Maronite Christian

Maronite
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Maronite Church - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... maneuvering, European Christian powers helped keep the Maronite community from destruction. ... Maronite Christians are named in honour of Maronite saints, ...
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Maronite Church: Information from Answers.com
Maronite Church Eastern-rite community centered in Lebanon ... maneuvering, European Christian powers helped keep the Maronite community from destruction. ...
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Maronite Church
Dominant ... constitution, the president of the country shall be a Maronite Christian. ... Christians flee to the same mountains, where they joined the ...
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News Articles Relating To Maronite Christians.
Maronite Christians related articles, and thousands of other stories from hundreds of publications. Newser provides up to date Maronite Christians coverage from...
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Maronite Christians Thrive in Lebanon : NPR
Lebanon is about to choose a new president who will be a Maronite Christian — though Lebanon is predominantly Muslim. The Christian denomination is found ...
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Phoenicia: The Maronites and Lebanon, A Brief History
Comprehensive studies on of everything Canaanite Phoenicians in Lebanon, ... Christian neighbors all succumbed to Islam but not Lebanon, holding a Maronite ...
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Shattered Christian Minorities in the Middle East
Comprehensive studies on of everything Canaanite Phoenicians in Lebanon, Israel, ... The Christians, mainly Maronite, have existed in the area, of what is known ...
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Maronite Church - New World Encyclopedia
... maneuvering, European Christian powers helped keep the Maronite community from destruction. ... Maronite Christians are named in honour of Maronite saints, ...
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Maronites
... of the Maronite nation and ... The Maronite patriarch shares the title of Antioch with three ... by their Christian -- even Catholic -- rivals in Syria, the ...
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Maronites (, , Syriac: ܡܪܘܢܝܐ,Latin: Ecclesia Maronitarum) are members of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to maron in the early 5th century. The first Maronite patriarch, John Maron, was appointed in the late 7th century. Today, Maronites are one of the principal religious groups in Lebanon.

Like other Lebanese people, Maronites are overall very genetically similar to other Levantine populations, such as Syrians and Jordanians, with minor foreign genetic influence,http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature2/online_extra.htmlhttp://www.assyrianfoundation.org/genetics.htm though many claim Phoenicia, Where are the Phoenicians today?http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature2/online_extra.html Ghassanid, and Frankish ancestry. Douaihy clan origin. Before the Muslim conquest, Maronites spoke a dialect of Aramaic language,http://www.walidphares.com/artman/publish/article_58.shtml but have been an Arabic-speaking community since at least the 9th century or earlier http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/langmin/euromosaic/cy1_en.html. Syriac language however, still remains the liturgical language of the Maronite Church.http://www.stgeorgesa.org/

History (died sometime between 406 and 423), founder of the Maronite spiritual movement. Since the seventeenth century his feast day has been celebrated on 9 February.It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus Christ were first called Christians 11:26. Antioch, especially after the Siege of Jerusalem (70) in 70, became a center for Christianity. According to Catholic tradition, the first Bishop was Saint Peter before his travels to Rome. The third Bishop was the Apostolic Father Ignatius of Antioch. Antioch became one of the five original Patriarchates after Constantine I (emperor) recognized Christianity.Maroun, a contemporary and friend of St. John Chrysostom, was a monk in the fourth century who left Antioch for the Orontes River to lead an ascetic life, following the traditions of Anthony the Great of the Desert and Pachomius. He soon had many followers that adopted his monastic life. Following the death of Maron in 410, his disciples built a monastery in his memory and formed the nucleus of the Maronite Church.

The Maronites held fast to the beliefs of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. When 350 monks were slain by the Monophysites of Antioch, the Maronites sought refuge in the mountains of Lebanon. Correspondence concerning the event brought papal and orthodox recognition of the Maronites which was solidified by Pope Hormisdas on February 10, 518.

The martyrdom of the Patriarch of Antioch in 602 left the Maronites without a leader, a situation which continued because of the final and most devastating war between the Byzantine and Persian Empires of the early 7th century. The chaos and utter depression which followed led the Maronites to elect their first Maronite Patriarch, John Maroun, in 685. This however was seen as a usurpation by both the Orthodox and Catholic rites. Thus, at a time when Islam was rising on the borders of the Byzantine Empire and a united front was necessary to keep out the Islamic infiltration, the Maronites were focused on a struggle to retain their independence against Roman imperial power. This situation was mirrored in other Christian communities in the Byzantine Empire and helped facilitate the Muslim conquest of the most of Eastern Christendom by the end of the century.

Now under Arabic rule after the Muslim conquest of Syria, the Maronites' relationship with the Byzantine Empire improved. The imperial court, seeing its earlier mistake, saw an advantage in the current situation. Thus, Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV provided direct ecclesiastical, political and military support to the Maronites. The new alliance soon coordinated devastating raids on Muslim forces, providing a welcome relief to the besieged Christians throughout the East. Some of the Maronites relocated to Mount Lebanon at this time and formed several communities that became known as the Marada. and pilgrims, Mount Lebanon. Therefore, since 685 the Maronites have found themselves isolated from Christendoms of the Byzantine Empire and European powers. In turn, they have appointed their own List of Maronite Patriarchs, starting with John Maron, who had been a bishop of Batroun, Mount Lebanon. Through him, the Maronites of today claim full apostolic succession through the episcopal see of Antioch. Nonetheless, a source of controversy surrounds the Maronites, as they have been accused of having fully adopted and embraced the Monothelitism heresy. However, this charge has been adequately explained away, as noted in the 2003 new Catholic Encyclopedia (see reference below). Maronites themselves insist that they have "never been out of communion with the Roman Catholic Church."

Following the conquest of Eastern Christendom outside of Anatolia and Europe by the Muslims, and the establishment of secured lines of control between Islamic Caliphs and Byzantine Emperors, little was heard from the Maronites for 400 years. Secure in their mountain fastnesses, It was not until the Crusader Raymond IV of Toulouse on his way to conquer Jerusalem in the Great Crusade that the Maronites were re-discovered in the mountains near Tripoli, Lebanon. Raymond later returned to Siege of Tripoli after his conquest of Jerusalem and relations between the Maronites and European Christianity were re-established.

During the Crusades in the 12th century, Maronites assisted the Crusaders and reaffirmed their affiliation with the Holy See in Rome in 1182. Consequently, at least from this point onwards, the Maronites have upheld an unbroken ecclesiastical orthodoxy and unity with the Catholic Church. To commemorate their communion, in 1100 Maronite Patriarch Youseff Al Jirjisi received the crown and staff marking his patriarchal authority, from Pope Paschal II. In 1131 Maronite Patriarch Gregorious Al Halati received letters from Pope Innocent II in which the Papacy recognized the independence of the Patriarchate.

, painting from 1779.However, this Roman affiliation was to cost the Maronites dearly after Muslim rule returned following the ethnic cleansing of the Crusader States in 1291. The Mamelukes led a jihad which exterminated the last of the European Christians at Siege of Acre in 1291 was continued in the anti-Eastern Christian pogroms in following decades.

However, connection to Rome was arduously maintained and through diplomatic threats and maneuvering, European Christian powers helped keep the Maronite community from destruction. Eventually, a Maronite College was established at Rome on July 5 1584. From this college, the Maronite community obtained some valuable assistance in maintaining and buttressing their Christian identity. In 1610, the Maronite monks of the Monastery of Anthony the Great of Qozhaya imported one of the first printing presses in the Arabic language-speaking world. The monasteries of Lebanon would later become key players in the Arabic Renaissance of the late 19th century as a result of developing Arabic, as well as Syriac, printable script.

Following the defeat of the Mamelukes by the Ottoman Empire, at first the Sultans left the Maronites to their own devices in their mountain strongholds. However, the chaos that resulted from the neglect of early Ottoman rule was exploited by rival Muslim warlords and their Druze allies leading to a constant state of turmoil which continued to limit the survivability of the Christian Maronites. Finally, following a rapid campaign, the Druze warlord Fahkr-al-Din II conquered and ruled the Greater Lebanon from 1585 to 1635 and implemented a more or less stable situation. However, unwilling to tolerate an Islamic heretic warlord in control of the area, the Ottomans led a military campaign and Fahkr-al-Din II was defeated by Ottoman forces and executed at Constantinople on April 13 1635.

In 1638, France declared that it would protect the Catholics within the Ottoman Empire, including the Maronites, with the threat of war should Muslim jihads again be launched against Catholics under the Sultan's rule.

Organization 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 Diyarbakır in the year 464.

The head of the Maronite Church is the List of Maronite Patriarchs, who is elected by the bishops of the Maronite church and now resides in Bkirki, north of Beirut (the Maronite Patriarch resides in the northern town of Dimane during the summer months). The current Patriarch (since 1986) is His Beatitude Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. When a new patriarch is elected and enthroned, he requests ecclesiastic communion from the Pope, thus maintaining their communion with the Catholic Church. Many Patriarchs are also accorded the status of cardinals, in the rank of cardinal-patriarch. They share with other Catholics the same doctrine, but Maronites retain their own liturgy and hierarchy. Strictly speaking, the Maronite church belongs to the Antiochene Tradition and is a Antiochene rite#Syriac liturgies. Syriac is the liturgical language, instead of Latin which is a tradition of the Roman Rite. Nevertheless, they are considered, with the Syro-Malabar Church, to be among the most liturgical latinisation of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Cardinal Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir's personal commitment accelerated liturgical reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, bearing fruit in 1992 with the publication of a new Maronite Missal. This represents an attempt to return to the original form of the Antiochene Liturgy, removing the liturgical latinisation of past centuries. The Service of the Word has been described as far more enriched than previous Missals, and it features six Anaphora (liturgy)s (Eucharistic Prayers).

clerical celibacy is not required for deacons and priests with parishes, but monks must remain celibate, as well as bishops who are normally selected from the monasteries. The clergy in America, with exception to the deacons, must remain celibate. The bishops who serve as eparchs and archeparchs of the eparchies and archeparchies (the equivalent of diocese and archdiocese in the Roman Catholic Church) are answerable to the patriarch.

Population , 1920s.The exact worldwide Maronite population is not known, although it is at least 15 million according to CNEWA (Catholic Near East Welfare Association). The Maronite Catholic Church CNEWA (Catholic Near East Welfare Association) It is estimated that 800,000 to 900,000 remain in Lebanon where they constitute up to 25% of the population. According to a Lebanese agreement celebrated among the various religious leaders, the president must be a Maronite. Syrian Maronites total 40,000 and they follow the archdioceses of Aleppo and Damascus and the Diocese of Latakia. There is also a Maronite community in Cyprus which speaks Cypriot Maronite Arabic, A descriptive analysis of Cypriot Maronite Arabic by Maria Tsiapera They are a recognized religious minority on the island and the community elects a representative to sit in the house of representatives (parliament) to voice their interests. They are probably descended from those Maronites who accompanied the crusaders there.

In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Ottoman Empire persecution led many Maronites to emigrate to Latin America, as well as North America, Europe and Australia, where they founded Maronite parishes. Other Maronites, such as those in Ottoman Cyprus often converted to Islam rather than face enslavement. See Proselytism in Ottoman Cyprus

and bishops in Rome, 1906. The two residing eparchies in the United States have issued their own "Maronite Census". The Census is designed to estimate approximately how many Maronites reside in the United States due to their emigrations to that country. Many Maronites have been assimilated into American culture, often taking on Roman Catholicism as there were no Maronite parishes or priests available. The Census was designed to locate those people.

Modern Maronites, like other Christians in the Levant, often adopt French language or other Western European given names (with biblical origins) for their children like "Michel", "Marc", "Marie", "Georges", "Carole", "Charles", "Chris", "Antoine", and "Pierre".

Given names of Arabic origins identical with those of their Muslim neighbors are also common, such as "Khalil," "Samir," "Salim," "Jameel," or "Tawfik". Other common names are strictly Christian and are Aramaic language, or Arabic, forms of biblical, Hebrew Bible, or Greek Christian names, such as "Antun," (Anthony, also "Tanios","Antonios", or "Tannous"), "Butros" (Peter), "Boulos (Paul)," "Semaan" or "Shamaoun" (Simon), "Jergyes" (George), "Elie" (Ilyas, or Elias), "Iskander" (Alexander), or "Beshara" (literally, "Good News" in reference to the Gospel), other common sames are Sarkis (Sergius) and Bakhos (Bacchus), while others are common both among Christians and Muslims, such as "Yousseff" (Joseph) or "Ibrahim" (Abraham).

Some Maronite Christians are named in honour of Maronite saints, including the Aramaic names "Maroun" (after their patron saint, Maron), "Sharbel" or "Charbel", or "Rafqa" (Rebecca).

Famous Maronites Government and politics

Michel Aoun, Lebanese military commander, politician, Ex Prime Minister. Founder of the Free Patriotic Movement.
Samir Geagea, A Lebanese Christian. Former president of the executive committee of the Lebanese Forces, an ex-convict jailed for 11 years. Currently leading the Lebanese forces party.
Youssef Beik Karam,Lebanese Nationalist Leader
René Mouawad,EX Lebanese President.
Nayla René Mouawad,Minister of Social Services.
Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh, President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976.
Suleiman Frangieh, Jr., Lebanese politician, Ex minister and member of the parliament. Founder of the Marada Movement
Pierre Gemayel, politician, founder of Al-Kataeb party in Lebanon
Bashir Gemayel, Lebanese military commander, politician, and president-elect. Founder of the Lebanese Forces.
John Abi Zeid, former Commander in Chief of the US Central Command

Arts, culture, and entertainment

Amin al-Rihani, poet
Najwa Karam, famous Lebanese singer.
Tony Kanaan, race car driver
Paul Anka, Singer
Tony Shalhoub, three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning American television and film actor.
Nadine Labaki, actress and director.
Diana Haddad, singer. Later converted to Islam
Elissa Khoury, singer
Youssef Howayek, sculptor
François Ziadeh, TV Director & Producer
Mario Kassar, filmmaker
Callie Khouri, screenwriter
Joe Lahoud, baseball player
Octavia E. Nasr, CNN editor
Kathy Najimy, actress
Elie Saab, fashion designer
Michael Sallah, Pulitzer Prize reporter
Elie Samaha, filmmaker
Wadih Saadeh, poet and writer
Danny Thomas, actor and founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Khalil Gibran, artist and writer
Hashmeer al-Nahar, TV director and actor

Business

Carlos Slim, CEO, Telmex
Carlos Ghosn, French-Brazilian industrialist, CEO of Nissan and Renault

George Maloof Jr., entrepreneur
Khouri Brothers (Anthony, George and Gerry), Bufori Motor Car Company and Australian Lebanese Businessmen
Tarek Saab Former contestant on The Apprentice and CEO of Lionheart Apparel

Science

Elie D. Al-Chaer, neuroscientist, pain researcher; director: Center for Pain Research
Elie A. Moussallem, physician