Lebanese Holidays - Saint Maroun`s Day

Saint Marun was the founding father of the monastic movement, which was later continued in the ministry of the Marunite church. The life of Saint Maroun was spent as a hermit. At the dawn of his old age, the Saint retired to the Taurus Mountains, near Antioch. The sanctity of his life and miracles spread far beyond the borders of Lebanon. It is known that Saint John Chrysostom sent letters to the Saint. Throughout his life, Saint Marun spread the news of the Savior Jesus Christ, preached, and healed people’s physical and mental ailments with the word of the Holy Scriptures. Love for Christ and true faith helped the Saint and his disciples to baptize pagans into the Christian faith in Syria and Lebanon. After the death of Saint Marun, near the place of his death, believers built a large temple, and then a monastery. Saint Maroun is revered as the spiritual founding father of the Marounite Catholic Church. The Saint's Day of Remembrance in Catholicism is February 9, in Orthodoxy it is February 27. The Marunite Catholic Church is part of six Catholic churches that use Eastern liturgical rites in the practice of church life. The difference from the main teaching of the Catholic Church of the Lebanese Maroonites lies in the election of monothelitism - the recognition of the one divine will of Jesus Christ as the God-man. The historical period of development and formation of the Marounite Lebanese Church underwent several stages. The Marunite teaching was rejected by Byzantium and recognized by Rome. The Marunites Latinized the liturgy, founded the Marunite College in Rome, and chose the Gregorian calendar as the main one. Today, the Marouni community is the largest Christian church in Lebanon, accounting for 37 percent of all Lebanese Christians. According to the statistical yearbook of the Roman Catholic Church, in 2016 the number of church members was more than 3.5 million. Communities of the Marouni Church exist not only in Lebanon, but also in other countries of the world: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Canada, Syria, USA, France, Cyprus. On the occasion of the holiday, the day of Saint Marun, concerts of sacred music are organized in Lebanon, including playing national musical instruments, church chants in Aramaic, and diplomatic meetings of representatives of different states.