Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 )

jed · 1 Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 ) Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:15 pm

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Saint Maron

St. Maron, also known as Saint Maroun, was a 5th century Syriac Christian monk who after his death was followed by a religious movement that became known as the Maronites. The Church that grew from this movement is the Maronite Church. St. Maron was known for his missionary work, healing and miracles, and teachings of a monastic devotion to God.

St. Maroun, born in the middle of the 4th century in Syria, was a priest who later became a hermit, retiring to a mountain of Taurus in the region of Cyrrhus, near Antioch. His holiness and miracles attracted many followers, and drew attention throughout the empire. St. John Chrysostom sent him a letter around AD 405 expressing his great love and respect, and asking St. Maron to pray for him.

Maroun is considered the Father of the spiritual and monastic movement now called the Maronite Catholic Church. This movement had a profound influence in Lebanon. St. Maroun spent all of his life on a mountain in Syria. It is believed that the place was called "Kefar-Nabo" on the mountain of Ol-Yambos, making it the cradle of the Maronite movement.

The Maronite movement reached Lebanon when St. Maroun's first disciple Abraham of Cyrrhus who was called the Apostle of Lebanon, realised that there were many non-Christians in Lebanon, so he set out to convert them to Christianity by introducing them to the way of St. Maroun. The followers of St. Maroun, both monks and laity, always remained faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. St. Maroun's feast day is celebrated on February 9th by the Maronites, and on February 14th by the Orthodox.

Maroun's way was deeply monastic with emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic aspects of living, contrasted by the fact that the 'Khoury,' or, 'priest' of the Maronite rite can marry. For St. Maroun, all was connected to God and God was connected to all. He did not separate the physical and spiritual world and actually used the physical world to deepen his faith and spiritual experience with God.

St. Maroun embraced the quiet solitude of the mountain life. He lived his life in open air exposed to the forces of nature such as sun, rain, hail and snow. His extraordinary desire to come to know God's presence in all things allowed St. Maroun to transcend such forces and discover that intimate union with God. He was able to free himself from the physical world by his passion and fervour for prayer and enter into a mystical relationship of love with God.

St. Maroun was a mystic who started this new ascetic-spiritual method that attracted many people in Syria and Lebanon to become his disciples. Accompanying his deeply spiritual and ascetic life, he was a zealous missionary with a passion to spread the message of Christ by preaching it to all he met. He sought not only to cure the physical ailments that people suffered, but had a great quest for nurturing and healing the "lost souls" of both non-christians and Christians of his time.

This missionary work came to fruition when in the mountains of Syria, St. Maroun was able to convert a temple into a Christian Church. This was to be the beginning of the conversion to Christianity in Syria which would then influence and spread to Lebanon. After his death in the year 410, his spirit and teachings lived on through his disciples and today he lies in "brad" village to the north of Aleppo.

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

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jed wrote:Saint Maron

After his death in the year 410, his spirit and teachings lived on through his disciples and today he lies in "brad" village to the north of Aleppo.

Some news about the relics of the saint

St. Maroun died around 410 A.D. and willed to be buried in St. Zabina’s tomb in Kita in the region of Cyrrhus. However, his will was not executed because people from different villages wanted to have him buried in their towns. Theodoret’s description of St. Maroun’s burial place<.4) points to the populous town of Barad in the proximity of Kfarnabo. A huge church was built in that town around the beginning of the fifth century A.D. (25).

Inside this church there was a sarcophagus, which possibly contained St. Maroun’s body. According to a Maronite tradition, the followers of St. Maroun carried the relics of the Saint, especially the skull, to St. Maroun’s Monastery or "Beit Maroun" built in 452 A.D. between Hama and Aleppo in Syria.

After,
The skull was carried to St. Maroun’s Monastery in Kfarhai, Batroun - Lebanon around the turn of the eighth century. Patriarch Douaihy mentions: "When Youhanna (John) Maroun settled in Kfarhai, he built an altar and a monastery after St. Maroun’s name and put St. Maroun’s skull inside the altar to heal the faithful. That’s why the monastery is called "Rish Mro" (Syriac) meaning "Maroun’s head"(26) .
Later, St. Maroun’s skull was taken to Italy. In 1130 A.D. one of the Benedictine monks came tc the region. This monk was the rector of the Cross Afonastery near Foligno-Italy. During his visit he heard about St. Maroun’s skull, and upon retuming home he publicized St. Maroun’s virtues. As a matter of fact, a church was built after St. Maroun’s name in Foligno. The Bishop of Foligno carried the skull to the city in 1194 A.D. and put it in the church of the diocese. The faithful in the city made a statue of silver for St. Maroun and put the skull in it. During his stay in Italy in 1887, Bishop Youssef el-Debs was given some relics of St. Maroun’s skull by the Bishop of Foligno(27).

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

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From Aspects of Maronite History
By Chorbishop Seely Beggiani

"What is remarkable about St. Maron is that his main goal in life was not to become famous, but to serve his God in total detachment from the world. Yet while being separated from the world, he served the people of this world, who came to him in search of spiritual and physical healing. His eye and his heart were set on God and union with Him in the future kingdom. Yet by being totally faithful to God's will, this humble hermit has also achieved worldly immortality through the Church which ears his name. In face, the Maronite Church is the only church in Catholicism which bears the name of a person".

Our-Lady-Of-Victory

Our-Lady-Of-Victory

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Tarek Ch 2 wrote:From Aspects of Maronite History
By Chorbishop Seely Beggiani

"What is remarkable about St. Maron is that his main goal in life was not to become famous, but to serve his God in total detachment from the world. Yet while being separated from the world, he served the people of this world, who came to him in search of spiritual and physical healing. His eye and his heart were set on God and union with Him in the future kingdom. Yet by being totally faithful to God's will, this humble hermit has also achieved worldly immortality through the Church which ears his name. In face, the Maronite Church is the only church in Catholicism which bears the name of a person".

Wow. So the more St. Maron learned to become detached from the world, the more St. Maron emptied him self, through acts of penance, mortification and self sacrifice, in order to make room for Jesus, within in his heart; Therefore Christ was able to magnify Himself through St. Maron, as healer and conversion of the souls to believe. Many souls became attracted to St. Maron, in whom he only pointed to Jesus. Yes, I think I understand..

Thank you. I'm very happy you're here. As a Catholic in the Western Church, (the Latin Catholic rite), I don't know much about St. Maron, (an Eastern Catholic Rite Saint). Yet I'm very much attracted to him, especially to St. Charbel, and especially to the spiritual history and Liturgy of the Maronites.

Was St. Maron the spiritual father of St. Charbel?

Admin · 5 Homily by Fr. Sharbel Maroun Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:49 am

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Upon reading this homily , one sure thing was that the Love and Glory of God always Shine from the action of all these Holy Saints.

February 9,2007 - Feast of St. Maron, father of the Maronite Catholic Church

THIS WEEK THE MARONITES WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF OUR FOUNDER AND PATRON SAINT MARON.

IN LEBANON, WHERE THERE ARE SEVENTEEN DIFFERENT SECTS OF CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS, FEBRUARY THE 9TH IS A NATIONAL HOLIDAY WHERE THE WHOLE GOVERNMENT IS SHUT DOWN.

MARON’S INFLUENCE ON THE SYRIAC GROUP OF CHRISTIANS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY WAS SO GREAT THAT THEY TOOK THEIR NAME AFTER HIM; BET MOROON, “MARONITES.”

THROUGH THIS HOLY MAN GOD HAS PERFORMED MANY MIRACLES AND WONDERS. EVEN AMONG HIS FOLLOWERS, ONE CAN FIND SOME TWENTY SAINTS, FOUR OF WHOM ARE WOMEN. IN RECENT HISTORY, THE MARONITE CHURCH HAS GIVEN THE CHURCH MORE SAINTS, AMONG THEM ST. SHARBEL, ST. RAFKA, AND ST. NIMATULLAH.

THE MARONITES HAVE ENDURED CONTINUOUS PERSECUTION FOR THE LAST 1600 YEARS, OFFERING THEIR BLOOD IN MARTYRDOM FOR THE SAKE OF THEIR FAITH AND FREEDOM. OUR MARONITE BROTHERS & SISTERS IN LEBANON ARE IN A DANGER OF DISAPPEARING WITH THE SPREAD OF ISLAM & FUNDAMENTALISM. IT IS OUR DUTY TO PRAY FOR THEM AND HELP PRESERVE CHRISTIANITY IN THE LAND WHERE IT WAS BORN 2004 YEARS AGO.

THE FIRST MARONITES CAME FROM THE SYRIAC BRANCH OF CHRISTIANITY, THE DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF THE PEOPLE WHO RECEIVED THE FAITH FROM THE APOSTLES. THE MARONITES ARE PEOPLE OF FAITH WHO ARE ALWAYS WILLING TO SACRIFICE THEMSELVES AND WHAT THEY HAVE FOR CHRIST’S SAKE AS A GRATITUDE FOR SACRIFICING HIMSELF ON THE CROSS ON THEIR BEHALF.

BECAUSE OF THE HARSH PERSECUTION IN SYRIA DURING THE MOSLEM EXPANSION, THE MARONITES FLED TO LEBANON IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY WHERE THEY ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AS A CHURCH, GATHERING AROUND THEIR SPIRITUAL FATHER, THE PATRIARCH, AND ESTABLISHING THEIR LITURGY, SPIRITUALITY AND IDENTITY.

THANKS TO THE HEROIC EFFORTS OF THE MARONITES, LEBANON BECAME A LAND WHERE CHRISTIANS LIVED FREELY. THANKS TO MANY MARONITES, LIKE PATRIARCH ELIAS HOYEK, WHO WENT TO EUROPE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE FREEDOM OF LEBANON AFTER 400 YEARS OF OCCUPATION AND PERSECUTION BY THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. THANKS TO OUR PRESENT PATRIARCH NASRALLAH BOUTORS SFEIR, WHO HAS BEEN THE GREAT VOICE OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY FOR THE LAST DOZEN OF YEARS, AS WELL AS THE MAIN DEFENDER OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE IN LEBANON AND THE MIDDLE EAST. MAY GOD BLESS HIM AT THE AGE OF 84 TO CONTINUE LEADING THE MARONITE CHURCH AND LEBANON TO SALVATION, FREEDOM AND SOVEREIGNTY.

ALTHOUGH THE ROOTS OF THE MARONITE CHURCH ARE ROOTED IN LEBANON, THIS CHURCH IS NOW FLOURISHING ALL OVER THE WORLD, INCLUDING MINNEAPOLIS. BESIDES MANY DIOCESES IN LEBANON, THE MARONITES HAVE THEIR OWN BISHOPS AND DIOCESE IN SYRIA, CYPRUS, EGYPT, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, MEXICO, CANADA AND TWO DIOCESES IN THE UNITED STATES. ALL OF THESE DIOCESE WERE BORN THE LAST 35 YEARS. OUR EPARCHY IS ONE OF THE YOUNGEST AND MOST GROWING.

WE, AS MARONITES SHOULD BE VERY PROUD (IN A HUMBLE WAY) TO BELONG TO THIS RICH AND OLD TRADITION THAT IS PROBABLY THE CLOSEST TO THE ERA AND AREA THAT JESUS LIVED IN SOME TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

ALL OF US, OLD AND YOUNG, HAVE A DUTY TO PRESERVE THIS PRECIOUS TRADITION THAT IS OURS. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT YOUR TRADITION, BRING THEM TO THEIR MARONITE CHURCH WHERE THEY BELONG. THIS IS THE BEST WAY THAT YOU CAN SHOW THEM WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MARONITE.

TO KNOW YOUR HISTORY, TO UNDERSTAND YOUR THEOLOGY AND TO LIVE YOUR BEAUTIFUL LITURGY IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MARONITE. LET US PRAY TODAY THAT OUR MARONITE BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WHO HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM THEIR ROOTS FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, MAY COME BACK AND ENJOY THE LITURGICAL, SPIRITUAL AND SOCIAL RICHNESS THAT WE HAVE.

TODAY, LET US EXAMINE OUR CONSCIOUSNESS AND SEE HOW LOYAL AND COMMITTED WE ARE TO THIS GREAT AND RICH TRADITION THAT COST THOUSANDS OF MARTYRS.

OUR ANCESTORS ARE NONE BUT THE DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF THE APOSTLES AND JESUS HIMSELF. OUR LITURGICAL LANGUAGE IS THE SAME LANGUAGE THAT THE SON OF GOD SPOKE, AND OUR MOTHER LAND IS THE LAND WHERE CHRIST AND HIS MOTHER MARY AND THE APOSTLES WALKED UPON; OUR FOREFATHERS ARE THE PHOENICIANS WHO HAVE DISCOVERED THE FIRST ALPHABET, AND THE FIRST PEOPLE WHO SAILED THE OCEANS.

IN ORDER FOR THIS MARONITE CHURCH TO CONTINUE TO FLOURISH AND GROW, THE SPIRIT OF MARON MUST BE FOLLOWED WITH LOVE AND UNITY.

LET US IMITATE MARON AS HE IMITATED CHRIST HIS LORD, AND LIKE HIM FOLLOW CHRIST WITH SIMPLICITY, FAITH AND HUMILITY.

HAPPY FEAST-DAY

Posted on February 9, 2007 by NYer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1781899/posts

Last edited by Admin on Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:58 am; edited 1 time in total

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By Guita G. Hourani
Chairwoman of MARI

In this section of the Journal of Maronite Studies (JMS), we share with you documents and manuscripts that reflect the history of the Maronite people and church. Whenever possible, we will feature a copy of the original record with an English translation. Should we not be able to do so, we shall rely on the integrity of the author(s) who first brought this record to our attention. The Editor's interpolations will appear in square brackets.

It is well known that in the 4th A.D. century, monasticism flourished in Saint Anthony's Egypt and in the Palestine of Saint Hilarion. It is perhaps less well known that the ascetic way of life also was thriving in Syria, Antioch, and Mesopotamia at this time. One of the leaders of such ascetic life was hermit named Maron.

The earliest written information about Saint Maron (d.410) (1) can be found in Historia Religiosa (c. 440) of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus (393-466) and in a letter of John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople (344-407), both written in Greek (2).

Theodoret was a revered writer of his time. His book, the Historia Religiosa, is a preeminent source for early Syrian monastic and ascetic life. [Although he was a contemporary of Saint Maron, there is no direct evidence that indicates that the two had met.] In his book, Theodoret wrote:

"After him [Acepsimas] I shall recall Maron, for he too adorned the godly choir of the saints. Embracing the open-air life, he repaired to a hill-top formerly honored by the impious. Consecrating to God the precinct of demons on it, he lived there, pitching a small tent which he seldom used. He practiced not only the usual labors, but devised others as well, heaping up the wealth of philosophy.

The Umpire measured out grace according to his labors: so the magnificent one gave in abundance the gift of healing, with the result that his fame circulated everywhere, attracted everyone from every side and taught by experience the truth of the report. One could see fevers quenched by the dew of his blessing, shivering quieted, demons put to flight, and varied diseases of every kind cured by a single remedy; the progeny of physicians apply to each disease the appropriate remedy, but the prayer of the saint is a common antidote for every distress. He cured not only infirmities of the body, but applied suitable treatment to souls as well, healing this man's greed and that man's anger, to this man supplying teaching in self-control and to that providing lessons in justice, correcting this man's intemperance and shaking up another man's sloth. Applying this mode of cultivation, he produced many plants of philosophy, and it was he who planted for God the garden that now flourishes in the region of Cyrrhus (3). A product of his planting was the great James, to whom one could reasonably apply the prophetic utterance, 'the righteous man will flower as the palm tree, and be multiplied like the cedar of Lebanon' (4), and also all the others whom, with God's help, I shall recall individually.

Attending in this way to the divine cultivation and treating souls and bodies alike, he himself underwent a short illness, so that we might learn the weakness of nature and the manliness of resolution, and departed from life. A bitter war over his body arose between his neighbors. One of the adjacent villages that was well-populated came out in mass, drove off the others and seized this thrice desired treasure ['Saint Maron wished to be buried with the hermit Zebinas'] (5) building a great shrine, they reap benefit therefrom even to this day, honoring this victor with a public festival. We ourselves reap his blessing even at a distance; for sufficient for us instead of his tomb is his memory" (6).

The other major source of information about Saint Maron comes from Saint John Chrysostom that is "John the Golden Mouth." He became Patriarch of Constantinople in 397. He dedicated his 36th epistle to Saint Maron while exiled in Cucussus (7), Armenia, around the year 405. The 36th epistle reads as follows:

"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 travellers are subject, whenever opportunity allows we address ourselves to your honour 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". ( Cool

After Saint Maron's death, his relics were the object of considerable interest and conflict. The people of a neighboring village, believed to be Brad or Barad in the environs of Kfar-Nabo (9), succeeded in taking his body (10).

Then a church was built in his name, and a sarcophagus containing the Saint's body was housed in it. It is believed that later the Saint's skull was transported by the Saint's disciples to Apamea (11) in Syria where they built the famous Saint Maron Monastery or "Beit Maron" around the year 452 (12). According to the Arab historian Al-Mas'oudi (d.960):

"there was dedicated to him (St. Maron) a great convent, located in the east of Hamah and Chizar. It was a splendid building. Around it were three hundred cells, inhabited by monks.... That convent was sacked, and the cells around it, by the many raids of the Arabs and by the cruelty of the Sultan. It is situated on the shore of the Orontes, the river of Emese and Antioch." (13) Patriarch Istephan Duwayhi in his book T'arikh al-Azmina tells us that when Patriarch Youhanna (John) Maron, the first Maronite Patriarch, settled in Kfarhay, in the Batroun region of Lebanon at the beginning of the 8th century:

"he built an altar and a monastery after Saint Maron's name and put Saint Maron's skull inside the altar to heal the faithful. This is why the Monastery is called "Rish Mro" Syriac for Maron's head (14).

Luigi Jacobilli in his book Vite De' Santi e Beati Dell'Umbria (15) asserts that in the year 1130 A.D., Saint Maron's skull was again moved-- this time to Foligno, Italy. The Bibliotheca Sanctorum (16) records the following:

In regard to the relics of St. Maron, Jacobilli affirms that the Saint's skull is now preserved in Foligno after being transferred three times. The first transfer was in 1130, when Abbot Michel of the Croce di Sassovivo while on a pilgrimage to the Holy land, brought back the skull of the honored Saint from a Maronite monastery in Syria. A short while after, and at the request of the same Abbot, the skull was moved from Sassovivo to a church erected in honor of the Saint in a nearby town of Volperino. The third transfer was in 1490 when the relic of the Saint was moved from Volperino to the Cathedral of Foligno where it was placed in a silver statue. The authenticity of the first transfer [from Syria to Sassovivo] is recorded in the Chronicon Monasterii S. Crucis Saxivivi, the other two transfers are noted in the archive of the Church in Volperino and the Town Hall of Foligno. [Editor's translation] (17)

Chorbishop Youssef Debs in his book Histoire de Syrie asserts that he was given a relic of the honored Saint by the Bishop of Foligno during his visit to Italy in 1887. (18)

Saint Maron left a legacy behind him that flourishes today in a people named after him-- the Maronites. The Maronites, now are virtually found in almost every country of the world. Saint Maron's feast day is celebrated on February 9 of every year in all the Maronite churches around the world. This day is also an official national day in the State of Lebanon.

Posted on February 9, 2007 by NYer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1781899/posts

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Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 )

1 Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 ) Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:15 pm

jed

2 Re: Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 ) Sat Jan 09, 2010 5:43 pm

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

3 Re: Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 ) Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:12 pm

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

4 Re: Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 ) Wed Jan 13, 2010 1:13 am

Our-Lady-Of-Victory

5 Homily by Fr. Sharbel Maroun Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:49 am

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6 Saint Maron's Relic "Ornament of the Divine Choir of Saints" Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:57 am

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7 Re: Saint Maron, القديس مارون ( Feb 9 and 14 )

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