Fr. Patrice LaRoche

Lebanon is a country we read about in the press almost every day, so in theory we should have a good idea of what is going on in this small middle-eastern state. The fact is, however, that very few people in the West are aware of the drama that is being played out in this land, always regarded in scripture as a haven of peace. Even in Lebanon itself, many people were lulled by the proclamation of the Lebanese Republic, and many who have become victims of over a decade of war and slaughter seem even now to be only just beginning to understand what the fighting is all about. And indeed it is difficult, especially for those with only a superficial knowledge, to grasp the root of the Lebanese problem. One day we hear that Muslims are attacking Christians, the next that they are fighting among themselves in Tripoli or West Beirut, then we are astonished to read that Christians, too, are fighting among themselves.

The history of modern Lebanon is complex, so let us try to throw a little light on what is going on and to pay some attention to the cause which, until now, and at a huge cost in human suffering, Lebanese Christians have been alone in defending, and for which hundreds have already laid down their lives.

A Christian Land Since the Time of the Apostles

 The Lebanese received the Good News of our Redemption by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as far back as the Apostolic Age.

As St. Mark's Gospel tells us (ch. vii, 31) Christ Himself visited the southern parts of Lebanon. The Acts of the Apostles mention St. Paul landing at Tyre and Sidon (Acts xxi, l-7; xxvii, 3), and Saint Peter and Saint Paul must have landed several times on the Phoenician seaboard to take the road which runs along it from Jerusalem to Antioch. Acts hints that on these occasions they visited the Christian communities already established in the major coastal towns of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut and Tripoli, and the Martyrology records that the last three of these had bishops appointed by St. Peter Himself. So the evangelisation of Phoenicia, the former Roman province known today as Lebanon, began as early as the first century A.D.

However, it was not until later that the mountain-folk further inland also embraced the Christian faith, having come into contact with Maronites arriving from Syria with the hermit, Abraham of Cyrus. The Maronites, who probably take their name from the Syrian monk St. Maro, were originally a monastic community around which gathered laity who wished to avail themselves of the monks' priestly ministrations. The influence of the Maronite monks spread in the East especially after the Council of Chalcedon (451) on account of their ardent defense of the Catholic teaching of the Council that our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true man, and that therefore there is in Him one single person, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, but two real and clearly distinct natures—the human and the Divine. This was in opposition to the teaching of the Monophysite heretics who recognised only one nature in Christ, the Divine. But if our Lord was not truly man, how could He offer himself to God in our name and die for us? How could He make reparation for our sins and redeem us if He was not one of us? Being God, He offered to the Father a sacrifice of infinite worth, and being also truly man and possessing a human nature which was neither imaginary nor merely apparent, He was able to offer this sacrifice on our behalf and in our place.

Since the fifth century, then, as Theodoret of Cyrus relates in his History of the Church, the Maronites have been defenders of Catholic truth, and have had to suffer fierce persecution for it, as when 350 Maronite monks were slaughtered in a Monophysite ambush.

The Arab Invasion and the Formation of the Maronite Patriarchate

 Later on, in the seventh century, after the Arab invasion, the Patriarchal See of Antioch fell vacant and remained so. At first titular Patriarchs were appointed, residing at Constantinople. Then, early in the eighth century, the See really became vacant. That was when the monastery of St. Maro, whose jurisdiction, exercised through its affiliated monasteries, extended to the regions round about, formed itself into a patriarchal church. A patriarch, who adopted the title of "Patriarch of Antioch", was chosen from among the monks, along with other bishops. Recognition was subsequently granted to this new church; self-governing but in communion with the Holy See, to which it has always remained faithful, unlike the other churches of the East, which separated from Rome, especially in the Great Schism of 1054. Over the years the Maronites abandoned northern Syria, where they were subject to the combined persecutions of Arabs and Monophysites, and joined their Christian brethren already settled in Lebanon, where they grew in numbers until in the tenth century the monastery of St. Maro, the cradle of the Maronite Church, was destroyed and the hierarchy established itself on Mount Lebanon.

A Consistent Opposition to Islam

Since the invasion of the Middle East by the Muslim hordes Maronite history has been one long succession of wars alternating with periods of relative calm. Gathered around their patriarch on the mountain, the Maronites have become a nation, and have always refused to be converted or influenced by Islam. An example of the strength of their resistance is that whereas from the Arab invasion until the fall of the Ottoman empire in 1918 all the other Eastern patriarchs were obliged to ask for a "firman" (decree) of investiture from the sultan, the Maronite patriarch alone remained exempt from this humiliating procedure. Thus, immune from domination by the Muslim world and managing, despite all the harassments they have had to suffer from different dynasties, to enjoy a certain autonomy in their internal affairs, the Maronites naturally emerged as the protectors of other persecuted Christian groups who as time went on sought refuge in Lebanon. The Maronite Church also played an important role in the return to Catholic unity of separated Eastern Christians. Catholic Melchites, Syrians, and Armenians have found refuge on Mount Lebanon, and there too are to be found the sees not only of the Maronite patriarch but also of his Syrian (Syriac) and Armenian Catholic counterparts. All the Christians who have taken refuge in Lebanon have retained their own rites, but one could say that they have become "Maronitised" to the extent that they have united with the Maronite nation in the same ideal: to proclaim Our Lord Jesus Christ proudly and freely in that very part of the globe where He became incarnate.

When one studies the history of the Church in the East, one is surprised to learn that Lebanon is the only country where Christians, despite the continual war which has been waged against them, have succeeded not only in surviving but also in living in freedom. In the other countries dominated by Islam, Christians have had to choose apostasy, flight, massacre, or the status of "dhimmis", that is of second class citizens or less. The strength of the Maronites and of those Christians who have joined with them is due to two factors: their unity around the Maronite Patriarch and the support of the West. As temporal as well as spiritual head of the Maronite nation, the patriarch used to be in a position of uncontested authority. Until the declaration of Lebanese independence in 1943, Maronites had recourse to his supreme authority in all important matters, whether religious or national. The constitution of the Lebanese republic has curtailed the temporal power of the patriarch, but none the less Maronites continue to appeal to him and expect him to exercise the authority which in their eyes he still possesses. It was in this spirit that following the military operation of January 15th, 1986, the Lebanese Forces (Christian Militia) requested a congress of all the Christian political institutions, under the undisputed authority of the patriarchate, thus recalling its traditional role in the forefront of the history of this Christian nation.

After this sense of national unity centered on the patriarch the other factor which has made it possible for the Maronites to hold their own despite everything that their enemies have been able to throw at them is their link with Western Christendom. This link, forged by their common faith and their loyalty to the Catholic Church led them centuries ago to give a joyful welcome to the Crusaders, for whom they acted as guides over the coastal plain of Phoenicia, the Crusaders in their turn becoming the Maronites' protectors.

Since the time of the crusades, and even after the fall of the last Frankish possessions in the Levant, relations have been maintained—as far as has been possible—with the Holy See and the nations of Europe, especially France, which became the natural protector of Lebanese Christians.

France as the Protector of the Maronites

 Upon arrival at Acre after his deliverance from captivity at Damietta, St. Louis of France encountered Maronites who had come to greet him and to fight at his side. The impressive letter which the saintly monarch addressed to the leaders of the Maronite nation is still remembered by Lebanese Christians to this day, he wrote as follows:

"To the emir of the Maronites of Mount Lebanon; to the Patriarch and the Bishops of this nation: Our heart was filled with joy when we beheld your son, Simon coming at the head of twenty-five thousand men to seek us out on your behalf, to present your compliments and to bring us gifts in addition to the fine horses which you had already sent us. In truth, the sincere friendship which we began to feel so strongly for those Maronites whom we encountered while we were in Cyprus has grown yet warmer. We feel that this nation which we find established under the name of Saint Maro is a part of the French nation, for its friendship towards the French is like to that which Frenchmen feel for each other. Consequently it is only just that you should be admitted to our service as they themselves are.

"We urge you, Emir, to labour zealously for the happiness of the people of Lebanon, and to set about creating nobles from among the most worthy among them, as is our custom in France. And you, Lord Patriarch, Lord Bishops, and Clergy, and you, Maronite people, together with your noble Emir; we are much gratified to discover your firm attachment to the Catholic Faith and your respect for the Head of the Church, the successor of Saint Peter in Rome; we charge you to maintain this respect and to continue unshakable in your faith.

"As for us, and for those who will succeed us on the throne of France, we promise you and your people the same protection that we give to the people of France, and that we shall at all times make it our concern to procure those things which shall be necessary for your happiness.