Know us:
This website is a response to a need, discovered during my travels to celebrate the Maronite liturgy in the various cities of France. I have arrived at the following observation: if the Maronite Church wishes to maintain links with the new generations, it is essential that it reaches them above all through the language of their country and therefore French for residents of French-speaking countries. Indeed in France I met parents who transmitted the Arabic language to their children. However, in many Maronite families living in France we understand a few words in Arabic and for other families we no longer speak Arabic at all, (a language which has taken up a lot of space in our liturgy to the detriment of Syriac). Hence the need for a great work of translation, of our liturgy but also of our history. I would like to point out that it is the Syriac language which is our liturgical language. The objective of this site is to allow the faithful French-speaking Maronites to find their bearings in relation to their liturgy and their history and thus transmit their joy of believing in God to future generations, born in French-speaking countries, far from Antioch, cradle of the Maronite Church. To my knowledge, the Maronite Church has not approved any proposal for a liturgical translation into French to date. So the translations offered on this site do not engage him. While waiting for the approval of official texts of our liturgy for French speakers, I have chosen to share of some prayers and celebrations translated, which reproduces the reality of the effort made by the various Maronite communities in the French-speaking countries. Father Béchara Aoun
About the site:
The role of this site is to guide the faithful in their spiritual endeavors. It does not replace the institutions of the Maronite Church and their websites, on the contrary, we strive to promote them as much as possible. You will find in this site information concerning the history of the Maronites, the Maronite liturgy: the sacraments and the procedures to follow to receive them. The readings of the day are also available with a link to access them in the official French version developed by the committee. liturgical conference of the Catholic Bishops of France for French-speaking countries. You will also find the Maronite calendar of saints in French. Several links take you directly to selected trusted sites to help you discover this dynamic Church even better. Finally, this site also has a Blog on which are posted regularly data likely to interest you as well as some homilies to nourish oneself in the faith.
Some landmarks around the Maronite Church:
source: Being alongside the Christians of the East, presentation edited by l'Oeuvre d'Orient.
"* The Maronite Church owes its name to Saint Maroun (+ 410). This hermit attracted a large community in the valley after him. from the Orontes, to the current border between Turkey and Syria.
* Faithful to the Council of Chalcedon in the 5th century, his disciples refused the “Byzantinization” of their rite and the Monophysite heresy in the following century. Between the 7th century and the 10th century, driven by the Muslim invasion and Byzantine persecutions, they found refuge in the mountains of Lebanon.
* At that time, the region bristled with convents, thousands of monks settled there. According to tradition, it was the election, in 686, of the first Maronite patriarch, Jean-Maroun, which sealed the birth of the Maronite Church.
* When the Crusaders arrived in 1099, the Maronites increased their relations with the West. Relations with the Holy See, prevented under the domination of the Mamluks (1291-1516), resumed in the middle of the 15th century and intensified under the Ottoman regime.
* In 1736, a synod throws the basics of the reorganization of the Maronite Church. In 1920, the patriarch claimed, with the other religious communities, the proclamation of the State of Greater Lebanon.
* Currently, the Lebanese population counts 40% of Christians (that is to say 1.5 million faithful), mainly Catholics (1 million), but also Melkites, Syrians, Armenians.
* There are 800,000 Maronites in the land of the Cedars, while the diaspora amounts to 4 million faithful (Brazil, United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Africa, Europe…).
* In France, they are said to be around 80,000 faithful. Last summer, the Holy See created for them a new diocese, the first bishop of which is Mgr Nasser Gemayel. "
Our spirituality:
Spiritual life is life in the Holy Spirit. “Through him, in fact, both of us have, in one Spirit, access to the Father. »(Ep 2, 18). The word “Rouhonoyto” in the Syriac language “designates the sublime state that a person attains when he becomes the abode of the Holy Spirit, after a long practice of asceticism in order to purify himself from sin and the evil inclinations that sin leaves in the human soul ”.
The Maronite Church is this Christian community born in the midst of the Syriac Church of Antioch, and which adopted from Saint Maron and his disciples the spirituality of austerity and asceticism. In times of doctrinal divisions, the Maronite Church remained faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church. And in times of oppression this Church has followed the example of Jesus Christ who " has not found a place to lay his head on. "Matthew 8/20. All of these events and others made him more solid and deeply imbued his spirituality.
The Maronite Church draws its spirituality from two sources :
The liturgy, which "was not born nor developed in the great capitals of culture and science, but rather in simple agricultural villages and in monasteries and hermitages dug into the slopes of rocks or built at the bottom of valleys ”. this spirituality stands out by its proximity to the language of the Bible.
The testimony of life of his people who gives the Catholic Church holy vocations.
One of the characteristics of Maronite spirituality is "to fix the face of Jesus Christ, the humble and suffering man", in that it is an expression of the reality and of the difficult experience of the historical conditions that Maronites have crossed and are still crossing.
Maronite spirituality was marked by the character of repentance, asceticism, austerity, and of self-denial for follow Christ. As well as by faith, hope, meekness, purity and simplicity, in order to see the face of the Father. The verse: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5/8) is the foundation of this spirituality.
Monsignor Michel Hayek describes the spirituality of the Maronite Church in three points ; the descent into hell, Maranatha, and the baptism of tears :
* The descent into Hell : The West focuses its spirituality on Good Friday and the Passion of Christ. The spirituality of the Byzantine East revolves around the glorious Sunday, that is to say the day of the resurrection. As for the spirituality of the Maronite Church, it is based on the Sabbath, that is to say the Saturday of light, the day preceding Easter Sunday when Christ descended into hell and trampled death and Satan. The prayer of mtaniyés (prostrations) best expresses this spirituality. Thus our Church is described as “writhing like a fetus in its prayer of mourning, leaning over the master's grave and diving with him. The light of the resurrection is not there yet. It is a Church called to awakening, with the hope of a glory always promised and the memory of the scars not yet healed.
* Maranatha : This Syriac expression means: "Come Lord!" (Rev 22/20), and indicates the state of awakening. The concept of waiting is essential. It historically shows, in the Maronite Church, the hope of a liberator who will come to save the community surrounded and taken hostage by the enemies. This corresponds, in a more profound way, to the hope of the Savior's second coming. This expectation is nourished by faith, hope, vigilance, praise and the sacraments, in particular the Eucharist, as well as by the imitation of the justice of the saints, in particular the Virgin Mary, and the courage of the martyrs. It is the expectation of the heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ. If there is someone who loves, there is someone to love. "It is an expectation between two lovers.
* The baptism of tears : This meeting between the two lovers requires a daily struggle with a spirit of repentance. The Fathers cried a lot and shed tears of repentance to the point that the tears, according to the anaphora (Eucharistic prayer) of Saint Mark, "hollowed out furrows on their cheeks". And tradition states that "the waterfall of Qadisha (the valley of the saints) was formed from the tears of penitent hermits. Mourning our sins and weeping over the vanities of this world is one of the constants of the eschatological piety of the Syriac Maronite rite. " These tears are considered the waters of the second baptism. The Syriac Fathers see the sacrament of forgiveness as a second grace after the sacrament of baptism.
Source : "Our spirituality" Article by Father Paul Matar written in Arabic and available on the website of the Diocese of Beirut. http://maronitesbeirut.org/index.php#!articles_read.php?id=1083
In photo: The current Maronite Patriarchate, Bkerké, Lebanon where the Synod of Maronite Bishops meets around the Patriarch. This synod is made up of 50 bishops and the exarch of Colombia.
The 28 eparchies (dioceses) of the Maronite Church.
LEBANON
01- El-Jebbet : 35 parishes.
02- Tripoli: 123 parishes.
03- Zghorta : 16 parishes.
04- Batroun : 52 parishes.
05- Jbeil : 86 parishes.
06- Sarba: 53 parishes.
07- Jounieh: 98 parishes.
08- Antelias : 95 parishes.
09- Beirut : 130 parishes.
10- Sidon: 87 parishes.
11- Baalbeck & Deir El Ahmar: 38 parishes.
12- Zahle: 36 parishes.
13- Tire: 25 parishes.
SYRIA
14- Aleppo
15- Latakia
16- Damascus
PALESTINE
17- Haifa & Holy Land
CYPRUS
18- Archieparchy Cyprensis: 11 parishes.
EGYPT
19- Cairo: 3 parishes.
AUSTRALIA
20- Saint Maron of Sydney: 9 parishes.
BRAZIL
21- Nossa Senhora do Libano in Sao Paulo, Brazil: 8 parishes.
MEXICO
22- Nuestra Senora de los Martires del Libano in Mexico: 4 parishes.
ARGENTINA
23- San Charbel in Buenos Aires Argentina: 4 parishes.
USA
24- Saint Maron Brooklyn: 39 parishes.
25- Our Lady of Lebanon Los Angeles: 39 parishes.
CANADA
26- Saint Maron of Canada: 16 parishes.
27- Notre Dame du Liban de Paris des Maronites: 9 parishes.
NIGERIA / WEST AFIRCA
28- Eparchy of the Annunciation of Ibadan of the Maronites: 5 parishes.
The monastic orders and religious congregations of the Maronite Church:
For men:
1- The Maronite Mariamite order.
2- The Lebanese Maronite order.
3- The Antonine Maronite order.
4- The Congregation of Lebanese Missionaries.
5- THE MOST HOLY TRINITY MONASTERY IN THE USA.
For women:
1- The Antonine Maronite nuns.
2- Lebanese Maronite nuns.
3- The Maronite nuns of the holy family.
4- The Maronite nuns of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.
5- The nuns of the holy eucharist in the USA.
6- The nuns of Notre Dame de la prairie.
7- The nuns of the Saint Jean Hrach convent.
8- The Maronite nuns of the visitation.
Mixed: