Portal:Origin
From Maronite History
The term "Maronite" is given today to a large Christian denomination in Lebanon and the world, yet at the same time it has always posed a problem of identity. Scholars continue to dispute the precise roots of the word, but several historical sources combine to give clues concerning the origin.
Eleventh-century Maronite bishop of Kfartab and writer Tuma (Thomas) indicates in his Ten Treatises that the term Maronite is derived from Maran, which is a Syriac term that means "Our Lord Jesus Christ." According to Tuma, Maran was also the name of the monastery after which the Maronites were named. Tuma's first suggestion is supported by 16th century bishop of Nicosia Jabra'il Ibn al-Qila'i, who believed that the term Maronite was derived from the Syriac Morio, meaning Lord (Christ). Also as Tuma has written, 18th century Maronite writer Murhij Nirun al-Bani believed that the term Maronite (which in Syriac is Moronoye) came from the Monastery of Marun (named after a fifth century ascetic) and applied to those who followed the faith of the monastery's monks.
The issue is most extensively visited by 18th century Patriarch Istefan al-Duwayhi who wrote about it in Tarikh al-Ta'ifa al-Maruniyya. Al-Duwayhi discredited suggestions that the term Maronite came from a fifth century monk named Marun or from another monk by the same name who lived a century later. He also rejected the possibility that the term came from a town called Marun in Antioch, and the suggestion that the term derived from Morio, meaning "The Lord." Instead, Al-Duwayhi asserts that the term came from the name of the Syrian monastery, which itself was named after Christ. But Al-Duwayhi also favors another opinion by Al-Qila'i which he claims is approved by the Vatican, which is that the Maronites were named after the pious Marun, "Patriarch of Great Antioch." Some confusion, however, remains concerning the accuracy of this claim and the identity of the "Marun" in question.
‘Maroniteness’ means first and foremost a ‘Spirituality’:
The Maronites are not an ethnic group, or a social or political party. They are a Church established around its founder Maroun, the religious monk, who in the 4th century chose the life of a hermit and cut himself off from the world, to be fully engaged in adoration of God in the desert of Mount Qourosh, yet carrying in his prayer the worries and pains of all those who sought his intercession and drew strength and perseverance from his constancy and prayer. In the footsteps of Maroun, his followers lived a life of austerity and adoration. After the plains of Syria and the Assy River, they took from the Lebanese mountains an oasis of prayer, self-denial and dedication to God, a life that drew them upwards. To this day the cells and hermitages of Annaya, Qannoubine, Hardin and the Valley of the Saints are a living witness to the radiant Maronite virtues and to the continuity of this spirituality, which has given us Saints, and still does. Even now there are three Maronite hermits, one each in Qozhaya, Hawqua and Tamish. If the blessedness brought by our Saints Charbel, Rafqa and Nemetallah, since their visit to us here, three months ago, still lingers on and enfolds our lives, this is a sure sign of the spiritual impetus these Saints took from the teachings of their Church, which they transmitted to us, urging us to activate it and keep it always alive – so that we may truly be sons and daughters of a praying Church, seeking holiness. And by this shall we be first recognised as Maronites.
Secondly, Maroniteness is a land, a nation and an allegiance:
No Maroniteness is without this land, belonging, and attachment. The Maronites left the plains and sought the rugged mountains of Lebanon and its valleys, searching for a land they could identify with, a land connected to them, giving them freedom and a means of living, a land they developed and cultivated, a land that reaped a rich harvest. Between them and the land grew bonds of promise, commitment, fidelity and love, sometimes even to the sacrifice of their lives. Lebanon was their first country shaped in their image, independent and proud of its identity. To their civil identity and the richness of its diversity, they gave their spiritual identity built on faith in God, on love and nobility, on forgiveness and solidarity, on generosity and fidelity to commitments.
Thirdly, Maroniteness is a dialogue and an encounter with the future :
Dialogue with God, though the spirituality of our Maronite history and its experiences is never complete without dialogue with other people. The Maronite culture, like any other culture, remains incomplete without encountering and interacting with other cultures. This is the richness of Lebanon, the first country of Maroniteness, which was and is a witness to the dialogue of religions and civilizations, interacting, enriching and being enriched. This is the importance of the Maronite Expansion, long before globalization, giving the Maronites a valuable opportunity for openness and dialogue with other nations and civilizations of the world, leading to an enculturation beneficial to all participants. This dialogue produced mature thinking and knowledge, manifested in our great thinkers, writers, scientists, and in the teachings of our Church leaders and Patriarch. We are urged here and now to strengthen this openness and dialogue by a civilised way of living, which should characterise us. The Maronite Church – like the grain of wheat in today’s Gospel – planted in Lebanon, did not remain alone but grew, blossomed, and reaped a rich harvest of holiness, models and culture, filling the whole world. And to this we are witnesses.
Sources
- Matti Moosa - The Maronites in History (Syracuse University Press, 1986).
Marounia, The Maronite Heritage Centre.
