ongoing salvific power of the ancient faith. 

The elements of the apostolic faith reside in the reality and the event of the Church, to which is given the Sacred Scriptures, the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments), the Ecumenical Councils and Magisterium, the witness of the Martyrs, and the teachings of the Fathers of the Church. 

The Historical Foundations of the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church 

It is in the period of monastic foundations that we find Saint Maron (died 410 AD) who went to the Taurus Mountains, in the region of Cyrrhus, near Antioch. He became so outstanding in his holy desire to give all in following the Lord, that he attracted many followers, and those who desired to imitate his extreme ascetical (self- denial) life. Even his former classmate from Antioch, the great father of the church, St. John Chrysostom wrote to him, asking for his prayers. 

"To Maron, the Monk Priest:
We are bound to you by love and interior disposition, and see you here before us as if you were actually present. For such are the eyes of love; their vision is neither interrupted by distance nor dimmed by time. We wished to write more frequently to your reverence, but since this is not easy on account of the difficulty of the road and the problems to which travelers are subject, whenever opportunity allows we address ourselves to your honor and assure you that we hold you constantly in our mind and carry you about in our soul wherever we may be. And take care yourself that you write to us as often as you can, telling us how you are, so that although separated physically we might be cheered by learning constantly about your health and receive much consolation as we sit in solitude. For it brings us no small joy to hear about your health. And above all please pray for us”. - Letter to Saint Maron, St. John Chrysostom 

The Christian movement begun by St. Maron in the 4th century, became greater than just a monastic community, truly Bet Maroun came to embrace laity, clergy, and monastics, in a way of living out the Christian faith in a Syriac speaking culture. Due to its defense of the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon, which lead to the massacre of 350 monks, and the subsequent continued persecutions at the hands of Non- Chalcedonian Christians, the spiritual descendants of St. Maron formed a Patriarchate of Antioch with Papal and Imperial approval under St. John Maron. Moving to Mount Lebanon they found the terrain of Lebanon afforded them protection and a strong defensive position against those who rejected the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon, and the Arab Muslims who would eventually conquer the region, but not conquer the Christian faith of the people. However, was this the beginning of the “Maronite” presence in Lebanon? No, for that answer we must look back to the time of St. Maron himself. 

During the life of St. Maron and directly after his death, some of his monks went into the area of Lebanon to preach the Gospel. While there does not exist much information from that period to give us an exact picture, we do know that one of these monks, and possibly the one who had the greatest impact upon the people there was Abraham of Cyrrhus, the first disciple of St. Maron, sometimes called the Apostle of Lebanon.
The Syriac Fathers of the Church 

Christianity is given its first theological expressions after the Apostles of the Lord by the Fathers of the Church. Indeed, these theologians were not men and women of the ivory tower or academic institution, rather they were monks, nuns, hermits, bishops, outstanding in their ability to communicate their experience of God in prayer, fasting, self-denial, and pastoral ministry. Before the 4th century and Constantine’s legalization and promotion of the Church, many of the Patristic thinkers were martyrs and confessors (scourged) for the Christian faith. 

The Fathers of the Church represent the expression of many languages and cultures as the Christian faith began to spread beyond the Holy Land and Mediterranean world. Armenia becomes the first kingdom to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, followed by Aksum (ancient Ethiopia), and eventually the “Ecumenical Empire,” that being the Roman Empire itself. The Fathers of the Church spoke, thought, and wrote in the languages of the early Christians: namely Greek, Syriac-Aramaic, Latin, Coptic, Armenian. 

There can be found among the Syriac Fathers, to name just a few: Aphrahat (called the Persian Sage), St. Ephrem the Syrian (called The Harp of the Holy Spirit), St. Isaac of Nineveh (called The Syrian), Jacob of Serug (called The Flute of the Holy Spirit and Harp of the Believing Church), and Saint Romanos (called the Melodist) who was born in Syria, grew up in Beirut and took his knowledge and expertise of Syriac-Aramaic chant to Constantinople, and there created the foundations of Byzantine Chant. 

The Holy Mother of God in the thought of the Antiochene Fathers 

Mary the Blessed Virgin, proclaimed the “God-Bearer” (Mother of God) by the Council of Ephesus, is significant throughout the theology of the period of the Fathers of the Church. As noted by Chorbishop Seely Joseph Beggiani in his book Early Syriac Theology, “It was natural for Syriac writers to see Mary as the fulfillment of Old Testament types and a symbol of the future church. 

What must be kept in mind is that the Fathers, often were confronted with heresies that challenged the Church’s doctrinal understanding of the Triune nature of God, and the unity of the “divine” and “human” natures in the Son of God made Man, Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, theological writings on Mary in the Patristic Era are more often than not a defense of the truth of the Incarnation, and a safeguard of the actual humanity of Christ. We find these teachings in doctrinal proclamations, liturgical documents, apologetic arguments defending the “true faith," theological tomes, and in the case of St. Ephrem and others in the Syriac tradition — poetry. 

St. Ignatius of Antioch was the second successor of St. Peter as the Bishop of Antioch. He was born in Syria sometime around the year 50A.D. and was martyred in the arena in Rome between 98 and 117A.D. . On his way to Rome to be martyred, he wrote letters to the various Christian communities he passed through, leaving us with seven letters that allow us a glimpse of the early Church. In the following from his Letter to the Ephesians, we see Mary’s role as the mother of Jesus, and related to this her connection with the action of the Holy Spirit: 

There is only one Physician, having both flesh and spirit, born and unborn, God become man, true life in death, from Mary and from God, first ... Jesus Christ our Lord. ... 

For our God Jesus Christ, according to God’s economy, was conceived by Mary of the seed of David, but also by the Holy Spirit. He was born and baptized, that by his Passion he might purify the water. 

We see here also that St. Ignatius places Mary within God’s “economy” of salvation. He is one of the first Church Fathers to use this term, which eventually becomes a technical term that refers to God’s plan of salvation being perfect and central to the total revelation of God to his people. Mary, who is always linked to the ministry of her Son and Lord, in bringing salvation to the Father’s creation, is overshadowed by the Father’s Holy Spirit at the Annunciation, that same Spirit who raises Jesus form the dead. 

Ephrem was born in Syria around 306 and died in Nisibis in 373. He became the greatest example of Syriac poetry in the Patristic period, writing over three million lines of verse. This great poet reveals his feelings of deep awe and admiration when considering the holy Virgin and her virtues. Living some two centuries after St. Ignatius and the Apostolic Fathers (those Fathers who knew the Apostles or disciples of the Apostles), St. Ephrem not only sees Mary in relation to doctrine and apologetics, but also as the object of spiritual devotion. This is illustrated in the following quote: 

Only you (Jesus) and your Mother
are more beautiful than everything
For on you, O Lord, there is no mark; neither is there any stain in your Mother. 

Some have held that St. Ephrem is one of the first Christian writers to explicitly refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. He wrote: 

"In Mary, as in an eye,the Light has made a dwelling and purified her spirit, refined her thoughts, sanctified her mind, and transfigured her virginity." 

For St. Ephrem, Mary is the symbol of the Church, the People of God, who await the Kingdom of God, whose gates were opened by Christ. In his Hymns on the Crucifixion, he wrote: 

Three angels were seen at the tomb:
these three announced that he was risen on the third day. Mary, who saw him, is the symbol of the Church
which will be the first to recognize the signs of his Second Coming. 

The Seven Holy Mysteries/Sacraments

St. Irenaeus (c.130 - c.202) born in Palestine and bishop in Lyon, remarked that God the Father never acts without his two hands, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Trinity in the Church’s action of celebrating the Holy Mysteries/ Sacraments is distinct and clear in the Sacred Liturgies of the Maronite Church. 

In Eastern Christian traditions, those of the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Divine Liturgy/Eucharistic Liturgy is seen as transcending time, and the world. All believers are believed to be united in worship in the Kingdom of God along with the Saints and Angels. To this end, everything in the Liturgy is seen as symbolic, yet also not just merely symbolic, but making the unseen reality manifest. According to Maronite tradition and belief, the Liturgy's roots go back to Jewish worship and the adaptation of Jewish worship by Early Christians. The Divine Liturgy and the other liturgies of the Maronite Church are central to the spiritual life of the faithful. 

The Holy Mysteries of the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church are seven in number: Eucharist, Baptism, Chrismation, Crowning, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick, Reconciliation.

Maronite Saints 

Saint Maron (Maroun) (c.350 - 410) - the Father of the Maronites; the Maronite Church is the only Church, Catholic or Orthodox to be named after a person. St. Maron was a hermit, who, by his holiness and the miracles he worked, attracted many followers. After his death around the year 410, his monastic disciples built a large monastery in his honor, from which other monasteries were founded. 

Saint Sharbel Makhloof (1828 -1898) - “Wonder Worker of the East” - In 1965, at the close of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI declared: “ ... a hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed ... a new eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the entire Christian people... May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God.”
Saint Rafqa (1832-1914) - “The Blind Mystic of Lebanon” - In 1985, Saint John Paul II raised her to the honor of the altar, proclaiming her “Blessed” and in 2000 she was canonized a “Saint.”
Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini (1808 - 1858) - He was elected a Counselor (Provincial) by his Order’s chapter for three times: 1845-1848; 1850-1853; & 1856-1858. He always worked in binding books even when he was a Counselor in the General Administration of his Lebanese Maronite Order. He was a teacher in several schools run by his Order, especially the one annexed to the Kfifane monastery. One of his best students was Saint Sharbel Makhlouf, who studied under Saint Nimatullah from 1853-1858.
Saint Estephan Nehmé (1889 - 1938) - At various monasteries he did manual labor in the fields and gardens as well as working in construction and as a carpenter. Nehmé's contemporaries made special note of his constant repetition of the mantra: "God can see me”. During World War I he distributed food to those suffering from famine. 

The Maronite Hierarchy 

Cardinal Béchara Peter Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, President of the Synod of the Maronite Church
Bishop Gregory John Mansour, Bishop of Saint Maron of Brooklyn of the Maronites 

Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, Bishop of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles of the Maronites 

- Rev. David A. Fisher