John Maron
John Maron | |
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| Maronite Patriarch of Antioch | |
| Born | 628 Sirmaniyah or Sarmin, Byzantine Empire (Modern-day Syria) |
| Died | 707 Kfarhy, near Batroun, Umayyad Caliphate |
| Venerated in |
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| Canonized | Pre-congregation |
| Feast | March 2 |
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John Maron (Arabic: يوحنا مارون, Youhana Maroun; Latin: Ioannes Maronus; Syriac: ܝܘܚܢܢ ܡܪܘܢ; 628, Sirmaniyah or Sarmin, Byzantine Empire – 707, Kfarhy, Umayyad Caliphate), was a Syriac monk. and the first Maronite Patriarch. He is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church, especially the Maronite Church, and is commemorated on March 2. He died and was buried in Kfarhy near Batroun, in Lebanon, where a shrine is dedicated to him.[1]
Jérôme Labourt, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia says that John Maron's "very existence is extremely doubtful ... if he existed at all, it was as a simple monk".[2] French theologian Eusèbe Renaudot similarly held doubts regarding John Maron's existence.[2] Other scholarship has assessed John Maron as having existed and served as Maronite Patriarch when invasions by Byzantine emperor Justinian II were repulsed and the Maronite people gained a greater degree of political independence.[3][4]
Early life
[edit]According to tradition, John was born in Antioch, and entered the convent of Saint Maron, adopting the monastic name Yohanon Moroun. Eventually, either in 685[5] or between 687–701[6] he declared himself as Patriarch of Antioch for the Maronite community, which held to the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon but rejected later councils, maintaining Monothelitism.[7] This brought him into conflict with both the Byzantine empire and the Syriac Miaphysites to the east.[6] John is thought to have died in 707.[8]
Works
[edit]While true authorship is contested, the Maronite Church holds that John Maron composed three works in Syriac: one about general spirituality and faith, the other against Jacobites, and another against Nestorians.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ Gibbon, Edward (1898). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Methuen.
- ^ a b Labourt, Jérôme. "Maronites." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 9 September 2021
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Maronite church". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
- ^ Azize, Joseph (13 May 2024). "On the Foundation Period of the Maronite Tradition". Religions. 15 (596). MDPI: 596. doi:10.3390/rel15050596.
- ^ El-Hāyek, Elias. "Struggle for Survival: The Maronites of the Middle Ages", Conversion and Continuity, (Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi, eds.), Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1990 ISBN 9780888448095
- ^ a b Iskandar, Amine Jules (2024-04-23). "Patriarch Saint John Maron". Syriac Press. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
- ^ "THE SYRIAC CHRONICLE OF MICHAEL THE GREAT | The American Foundation for Syriac Studies". Retrieved 2025-07-02.
The Maronites have maintained their traditional structure, ordaining their patriarch and bishops from among the monastic community. Unlike Maximus, they confess a single will in Christ and proclaim "He who was crucified for us," while nonetheless accepting the definitions of the Council of Chalcedon.
- ^ Moosa 2005, p. 172.
Sources
[edit]- Michael Breydy: Johannes Maron. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2, Sp. 480–482.
- Siméon Vailhé, «Origines religieuses des Maronites», Échos d'Orient, t. IV, 1900–1901, n° 2, p. 96-102, et n° 3, p. 154-162.
- Michel Breydy, Jean Maron. Expose de la foi et autres opuscules. Syr. 209. CSCO (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium), Bd. 407, Peeters, Louvain 1988
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Honorius I". Encyclopædia Britannica, 8 Oct. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Honorius-I. Accessed 21 August 2021.
- Moosa, Matti. “The Relation of the Maronites of Lebanon to the Mardaites and Al-Jarājima.” Speculum, vol. 44, no. 4, 1969, pp. 597–608. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2850386. Accessed 21 Aug. 2021.
- Moosa, Matti (2005). The Maronites in History. New York: Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-182-7.
- LILIE, RALPH-JOHANNES. “Reality and Invention: Reflections on Byzantine Historiography.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 68, 2014, pp. 157–210. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24643758. Accessed 21 Aug. 2021.
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Maronite church". Encyclopædia Britannica, 13 Dec. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maronite-church. Accessed 21 August 2021.
External links
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- 628 births
- 707 deaths
- Religious writers
- Syrian archbishops
- Syrian Christian saints
- Maronite saints
- 8th-century archbishops
- Maronite Patriarchs of Antioch
- 8th-century Christian saints
- 7th-century Maronite Catholic bishops
- 7th-century writers
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- 8th-century Maronite Catholic bishops
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