ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH
Saints celebrated on the 2nd of March
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SAINT JOHN MARON, PATRIARCH
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| Saint John Maron is recognised as the founder of the Maronite Syriac Church of Antioch and the pioneer of Lebanese identity. |
The Maronite church, one of the largest Eastern rite churches, is prominent especially in modern Lebanon. The church is in canonical communion with the Roman Catholic Church and is the only Eastern rite church that has no counterpart outside that union.
The Maronites trace their origins to St Maron, or Maro, a Syrian hermit of the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and St John Maron, or Joannes Maro, patriarch of Antioch in 685-707.
Maro, the Syrian hermit, who had died in the fifth century is mentioned by Theodoret (Religionis Historia, XVI). He had gathered together some disciples on the banks of the Orantes, between Emesa and Apamea. After his death the faithful built, at the place where he had lived, a monastery which they named after him.
When Syria was divided by heresies, the monks of Beit-Marun remained invariably faithful to the cause of orthodoxy, and rallied to it the neighbouring inhabitants. This was the cradle of the Maronite nation.
The Jacobite chroniclers bear witness that these populations aided the Emperor Heraclius in the struggle against Monophysitism even by force (around 630). Moreover, thirty years later when Muawyah, the future caliph, was governor of Damascus (658-58), they disputed with the Jacobites in his presence, and the Jacobites, being worsted, had to pay a large penalty. The Emperor Heraclius and his successors having meanwhile succumbed to the Monothelite heresy, which was afterwards condemned in the Council of 681, the Maronites, who until then had been partisans of the Byzantine emperor (Melchites), broke with him, so as not to be in communion with a heretic. From this event dates the national independence of the Maronites. Justinian II (Rhinotmetes) wished to reduce them to subjection: in 694 his forces attacked the monastery, destroyed it, and marched over the mountain towards Tripoli, to complete their conquest.
But the Maronites, with the Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, St John Maron, at their head, routed the Greeks, and saved that autonomy which they were able to maintain through succeeding ages. They are to be identified with the Mardaites of Syria, who, in the Lebanon, on the frontier of the Empire, successfully struggled with the Byzantines and the Arabs. There the Crusaders found them, and formed very close relations with them. The Maronites can show an unbroken list of patriarchs between the time of St John Maron and that of Pope Innocent III; these patriarchs, never having erred in faith, or strayed into schism, are the only legitimate heirs of the Patriarchate of Antioch, or at least they have a claim to that title certainly not inferior to the claim of any rival. Such is the case frequently presented by Maronites, and in the last place by Mgr Debs, Archbishop of Beirut (Perpétuelle orthodoxie des Maronites).
Sources: https://syriacpress.com/blog/2024/04/23/patriarch-saint-john-maron/ - Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 -https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maronite-church#ref273715
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint John may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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