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History of the Maronites
On the mountains of Lebanon, in this mystical land, in these deep valleys, among these white mountains, in the land of honey and milk, in the nation of the Cedar and the Alphabet, in the Phoenician land, there the Maronite Church, the smallest of all the churches, has grown like a mustard seed and became a tree, so that several churches and denominations have come to be sheltered in its branches. The history of the Maronites was sealed by persecution and martyrdom for the sake of Faith, Freedom, and Independence.
Who are the Maronites? What is the Maronite Church?
The Maronites are those Christians who gathered around a monastery called Bet Moroon or the House of Maron built in 452 on the Orontes River, after the Council of Chalcedon and the request of Pope Leo. Those Christians who defended their faith in Jesus Christ, human and divine, were called Maronites after a hermit priest, St. Maron, who was a great saint in that region of Syria.
St. Maron
St. Maron lived on the mountains of Cyrrhus, near Antioch, in the 4th century AD, in the open air. God bestowed on him the gift of healing, which made his fame spread in the entire region. St. Maron died around the year 410 AD. His disciples continued his mission. Abraham the hermit, the apostle of Lebanon, converted the Phoenician inhabitants of the mountains of Lebanon. Jebbet Bsharre and Mnaytra adopted Christianity. The Phoenician pagans became Maronite Christians.