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John Maron

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Mar
John Maron
Maronite Patriarch of Antioch
Born 628
Sirmaniyah or Sarmin, Byzantine Empire (Modern-day Syria)
Died 707
Kfarhy, near Batroun
Venerated in Catholic Church (especially Maronite Church)
Canonized Pre-congregation
Feast March 2

John Maron (Arabic: يوحنا مارون, Youhana Maroun; Latin: Ioannes Maronus; Syriac: ܝܘܚܢܢ ܡܪܘܢ; 628, Sirmaniyah or Sarmin, Byzantine Empire – 707, Kfarhy), 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". French theologian Eusèbe Renaudot similarly held doubts regarding John Maron's existence. 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.[2][3]

Early life

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[4] or between 687 and 701[5] 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.[6] This brought him into conflict with both the Byzantine empire and the Syriac Miaphysites to the east.[5] John is thought to have died in 707.[7]

Works

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.

See also

References

  1. Back to citation Gibbon, Edward (1898). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Methuen.
  2. Back to citation "Maronite church". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  3. Back to citation Azize, Joseph (13 May 2024). "On the Foundation Period of the Maronite Tradition". Religions. 15 (596). MDPI: 596. doi:10.3390/rel15050596.
  4. Back to citation 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
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Iskandar, Amine Jules (2024-04-23). "Patriarch Saint John Maron". Syriac Press. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
  6. Back to citation "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.”
  7. Back to citation Moosa 2005, p. 172.

Bibliography

  • 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.
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