MARONITES

MARONITES. Until this century the Maronites remained a tribe largely confined to its traditional territories in the mountains north and west of Beirut, which traces its origins back to St. Maron in the 5th c. and his disciples’ monastery on the Orontes River. Their history goes back at least to the monothelite controversy (see Christology) in the 7th c. In 1182, at the urging of the Crusader (q.v.) barons and clergy, they accepted submission to the papacy (q.v.). Theirs is the one Uniate (q.v.) Eastern Church that accepted this status en masse. Their liturgy (q.v.), of western Syrian type, has progressively taken on a more Latin appearance over the centuries until, with the acceptance of the vernacular at Vatican II, it is (at least externally) virtually indistinguishable from the Latin rite (q.v.). Their spirituality and organization, however, continue to retain something of their Eastern origins. Of note, as a result of the 19th-c. massacre of the Maronites by the Druses, the French Government carved the modern state of Lebanon out of West Syria (q.v.). This occurred during the period of the Mandate between the World Wars, both for the sake of the Maronites and so that the French could retain a foothold in the northeast.