What is this?

The Maronite Church is an eastern Catholic Autocephalous Church of the Syrian tradition with about 3 million members world wide including a diocese for the United States (which may include Canada). It is the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon. It also has members in Syria, Cyprus, South America, Australia, Palestine and Mexico. Its head has the title Patriarch of Anitoch, though he resides in Lebanon.

All Maronites are in full communion with Rome; it has no Orthodox counterpart.

After the Muslim conquest of the Middle East, a group a Christians fled to the Monastery of St. Maron in the Lebanese mountains. There, isololated from most other Christians, they avoided the Monophosyte heresy of their Syrian Orthodox neighbors but also the Hellenization of the orthodox Christians. They never broke communion with Rome, but had little contact during this period.

The Crusades brought them back into touch with the western Church. Subsequently they became somewhat latinized and liturgically distinct from the Syrian Orthodox. Syrian Catholics do generally join Maronite parishes in Detroit, lacking one of their own.

The Maronites are a brave and heroic people who have suffered much in histroy. However, they are very industrious and have been quite successful here in the United States. The late Danny Thomas and former Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH) are Maronites.

Kurt, thank you very much for taking the time to reply with such detail and good information! I had never heard of this church until recently.

I'm confused on one point. Is the Antiochian/Syrian Orthodox church still monophysite? If I recall correctly, this means disbelief in the divine nature of Jesus, and I know the rest of the Orthodox church doesn't think that way. . .so has the Antiochian branch conformed its view to other Orthodox Christians, or is it different from the rest of the Orthodox?

If Byzantine Catholics are "Orthodox in union with Rome", it would seem to follow that Maronites would be too. But if they are not a spiritual twin with the Orthodox matching their ethnic persuasion, then are Maronites just out there on their own, or are they bunched under the umbrella with the non-Antiochian Orthodox?

For those who came up in the western church these issues can seem VERY confusing, though I'm sure to insiders they aren't!

Well, even more baffling is that I studied iconography under an instructor who is Antiochian Orthodox, and so were many others in the class. Besides painting, I joined them for prayer and worship. In all these experiences I don't recall any words or attitudes that seemed monophysite. Maybe I wasn't looking for it. . .?

Please reply again and clear up my confusion!
Thanks!

Dear Judith:

Glory to Jesus Christ!

You are absolutely right to be confused; ecclesiology is complex.

As far as I know: the Antiochian Orthodox are separate and distict from the monophysite Syrian Orthodox, even though both churches have their own patriarch in Syria. The Antiochian Orthodox descends from the Byzantine tradition; the Syrian Orthodox (like the Maronite Catholics) descend from the Syriac tradition.

The Antiochian church (like their counterpart Melkite Greek Catholics) is actually based now in Damascus. I'm not sure whether the Syrian Orthodox are headquartered there as well.

In the Middle East, the Antiochian Orthodox are called the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (and I think they may include Jerusalem, Alexandria and All the East in the title). Historically, most of their hierarchs have been Greek, and their music is really Byzantine. The Syrian Orthodox, in contrast, retain the ancient liturgies and hymns native to the Syrian church.

There are several excellent pages of information regarding the various Christian rites, traditions, churches, and communions (we tend to mix up these terms) on the website of Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church. The address is: http://members.aol.com/frsteven/index.html

Follow the hyperlinks for "Eastern Christianity".

God bless you!

CAPTL
sinner

[This message has been edited by CAPTL (edited 05-24-99).]