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Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group
native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount Lebanon in modern Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the rest of the Catholic Church.Malone, Joseph J. The Arab Lands of Western Asia, Prentice-Hall, 1973, p. 7
The Maronites derive their name from Saint Maron, (350-410 AD. ), a monk who migrated with his followers from Antioch to the Lebanese Mountains and founded the Maronite church. The spread of Christianity was very slow in the Lebanese region, in the 5th century AD in the highlands they were still pagan. St. Maron sent the apostle Abraham of Cyrrhus known as the "Apostle of Lebanon" with a mandate to convert the pagan inhabitants of Lebanon to Christianity. After their conversion, the inhabitants of the region renamed the Adonis River to the Abrahamic River in honor of the Saint who preached there.El-Hāyek, Elias (1990). 9780888448095, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. . ISBN 9780888448095Shafiq AbouZayd (1993). 9780952077602, Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies. . ISBN 9780952077602
The early Maronites were Hellenized Semites who spoke Greek and Syriac language, yet identified with the Greek-speaking populace of Constantinople and Antioch. 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 as late as the 19th century. While Maronites identify primarily as native Lebanese of Maronite origin, many identify as Arab Christians. (2025). 9781440861185, Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781440861185 Others identify as descendants of Phoenicia. Some Maronites argue that they are of Mardaite ancestry, while other historians, such as Clement Joseph David, the Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Damascus, reject this.
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 conflict 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 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. 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.
Although Christianity existed in Roman Phoenice since the time of the Apostles, Christians were a minority among the majority pagans by the time Emperor Theodosius I issued The Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD. The coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon remained prosperous during Roman rule, but Phoenicia had ceased to be the maritime empire it once was centuries ago and the north of Berytus (Beirut) and the mountains of Lebanon concentrated a big part of the intellectual and religious activities. Very few Roman temples were built in the coastal cities, hence the reason for the reign of paganism in the interior of the land.
The Maronite movement reached Lebanon when in 402 AD Saint Maron's first disciple, Abraham of Cyrrhus, who was called the Apostle of Lebanon, realized that there were many non-Christians in Lebanon and so he set out to convert the Phoenician inhabitants of the coastal lines and mountains of Lebanon, introducing them to the way of Saint Maron.El-Hāyek, Elias (1990). 9780888448095, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. . ISBN 9780888448095 In 451 AD, the Maronites followed the Council of Chalcedon, rejecting both monophysitism and Miaphysitism in favor of maintaining full communion with the then united Catholic Church. This conflict is thought to have resulted among other things in a massacre of 350 monks from the monastery of Maron in 517 AD, though the person who gave the order (some accuse the Monophysite Emperor Anastasius I, others the Miaphysite Severus of Antioch and Peter of Apamea) and the event itself have been debated.
The Maronites managed then to become "civilly semiautonomous" where they settled and kept speaking Lebanese Aramaic (2025). 9781725263215, Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781725263215 in daily life and Syriac language for their liturgy.
The Maronites welcomed the conquering Christians of the First Crusade in 1096 AD. (2025). 9780313321115, Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313321115 Around the late 12th century, according to William of Tyre, the Maronites numbered 40,000 people. During the several centuries of separation from the rest of the Christian world, they often claim to have been in full communion with the Catholic Church throughout.
Despite this the majority of the accounts of those interacting with them at the time indicate that they were Monothelitism; notable figures from the era such as the medieval historian Jacques de Vitry and the chronicler of the Pope, William of Tyre affirming this, the latter of which (William Tyre) recorded both their kindness upon receiving him and the monothelitic views of which they recanted, stating; "The heresy of Maro and his followers is and was that in our Lord Jesus Christ, there exists and did exist from the beginning one will and one energy only, as may be learned from the sixth council, which as is well known, was assembled against them and in which they suffered sentence of condemnation. Now however...they repented all of these heresies and returned to the catholic church". The Maronites have also had a presence in Cyprus since the early 9th century and many Maronites went there following the Sultan Saladin's successful Siege of Jerusalem in 1187 AD.
The relationship between the Druze and Christians has been characterized by harmony and peaceful Plurinationalism, with amicable relations between the two groups prevailing throughout history, with the exception of some periods, including 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war. In the 19th century, thousands of Maronites were massacred by the Lebanese Druze during the 1860 conflict. According to some estimates about 11,000 Lebanese Christians (including Maronites) were killed; over 4,000 died from hunger and disease as a result of the war.
After the 1860 massacres, many Maronites fled to Egypt. Antonios Bachaalany, a Maronite from Salima (Baabda district) was the first emigrant to the New World, where he reached the United States in 1854 and died there two years later. The Ottoman authorities placed Lebanon in 1915 under direct military rule and abolished all privileges in Lebanon, including that of the Maronite Church. During the First World War, the French landed troops and had Lebanon fully occupied according to the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement and after the end of the war, the Maronite dream of having an independent state under French mandate was realised.
Lebanon's constitution was intended to guarantee political representation for each of the nation's religious groups. Under the terms of an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, the president of the country must be a Maronite Christian. United Nations Development Programme: Programme on Governance in the Arab Region : Elections : Lebanon Retrieved 2018-11-18.
Many Maronites fled Syria due to the war, seeking refuge in Lebanon, Europe, or the Americas. The Maronite Archdiocese of Aleppo remains one of the main religious institutions, serving a community that practices the unique Syriac-Antiochene liturgical tradition, similar to their counterparts in Lebanon. However, the community has faced significant challenges due to sectarian violence and political instability. Despite these difficulties, the Maronite Church continues to play an active role in Syria, providing humanitarian aid and preserving its cultural and religious heritage.
According to the Annuario Pontificio, in 2020 the Eparchy of San Charbel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, had 750,000 members; in 2021 the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of São Paulo, Brazil, had 521,000 members; in 2020 the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Sydney, Australia, had 161,370 members; in 2020 the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Montreal, Canada, had 94,300 members; in 2021 the Eparchy of Our Lady of the Martyrs of Lebanon in Mexico had 167,190 members; in 2021 the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles in the United States had 47,480 members; in 2020 and the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn in the United States had 23,939 members.
According to the Annuario Pontificio, 51,520 people belonged to the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Paris in 2021. In Europe, some Belgian Maronites are involved in the trade of diamonds in the diamond district of Antwerp.
According to the Annuario Pontificio, 74,900 belonged to the Apostolic Exarchate of West and Central Africa (Nigeria) in 2020. The Diocese is centered in Ibadan, Nigeria and covers the countries of Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger. Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
A unique feature of the Lebanese system is the principle of "confessional distribution": all religious community has an allotted number of deputies in the Parliament. Thirty-four seats in parliament are reserved for Maronites. The largest party is the Lebanese Forces that receives most of its support from the Maronite Christians but it also supported by other Christian sects throughout the country. It currently has 19 seats in parliament, 11 of them being Maronite. The Kataeb Party is a Christian-based political party of Maronite majority and former militia. it currently holds 4 of the 128 seats in parliament, all of which are Christian. As a militia, it played a pivotal role during the Lebanese Civil War as it controlled its own Maronistan as part of the Lebanese Front. The party is also led by the Gemayel family, a notable Maronite family based in the regions of Achrafieh and Matn District which carries the legacy of Pierre Gemayel and Bachir Gemayel.
The Free Patriotic Movement is Christian-based political party which follows the agenda of former president Michel Aoun. It currently holds 17 seats of the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament. The party has large support in Christian districts like Batroun and Jezzine. Other smaller Maronite-based parties that only receive local support includes, the Marada Movement, National Liberal Party and Independence Movement.
In addition, some 500 Christian adherents of the Syriac Catholic Church in Israel are expected to apply for the recreated ethnic status, as well as several hundred Aramaic-speaking adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Though supported by Gabriel Naddaf, the move was condemned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which described it as "an attempt to divide the Palestinian minority in Israel".
This recognition comes after about seven years of activity by the Aramean Christian Foundation in Israel, led by IDF Major Shadi Khalloul Risho and the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf of the Greek-Orthodox Church and Major Ihab Shlayan. Shadi Khalloul Risho is also a member of the Israeli right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, and was placed 15th in the 2015 parliamentary elections in the party's member list; the party however received only 5 seats.
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, within the Nahda and the Mahjar, some Maronite intellectuals contributed to the formation of modern Arab identity and Arab nationalism. Key figures include Naguib Azoury, Ameen Rihani and Kahlil Gibran.
Youssef Bey Karam, a Maronite leader during the 19th century, in a letter to Emir Abdelkader encouraged him to liberate all Arabs from the Ottoman Empire and then establishing an Arab Union.Steppat, Fritz (1969). "Eine Bewegung unter den Notabeln Syriens 1877–1878: Neues Licht auf die Entstehung des Arabia hen Nationalismus". Zeitschrift: Supplementa (in German) (1). Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft; F. Steiner Verlag.
During the 20th century most of the Maronite elite in Lebanon favored the development of a primarily Lebanese identity and its separation from the Pan-Arabism one, in favor of a policy that would bring the country closer to the Western world. Some Lebanese intellectuals, mainly Maronites, theorized Phoenicianism, which asserted the descent of the Lebanese people from the Phoenicians.
On an Al Jazeera special dedicated to the political Christian clans of Lebanon and their struggle for power in the 2009 election entitled, "Lebanon: The Family Business", the issue of identity was brought up on several occasions. Sami Gemayel, of the Gemayel clan, stated he did not consider himself an Arab but instead identified himself as a Syriac Christian, going on to explain that to him and many Lebanese the "acceptance" of Lebanon's "Arab identity" according to the Taif Agreement was not something that they "accepted" but instead were forced into signing through pressure. In a speech to a crowd of Kataeb supporters Gemayel declared that he felt there was importance in Christians in Lebanon finding an identity and went on to state what he finds identification with as a Lebanese Christian, concluding with a purposeful exclusion of Arabism in the segment.
Maronite Deacon Soubhi Makhoul, administrator for the Maronite Exarchate in Jerusalem, said "The Maronites are Arabs, we are part of the Arab world. And although it's important to revive our language and maintain our heritage, the church is very outspoken against the campaign of these people." Suleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada Movement, has often affirmed the belonging of the Maronite community to the Arab world and the importance of its adherence to Arabism.
In Israel, some members of the local Maronite community have adopted an Arameans identity and organized linguistic revitalization programs. The Aramean identity was officially recognized by the Israeli Minister of the Interior in 2014, allowing certain Christian families to register their ethnicity as "Aramean" rather than "Arab" or "Unclassified." A slight majority of the Maronites in Israel identify themselves as Arabs; the Arab identity is prevalent especially among the young and among women.
(2025). 9781538120439, Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538120439 Key figures of this movement were Charles Corm, Michel Chiha and Said Aql. Aql and Etienne Saqr went as far as voicing anti-Arab views. In his book the Israeli writer Mordechai Nisan quoted Aql as saying; "I would cut off my right hand, and not associate myself to an Arab." Aql believed in emphasizing the legacy of Lebanon and had promoted the use of the Lebanese Arabic dialect written in a modified Latin alphabet, rather than the Arabic alphabet. Phoenicianism is still disputed by many Arabist scholars who have on occasion tried to convince its adherents to abandon their claims as false, and to embrace and accept the Arab identity instead. Since the civil war and the Taif agreement, Lebanese Phoenicianism is restricted to a small group.
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Bibliography
(2025). 9781593331825, Gorgias Press. ISBN 9781593331825
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