Historical Of all the Eastern Churches, the Maronite Church is the only one which is entirely Catholic. Around AD 400, lived in the mountains of Syria, a hermit named Maron. We know very little of this solitary, whose followers formed the initial core of the Maronite Church. Near the site of his death, it was build a large monastery that soon became a spiritual center for local Christians. The Maronite Church accepted the Council of Chalcedon and was even persecuted for it in the sixth century. It is not a church Monophysite. It is the tradition of expression Antiochene Syriac. In the seventh century , the Muslim invasion forced the Chalcedonian patriarchs of Antioch in Exile. From 702 to 742, there was more of a patriarch at all. It was during this turbulent period that the Maronite Church was formed in patriarchy. The first patriarch was St. John Maron , who died in 707. Driven by persecution from Syria in the ninth century , Maronites settled mainly in Lebanon , where they lived in autonomous church. At the time of the Crusades , the Maronite Church's relations with Rome intensified. She openly professed his obedience to the Pope in the twelfth century. These relationships were loosened under the dominion of the Mamelukes (1291 - 1516) but resumed and strengthened under the Ottoman. The Maronite College of Rome, founded in 1584, helped in the training of bishops and hierarchy. He also formed Orientalist scholars. The valley of Kadisha or Holy Valley, east of Tripoli (Lebanon), was until the seventeenth century a haven for Maronite monasticism. In the latter belonged to the monk Charbel Makhlouf , monk, canonized in 1977. At the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries , many elements of the Latin Rite was introduced in the Maronite rite. It kept its originality and, since 1942, returns to the old traditions.
Today the Maronite Church has 23 dioceses and two vicariates in Lebanon, in Syria but also in the world such as Argentina or Australia. The number of Maronites is estimated at just over 3 million.
Some features of the Maronite rite
The Maronite rite is performed in Syriac, but also and increasingly in Arabic. In general, only the consecration is still in Syriac. The main Eucharistic prayer is said of St. Jacques. There are thirty other, which only 13 are used. Note the anaphora of St. Peter said Charar (his first word). Chorvque loads, and archpriest of Bardout (visitor) are related to those of the bishop. They give the right to wear the butt. The Maronite Church adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1606. All the patriarchs are called Peter, in commemoration of the Apostle ministry in Antioch.
The Maronite Church in the Holy Land
Currently there are no documents proving somewhat stable existence of the Maronites in the Holy Land before the time of the Crusades. Similarly, the number of Maronites who took part in the reconquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders is uncertain but some historians put the figure of ten thousand. Thousands of Maronite engaged in the Knights of St. John in Jerusalem, Acre, Cyprus. Around 1320, the Armenian historian Aitoun noted that in Jerusalem the Maronites formed one of the largest Christian communities.
From the fourteenth century , the history of the Maronites is related to the presence of the Franciscans of the Holy Land. They were somewhat similar to the Franks, celebrating in their churches, their altars and their vestments. The great festivals of Christmas and Easter , many Maronites flocked to Jerusalem and were welcomed by the friars. Maronites served as interpreters, lived with the Franciscan Monastery of Mount Zion , others regularly took an active part in all celebrations in the various shrines. Besides the rights and privileges enjoyed by the Maronite faithful including Mount Zion, they owned the church of St. George el-Khader. A property purchased in 1548 near St George's Church was enlarged in 1598 and there was talk of the neighborhood of the Maronites. Relations with the Franciscans darkened in the second half of the 17th century, due to campaigns romanization from some officials of the Custody.
In March 1700, a solution was found to the crisis: the Maronite Patriarch in Jerusalem sent two priests to serve the community. The Franciscans undertook to respect the autonomy of the Maronites and their own rituals. In 1771, a Maronite church was built in Nazareth but the number of Maronites in the Holy Land was decreasing, mostly because of their passage in the Latin rite, a phenomenon that would last until today.
In 1895, Bishop Elias Hoyek who became Patriarch in Jerusalem, bought a former German hospital with his land. A patriarchal vicariate was created for the occasion in April 1895. The first was the patriarchal vicar Monsignor Youssef Moallem. The patriarchal vicar in Jerusalem has also jurisdiction over the Maronites of Jordan. In 1939 the patriarch resigned as the Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem. The post was restored in 1976. In 1996, the Maronite patriarch decided to create a diocese that covers the territory of the State of Israel and with headquarters in Haifa. This is Bishop Paul Nabil Sayah which since 1996 has been Archbishop of Haifa while Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem. Outside Jerusalem and Bethlehem , there are Maronites in Akko , Haifa , Jaffa , Lod , Nazareth , Kfar Berim, Jish ...
Organization
The Church has the following dioceses:
Relations with other Churches
The Church is a member of the Council of Churches of the Middle East.
Relations with other Churches of Syriac tradition
Since 1994 , the Maronite Church has a series of ecumenical discussions with other Churches of Syriac tradition, initiated by the Pro Oriente Foundation, an organization dependent on the Catholic Diocese of Vienna in Austria. These discussions bring together representatives of churches and separated Catholics, Syriac Tradition (Western Church Syriac Orthodox , Syriac Catholic Church , Malankara Orthodox Church , Syro-Malankara Catholic Church , Maronite Church) and East Syriac tradition ( Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East , Ancient Church of the East , Chaldean Catholic Church , Catholic Church Syro-Malabar ).
See also
Internal Links
External Links
Bibliography
References
Loading ...