Info on Maronite Traditions

[HesyCath]

Some recent comments on various Maronite practices have made me very interested in learning more about various Maronite liturgical and devotional traditions.

I have also heard that the Maronite ritual is quite latinized. Is that true?

To all Maronites on the forum, anything that you have to say would be very interesting to myself, and I am sure many others.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

Try www.stmaron.org, which is the Eparchy of St. Maron.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

@HesyCath

We Maronites are fairly Latinized, yes. But at this point it’s mostly in mentality than it is in actual practice. When translating our current recension of the Qurbono/Divine Liturgy into English, our bishops and liturgical experts decided to adopt the “abbreviate as much as possible” mentality, and shortened many of our most beautiful prayers and hymns that were replete with Biblical typology. We’ve also embraced the Roman-style altar with the priest facing the congregation and no sanctuary curtain (although I’ve heard scholars debate whether the sanctuary curtain was really part of our tradition).

In general, however, I’ve found that most Maronites are more familiar/comfortable with Roman saints and theological writings than they are with their own Syriac saints and theology. You’ll find plenty of Maronites who can quote St. Faustina’s diary, Thomas Aquinas’ Summa, or Catherine of Sienna’s dialogue. But you’d be really hard-pressed to find a Maronite who can quote St. Jacob of Sarug, the Desert Fathers, or even St. Ephraim (the Syrian). It’s unfortunate since there are so many gems to be gleaned from the writings of our own tradition - and our liturgy makes more sense when you know our own theological traditions as well.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

One caution I make to inquirers from the Byzantine tradition: Many Byzantines make the same mistake in the East as Roman Catholics do for the Catholic Church - i.e. equating the Byzantine tradition with the entire Eastern tradition rather than recognizing that there are, in fact, many Eastern traditions (some of which are closer in practice and mentality to the West than to the Byzantines). I’m not saying anyone here does this… just a general caution. Take us for what we are - a church of the Syriac tradition.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

The website linked by @Margaret_Ann has tons of great info! Definitely check it out.

 

[XXI_4]

Maronite liturgical and devotional traditions.

I have also heard that the Maronite ritual is quite latinized. Is that true?

This is a complicated topic. Maronites have been heavily latinized-some of which was forced by the Latin church, some of which has been self imposed.

For example, we don’t know what a truly authentic Maronite liturgy looks like because Jesuit missionaries made a bonfire of our Patriarchal library and burned our liturgical books because they “weren’t Catholic enough”. We have no original texts extant.

Now couple that with the fact that there are many revisionists in the Maronite Church, and there is no agreement on what authentic Maronite liturgy should be.

For decades there has been an effort in the US to restore as much tradition as possible. In fact, during the 1980’s the US had its own version of the liturgy approved for use only in our Eparchy (at that time we only had one Eparchy). We in the US are spoiled, because we are currently the least latinized Maronite community in existence. Sadly, Lebanon is probably the heaviest, with Canada and Australia not far behind. Their liturgical practice has been called “the Novus Ordo with only the thinnest veneer of Maronite liturgy”. The minor orders generally don’t even vest properly, they wear latin vestments. I’ve even seen our Patriarch - on more than one occasion - wearing a latin chasuble.

Don’t even get me started about theology & spirituality. Oof.

As far as Maronite devotions, traditionally speaking, the only devotion was the Divine Office. The community would come together and pray the office at church or monastery every day. Rosaries, novenas, stations of the cross, prayer ropes, etc. etc. are all foreign to our traditions. There was a monastic tradition, I believe, of repeating short prayers, mainly from the psalms and scriptures, similar to the Jesus Prayer. @Phillip_Rolfes could probably explain more about that than I can.

If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them. There are some excellent videos that have been coming out lately from the Maronite Seminary in Washington, DC and a couple Maronite parishes. They are talks given by Fr. Joe Amar, Chorbishop Seely Beggiani and Deacon Michael Shami, who are, what I would consider, in the top 10 experts in the world on Syriac Maronite traditions, spirituality, liturgy and history. I can give you links to them if you’d like.

Unfortunately, the Eparchy of St. Maron website that @Margaret_Ann posted was recently revised and there was a huge amount of useful information that’s been removed. Praise God for the Wayback Machine!

If you go here, look under the resources tab: Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn

Like I said, if you have specific questions, please ask. I can’t even think of a book that is currently in print to direct you to that covers everything. Anything you can find by Chorbishop Seely Beggiani is well worth it.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

I second @XXI_4 's recommendation to check out any videos or books by Chorbishop Seely Beggiani. His book on Syriac spirituality is a fantastic introduction into the original sources. I’ve launched off into several personal studies from there and was able to use the bibliography to find other resources that would’ve been extremely difficult to find had I just been doing random searches.

I can also speak from first-hand experience to Deacon Michael Shami’s knowledge. He was stationed at my parish for a summer, and I’m blessed to consider him a good friend. If you can find talks/videos or articles by him, definitely explore them!

The only other theologian that hasn’t yet been mentioned is Sebastian Brock. He writes about the Syriac tradition in general, and only really ever mentions the Maronite tradition in passing (if at all). But his writings are well worth reading/studying.

 

[XXI_4]

The only other theologian that hasn’t yet been mentioned is Sebastian Brock.

Yes, if you’re talking about Syriac specifically or St. Ephrem the Syrian, Sebastian Brock and Fr. Joe Amar are absolutely brilliant! I would also recommend Dr. Robert Kitchen.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

There was a monastic tradition, I believe, of repeating short prayers, mainly from the psalms and scriptures, similar to the Jesus Prayer. @Phillip_Rolfes could probably explain more about that than I can.

This is very true, and the Jesus Prayer developed from this tradition of repeating short verses from the Scriptures or the Psalms. However, the Jesus Prayer never really gained the popularity in the Syriac East that it enjoys today in the Byzantine East - and we certainly don’t have an entire spirituality built around the Jesus Prayer the way the Byzantine tradition does.

That being said, my favorite short prayer from the Syriac tradition comes from John of Dalyatha: “My God, instruct me and strengthen me.” I often alternate this prayer with the Jesus Prayer, sometimes focusing on this prayer for a day or two, and sometimes focusing on the Jesus Prayer. I’ll also sometimes pray a verse from the Psalms: “Incline my heart according to your will, o God.” Really depends on what’s going on in my life at the moment.

The point is, Maronite/Syriac spirituality is more focused on the liturgical life of the Church (esp. the Divine Office). The other aspect of that would be daily reading of the Scriptures. This is something that is especially encouraged by the Desert Fathers, but it just makes sense in our tradition where so much of the liturgical texts are poetic reflections or typological references in the Scriptures.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

I forgot about Dr. Robert Kitchen. There’s also E.A. Wallace Budge, who did a bunch of translations from Syriac into English way back in the day.

 

[XXI_4]

By the way, are you still making prayer ropes?

 

[Salibi]

I’ve found that most Maronites are more familiar/comfortable with Roman saints

Saints Rita and Francis of Assisi are popular where I’m from.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

Yes! Send me a PM.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

I love St. Francis of Assisi. I grew up Roman Catholic and chose him as my Confirmation saint. I’ve even been blessed to visit Assisi.

That being said, if we’re going to be true to our Maronite tradition, we should be more familiar with our own saints than with Roman or even Byzantine saints. Sure it’s beneficial to be familiar with the saints, theology, and spirituality of other traditions, but not at the expense of abandoning our own.

 

[HesyCath]

Thank you to all who have contributed to this thread. I’m learning a lot. Please keep posting about the Maronite spiritual tradition.

Also, who are the most prominent saints who were Maronite/Syriac Christians?

 

[XXI_4]

St. Elias (Elijah) is very revered in the Syriac tradition.
St. Ephrem the Syrian - part of his work in one form or another is in every liturgical text in the Maronite church. He is probably the main Syriac Church Father.
St. Jacob of Serug. Also a Syriac Father.

Specifically Maronite saints include:
St. Maron, whom the Maronite church is named after.
St. John Maron, first Maronite Patriarch, who took the name Maron.
St. Charbel, a Maronite monk to whom countless miracles are attributed. There is truly a cultish following of him amongst Maronites.
St. Rafka, a Maronite nun, sometimes referred to as “the Little Flower of Lebanon”.
The Blessed Massabki Brothers, Maronite businessmen and martyrs.
St. Nimatullah, another Maronite monk and the teacher of St. Charbel.
Blessed Abouna Yaccoub Haddad, a Capuchin Friar.
Blessed Abouna Antoun Tarabay. Maronite monk.
Blessed Estephan Nehme. Maronite monk. (notice a pattern? lol).

The Maronite church has a highly monastic tradition.

 

[XXI_4]

St. Jacob of Serug also composed one of my favorite prayers, the Father of Truth. It is from the early fifth century, taken from a homily on the Eucharist. It used to be in a number of the anaphorae, to be recited by the congregation just after the fractioning. I consider it’s arbitrary removal, for utterly absurd reasons, an act of liturgical butchery (in my personal opinion). It was most likely in the original Maronite liturgical texts. It’s maintained by the Syriac Orthodox until this day I believe.

Father of Truth, behold Your Son, a sacrifice pleasing to You. Accept this offering of Him who died for me; behold His blood shed on Golgotha for my salvation. It pleads for me. For His sake, accept my offering. Many are my sins, but greater is Your mercy. When placed on a scale, Your mercy prevails over the weight of the mountains known only to You. Consider the sin and consider the atonement; the atonement is greater and exceeds the sin. Your beloved Son sustained the nails and the lance because of my sins so in His sufferings You are satisfied and I live.