Maronite Church: Culture, Traditions, Rite, Way of Life

[Kitsune633]

Well as the title says it, I am curious about the Lebanese Christians, how they live, how they worship, what are their traditions and culture. I want to know about the Maronites since they seem like a spiritual people.

I really want to know about the Maronites, can you help me?

 

[gloria97000]

Wow, so much could be said of so rich a culture. How have you come into contact with the Maronites and what more specific questions do you have?

 

[Kitsune633]

Well I learned about the Maronites by accident, it was on a website, I don’t seem to recall which one.

What I want to know about the Maronites:

Liturgical Rite and how it goes

Marriage Customs and Traditions

Way of Life

Names of the Maronite people.

That’s all I want to know.

 

[Filioque]

You are lucky, as there is a Maronite community in San Diego. So you can assist at the Liturgy, and learn first hand. I was introduced to the rite in my High School years when they met in the chapel at the St. Frances Seminary in San Diego.

Famous Maronites include,
Danny Thomas, and his daughter Marlo Thomas
Amin al-Rihani, poet
Tony Kanaan, race car driver
Tony Shalhoub, three-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor
Nadine Labaki, actress and director
Elissa Khoury, singer
Youssef Howayek, sculptor
François Ziadeh, TV director and producer
Mario Kassar, Hollywood Producer
Callie Khouri, screenwriter
Joe Lahoud, baseball player
Octavia E. Nasr, CNN editor
Kathy Najimy, actress
Elie Saab, fashion designer
Michael Sallah, Pulitzer Prize reporter
Elie Samaha, filmmaker
Wadih Saadeh, poet and writer
Danny Thomas, actor and founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Gibran Khalil Gibran, artist and writer
Baba Saad German rapper of Lebanese descent
Michelle Nader, American TV Producer
Gabriel Yared, oscar winning musician for the soundtrack of “The English Patient”
Roni Saikli, former Miami Heat basketball player
Mario Zagalo (Zakhour), former Brazilian National Football Team, player and coach

 

[codebilly]

The Maronite Church is quite beautiful. I can speak objectively because, though not a Maronite, spent about 20 years attending Mass regularly at the Maronite Our Lady of Lebanon Shrine in North Jackson Ohio.

The Liturgy is rich with very devotional poetry and I am quite fond of its flavor.

I recommend you find a Maronite parish in your local and attend Mass. You will really love it.

God bless.

 

[Walden]

Fr. Mitch Pacwa (of EWTN fame) is a bi-ritual Maronite. (I saw he was absent from the list above).

 

[Madaglan]

Fr. Mitch Pacwa (of EWTN fame) is a bi-ritual Maronite. (I saw he was absent from the list above).

I knew that Fr. Mitch Pacwa is bi-ritual, but how does the bi-ritual faculty exactly work? About two years ago I saw an EWTN video of Fr. Mtich Pacwa concelebrating the Qurbana with Syro-Malabar Catholics.

Can Fr. Mitch Pacwa celebrate only Latin and Syrian liturgies?

Or, does bi-ritual mean he can celebrate any Eastern or Oriental rite in addition to the the Latin rite?

 

[Traditional_Ang]

Well I learned about the Maronites by accident, it was on a website, I don’t seem to recall which one.

What I want to know about the Maronites:

Liturgical Rite and how it goes

Marriage Customs and Traditions

Way of Life

Names of the Maronite people.

That’s all I want to know.

Kitsune:

I second Filoque’s recommendation that you join in the worship of Maronite Catholic community. The Website of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon should be able to provide you with the location of a Maronite Catholic parish near you:
usamaronite.org/index2.cfm
usamaronite.org/directory/top.cfm

I happen to live near one of them, and I’ve been attending the Divine Liturgies lately. During the offering, I often feel moved to the altar with the bread and the wine, and I love the certainty of the “May this *** become Christ our God.” which is said first over the Body of te Lord & then over the Blood of the Lord.

Here are some links from the Eparchy you can study about Maronite Spirituality:
usamaronite.org/heritage/top.html
usamaronite.org/events/top.cfm
usamaronite.org/events/results.cfm?nid=141

Here’s something else you might want to consider attending…
National Apostolate of Maronites
namnews.org/

I hope this gets you started on your journey.

Your Brother & Servant in Christ, Michael

 

[dzheremi]

You should definitely go and experience the Divine Liturgy yourself. In the meantime, you could check out the videos posted on Youtube channel “maronites” (that’s the name of the channel), which include short videos under the title “My Maronite Heritage” that will give you some idea of what you’re in for. For instance, here is the celebration of the Eucharist, in Aramaic as it is always celebrated.

As to the rest of those questions, you could maybe ask those when you visit the Church. There was a short (~4 hrs total) historical series on the Maronites produced in Lebanon a few years ago that is available through Amazon.com (link). If you are a non-Arabic speaker and you don’t mind watching it with subtitles (or you are looking to practice your Arabic, like me), you could probably do worse than that. Really, four hours is not very long to condense 1500 years of history, but as an extremely quick overview of important events it is good. It is less about rituals or forms specific to the faith than about the faith’s history in the foundation and political life of Lebanon, but that’s an important aspect of it, I suppose, as the Maronite Church is after all uniquely Lebanese.

 

[Aramis]

I knew that Fr. Mitch Pacwa is bi-ritual, but how does the bi-ritual faculty exactly work? About two years ago I saw an EWTN video of Fr. Mtich Pacwa concelebrating the Qurbana with Syro-Malabar Catholics.

Can Fr. Mitch Pacwa celebrate only Latin and Syrian liturgies?

Or, does bi-ritual mean he can celebrate any Eastern or Oriental rite in addition to the the Latin rite?

Presiding in each separate Rite is a separate faculty.
Concelebrating may be done by any known priest in every Rite, provided they have no impediments to celebration, and vest as per a rite they have faculties in. But to actually preside, one must have faculties from a bishop of that Rite.

While Fr. Mitch has mentioned celebration in the Byzantine rite, I don’t know if he was presiding, or a concelebrant.

Fr. Mitch can be the sole or the presiding celebrant in both the Roman and Maronite churches. My understanding is that he is a Roman priest, not a Maronite, but has been granted Maronite faculties. (This is based upon listening to his various shows over the last 5 years.)

 

[Madaglan]

Presiding in each separate Rite is a separate faculty.
Concelebrating may be done by any known priest in every Rite, provided they have no impediments to celebration, and vest as per a rite they have faculties in. But to actually preside, one must have faculties from a bishop of that Rite.

While Fr. Mitch has mentioned celebration in the Byzantine rite, I don’t know if he was presiding, or a concelebrant.

Fr. Mitch can be the sole or the presiding celebrant in both the Roman and Maronite churches. My understanding is that he is a Roman priest, not a Maronite, but has been granted Maronite faculties. (This is based upon listening to his various shows over the last 5 years.)

Thanks.

Yes that sounds about right him being a Roman not Maronite priest.

 

[Chaldean_Rite]

maronitemonks.org/

 

[jimmy]

You should definitely go to a liturgy. We use the liturgy of St. James. Generally the order is similar to that of the western liturgy.

 

[SyroMalankara]

That Holy Qurbono of St. James shown on EWTN was celebrated by His Grace Aboon Joseph Mar Thomas of the Syro-Malankara Church.

I don’t recall a Syro-Malabar Holy Qurbana on EWTN.

 

[mardukm]

You should definitely go to a liturgy. We use the liturgy of St. James. Generally the order is similar to that of the western liturgy.

I’ve never been to a Maronite HQ, but as the liturgy of St, James is purported to be the oldest liturgy, it is probably more correct to say that the Western liturgy is similar to the liturgy of St. James.

 

[malphono]

I’ve never been to a Maronite HQ, but as the liturgy of St, James is purported to be the oldest liturgy, it is probably more correct to say that the Western liturgy is similar to the liturgy of St. James.

Well, all liturgies have certain similarities, but I don’t think that’s what jimmy had in mind when he said “Generally the order is similar to that of the western liturgy.”

While the prayers themselves differ, the sad truth is that the order of the liturgy is similar to the OF. This was not always the case. Rather, it’s the result of the trend of Novus Ordo-inspired neo-latinizations with which we have been plagued.

 

[MadMaxi]

Having grown up in the Roman Rite I was fortunate to discover the Maronite Church in my city. The Rite is in total union with the Pope in Rome and follows the same mandated steps. The Maronite Rite from my own perspective, not being an expert by any means, is a very beautiful rite that speaks a bit more toward the artistic soft side in us the common man. The prayers, songs and traditions are very poetic in nature and the old traditions didn’t suffer. The Aramaic sung during the consecration is skipping even the Latin and going straight to the original and when the priest sings it you are instantly transported back to the times of Jesus. A very moving way to share in the Divine Liturgy, especially daily Mass when usually in a small chapel with a handful of people you can just feel the early Christians sharing the Divine Liturgy with you…

At my church the parishioners are maybe 50% Lebanese, and Lebanese descendants the rest a wonderful mish-mash of everything else around the globe. So we have some prayers in Arabic/Syriac but most are in English. The vast majority of the people in our area are coming from the Roman rite and staying or else attend both rites (rejoicing using both sides of the lungs to paraphrase Pope JP2). The Maronite Rite has subtle differences like standing instead of kneeling since we are saved children of God and are standing ready to run to Him on His return. Altho in my Church most people break from that and still kneel after Communion until the priest stands for the final prayer before returning the Holy Eucharist to the Altar and Tabernacle. It is beautiful to see everybody who knelt all stand almost in unison to praise and thank Jesus without a word to be said by any before the priest steps back onto the alter. Times of quiet are strictly respected throughout the Divine Liturgy and rarely will a child/cell phone be heard at any point during the Mass. The respect and love shown by members for the sanctity of the Church always impresses me.

Sister Marla Marie has a good blog were she covers things Maronite in easy to understand short entries. Well worth the read over all her entries to the beginning. There is much to learn and is well written in terms for the non-Maronite to understand. radiatehislight.blogspot.com/

Another site that follows the Daily Maronite Readings and features beautiful pictures of Lebanon and Holy sites is web.mac.com/maronitereadings/daily/Welcome.html

Go check out a Maronite Mass, it is just another way to marvel at the wonderful way Jesus has graced us all. And any errors made in my post I am sorry about and please correct since I am no expert and am writing from my own personal observations and experiences.

 

[LumenGent]

The Maronite Church Tradition is one of the most precious Traditions in the Church. It is built and founded upon Sanctity.

 

[Harpazo]

Having grown up in the Roman Rite I was fortunate to discover the Maronite Church in my city. The Rite is in total union with the Pope in Rome and follows the same mandated steps. The Maronite Rite from my own perspective, not being an expert by any means, is a very beautiful rite that speaks a bit more toward the artistic soft side in us the common man. The prayers, songs and traditions are very poetic in nature and the old traditions didn’t suffer. The Aramaic sung during the consecration is skipping even the Latin and going straight to the original and when the priest sings it you are instantly transported back to the times of Jesus. A very moving way to share in the Divine Liturgy, especially daily Mass when usually in a small chapel with a handful of people you can just feel the early Christians sharing the Divine Liturgy with you…

At my church the parishioners are maybe 50% Lebanese, and Lebanese descendants the rest a wonderful mish-mash of everything else around the globe. So we have some prayers in Arabic/Syriac but most are in English. The vast majority of the people in our area are coming from the Roman rite and staying or else attend both rites (rejoicing using both sides of the lungs to paraphrase Pope JP2). The Maronite Rite has subtle differences like standing instead of kneeling since we are saved children of God and are standing ready to run to Him on His return. Altho in my Church most people break from that and still kneel after Communion until the priest stands for the final prayer before returning the Holy Eucharist to the Altar and Tabernacle. It is beautiful to see everybody who knelt all stand almost in unison to praise and thank Jesus without a word to be said by any before the priest steps back onto the alter. Times of quiet are strictly respected throughout the Divine Liturgy and rarely will a child/cell phone be heard at any point during the Mass. The respect and love shown by members for the sanctity of the Church always impresses me.

Sister Marla Marie has a good blog were she covers things Maronite in easy to understand short entries. Well worth the read over all her entries to the beginning. There is much to learn and is well written in terms for the non-Maronite to understand. radiatehislight.blogspot.com/

Another site that follows the Daily Maronite Readings and features beautiful pictures of Lebanon and Holy sites is web.mac.com/maronitereadings/daily/Welcome.html

Go check out a Maronite Mass, it is just another way to marvel at the wonderful way Jesus has graced us all. And any errors made in my post I am sorry about and please correct since I am no expert and am writing from my own personal observations and experiences.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I attended the parish where that Daily Readings podcast was done for about a year before beginning the journey to become Orthodox. The parishioners there are very warm and friendly (and make the best hummus in the world) and the pastor is a very intelligent and down to earth priest. However, the pastor at that church, St. Elias, would quibble with you for calling the Maronite Church, the Maronite “Rite” as would many other Eastern Catholics. According to Catholic Canon Law, it is a sui iuris church with it’s own hierarchy, albeit, still submissive to Rome in some regards.

If you don’t mind my asking, how did you come across that podcast? I don’t know how much the makers of it advertise it. Just curious.

In Christ,
Andrew

 

[SyroMalankara]

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I attended the parish where that Daily Readings podcast was done for about a year before beginning the journey to become Orthodox. The parishioners there are very warm and friendly (and make the best hummus in the world) and the pastor is a very intelligent and down to earth priest. However, the pastor at that church, St. Elias, would quibble with you for calling the Maronite Church, the Maronite “Rite” as would many other Eastern Catholics. According to Catholic Canon Law, it is a sui iuris church with it’s own hierarchy, albeit, still submissive to Rome in some regards.

If you don’t mind my asking, how did you come across that podcast? I don’t know how much the makers of it advertise it. Just curious.

In Christ,
Andrew

Just curious, but coming from a Maronite background, how did you come to Eastern Orthodox Church, instead of an Oriental Orthodox Church (e.g. Syriac Orthodox)?