Saint John Maron, monk of the Monastery of St. Maron and Bishop of Batroun and
Mount Lebanon, was elected the first Patriarch of the Maronite Church during the
second half of the seventh century AD (c 686 AD), when the See of Antioch lay
vacant. He was the first Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and the 63rd
in succession to St. Peter, who founded the See of Antioch in the first century
AD. This marked the beginning of the ecclesiastical, national, and
organizational structure of the Maronite church.
St. John Maron and his followers were forced to migrate to Lebanon following
assault by imperatorial troops and persecution during the Muslim conquest. The
Patriarchal Seat was then transferred to kfarhai, batroun, where a monastery was
built (Rich Mro = “Head of Maron”) to house the skull of St. Maron.
Traditionally, this was where St. John Maron died and was buried on 9 March 707
AD. His feast in now celebrated on the second day of March in the Maronite
calendar.
St. John Maron was endowed with a militant apostolic zeal, and under his
leadership, a decisive victory was won by the Maronites, which drew the
population of Lebanon around the Patriarch. However, St. john Maron was not only
a national leader; he was also a Saint who was active in apostolic missions,
teaching, preaching and visiting his people, especially during a time of plague
(685AD), for which he wrote a special mass. He also wrote a book on theological
doctrine…
From the book of The
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