History of the Maronites

Back to Faith and Heritage Menu History of the Maronites in the United States The first Maronites were direct descendants of the people who had received the Faith from the Apostle Peter. They originated as an ecclesiastical grouping of Christians who assembled around the hermit monk Maron about the year 400 A.D. on the mountain slopes of Cyr, near Antioch, Syria. After Maron's death in the year 410 A.D., his disciples saved his remains and in spite of strong persecution, his tomb became a place of religious pilgrimage. St. John Maron, the first Patriarch of the Maronite people, was a monk of the monastery of St. Maron, who was elected by the religious community to secure the Apostolic succession to the See of Antioch. Accordingly, the Maronite Patriarchate was initiated by the election of John Maron in 686 A.D. and has continued, since his death in 707 A.D., to the present time. A total of 76 Patriarchs have ascended to the Antiochene See, including the present successor, Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and the Entire East.