The Maronite Church in the Modern World

The modern Maronite Church is facing a similar, yet still diverging, point in its history in comparison to the Byzantine Catholic Churches. The latter have expanded beyond their historical and national homelands, rendering them distinct from their original sources and similar to each other. For example, some Ukrainian Catholic parishes in Canada can be far more similar to Byzantine Catholic ones in the USA, than they are to Ukrainian Catholic parishes in Ukraine. However, the Maronite Church is facing the opposite side of that same coin. Now transnational, it is no longer a uniquely "Lebanese" Church, but Lebanon is still its homeland and unifying symbol. According to Father Geoffrey Abdallah, previous Dean of the Maronite Cathedral of Sydney, "the topics of ‘identity’ and ‘expansion’ were much discussed during the Maronite Synod [of 2004] – particularly the role of Lebanon and our relationship to Lebanon. However, we cannot avoid the reality that the majority of Maronites now live outside of Lebanon and are unlikely to return permanently to Lebanon. This does not mean that the Maronites living outside of Lebanon wish to form nationalistic Churches such as the Maronite Church of Australia or the Maronite Church of America etc., independent from Lebanon. Quite the opposite, we are requesting that the Maronite Church in Lebanon itself move from being a nationalistic Church into a universal [read transnational] Maronite Church, embracing all Maronites, regardless of their ethnicity or culture, for we are now, to use the opening words of Bishop Abikaram’s intervention in the Synod, ‘Maronites of the world.’ This is something positive and encouraging. Otherwise, the Maronite Church will become irrelevant to future generations born outside of Lebanon (Marounia)" (Tabar).

The Maronite Church seems to be addressing this through "denationalisation" and "renationalisation". Denationalisation includes breaking down previous national symbols to allow for the adoption of new ones. Renationalisation, on the other hand, is the reaffirmation of the role and importance of existing symbols in the national thought (Gotz 811). At first look, they seem contradictory. However, in the Maronite case, they go hand in hand. The Church has moved away from Lebanon in its geography and centrality in order to allow itself to become a transnational Church of all peoples and countries. In doing so, it has permitted Lebanon to transcend its own boundaries and become a symbolic notion of history, belonging, and spiritual homeland. For Maronites, Lebanon has become what Mecca is to Muslims and Jerusalem to Jews. This is a form of "globalocal" (Leichtman) existence, in which the entity itself is globalised but still rooted in a specific locality, in this case Lebanon.

Qadisha Valley:

If Lebanon is the home of the Maronite nation, then Wadi Qadisha is its beating heart. Syriac for "holy", Qadisha holds various historical and cultural treasures. It was in the past home to various monasteries and hermits, so much so that legend says the incense rose from the valley like fog. Perhaps its most famous monastery is that of Saint Anthony Qozhaya, founded in the 4th century and home to the first printing press in the Middle East. It is believed to be the oldest inhabited Maronite monastery in the world. Though it has been sacked and burned a few times in its history, it remains today a vibrant monastery visited by thousands of pilgrims every year.

Qadisha is also home to the monastery of Our Lady of Qannoubine, believed to have been built by Emperor Theodosius in 375. This monastery has recently been revived, having a small number of nuns living in it now. It has revealed various treasures, including the buried remains of bishops, and houses the natural mummy of a patriarch.

Mar Serkis monastery, overlooking the valley, was originally a church to Saint Serkis built in the 8th century over the ruins of a Canaanite temple. Over time, various buildings were added, and today it stands as the "watchful eye over the Valley".

Maronite Mummies:

The Maronite mummies were 8 mummies from the late 13th century that were found in the Qadisha Valley in the 1990s by a group of speleologists. They were refugees who died taking refuge from Mamluk forces invading Tripoli. The mummies of Assi al-Hadath are important for various reasons. First of all, we can peek into the life of a Maronite village from 800 years ago. This is thanks to the preserved clothes, prayer scrolls and burial practices, many of which are still in use in Lebanon to this day. For example, the two peacocks flanking the Tree of Life, found with the mummies, are symbols still in use by the Maronite Church. The scrolls found in the Assi al-Hadath cave also show that some of the prayers heard in Maronite churches around the world can be traced back to at least the 13th century, including a Maronite hymnody belonging to the Archdeacon of the nearby al-Hadath village. The picture below shows a Maronite icon with the exact same motif of peacocks on the left and right, as found in the famous 6th century Rabbula Gospels and with the 13th century mummies of Qadisha. Only, this is from the 21st century, in Ontario. This is how strong the Maronite bond has been, unchanging across at least fifteen centuries, between the mountains of Lebanon and the suburbs of Toronto.

Syriac:

The Maronite Church generally requires its seminarians to learn Syriac fluently. Throughout the world, but especially in Lebanon, Syriac is still used extensively in the Liturgy. However, the recent decade has witnessed a zealous renewal in the promotion of Syriac as the unifying language of the Maronite Church and nation. Groups like Tur Levnon have taken it upon themselves to promote the love, knowledge and fluency of Syriac among Maronite and wider Levantine communities and diasporas. This is not surprising, as it goes hand in hand with the nationalistic awakening among many Maronites regarding their identity as non-Arabs. In a sense, it is the antithesis to the Pan-Arab movement of the 20th century. The Church itself is also promoting this linguistic and liturgical renewal by proving free Syriac classes in more and more parishes around the world.

Kafno:

The present linguistic awakening is naturally paired with a revisionist approach to history, in the positive sense of the word. Lebanese, and thus Maronite, history has been largely shaped by Ottoman, French and Arab outlooks. The typical student learns about the Ottoman Empire, the French Mandate, the Arab Awakening, Pan-Arabism, and other similar historical notions. They graduate high school without ever learning about the history of the Qadisha Valley, the Mamluk persecutions of Maronites, the Maronite-Crusader relations, the history of the Syriac language in their homeland, or things like Kafno.

Kafno is the genocide of thousands of Lebanese, including Maronites, via a policy of transfer of goods and subsequent starvation carried out by Ottoman forces in the early 20th century. Various groups like the above-mentioned Tur Levnon are actively seeking to have it recognised as a genocide alongside the more known Armenian Genocide or the Sayfo (Syriac for "sword": Assyrian Genocide by Ottoman and Kurdish forces). This is combined with efforts to educate the Lebanese and particularly the Maronites of their own forgotten history.

While many graduate high school able to list Napoleon's wars, to this day few Maronites know of the Mummies of Assi al-Hawqa or the historical and archaeological events surrounding their story, despite them being part of a large exposition in the National Museum.

Arab? Lebanese? Global?

Interestingly, as the Maronite Church becomes more and more global, it is both losing and regaining its original identity. It is becoming more and more diverse by including non-Levantines in its growing family. At the same time, it is rediscovering its Syriac and particularly Lebanese history and roots, allowing it both to denationalize and renationalize. As its faithful become more international, some never seeing Lebanon in their lives, the Church is also rediscovering and strengthening that shared heritage, offering it as a unifying source of identity and richness to the Maronites of all backgrounds. In other words, the deeper and stronger the roots dig, the higher and broader the Cedar will grow.

Götz, Irene. "The Rediscovery of ‘the National’ in the 1990s – Contexts, New Cultural Forms and

Practices in Reunified Germany." Nations and Nationalism (2016): 803-820.

Leichtman, Mara A. "From the Cross (and Crescent) to the Cedar and Back Again: Transnational

Religion and Politics Among Lebanese Christians in Senegal." Anthropol Q. 86.1 (2013): 35-75.

Tabar, Paul. "The Maronite Church in Lebanon: From Nation-building to a Diasporan/Transnational

Institution." Migration et Politique au Moyen-Orient (2006): 185-201.

Based On:

Haddad, Rachelle. "Out of the Valley of Qadisha: Modern Syro-Maronite Identity and its Impact on

Relations with the Arab Islamic World." University of Sain Paul-Ottawa (2020).