, the most important Maronite saint; and a billboard on a side of a building showing
Bachir Gemayel, the Maronite militia leader during the Lebanese Civil War in
Chouf Mountains: In the early 18th century the
Maronites and the Druze set the foundation for what is now
Lebanon. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Lebanese people is a blend of both indigenous
Phoenician elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. In a 2013 interview the lead investigator of the
National Geographic Society's
Genographic Project,
Pierre Zalloua, pointed out that genetic variation preceded religious variation and divisions: "Lebanon already had well-differentiated communities with their own genetic peculiarities, but not significant differences, and religions came as layers of paint on top. There is no distinct pattern that shows that one community carries significantly more
Phoenician than another." The Maronite population in Lebanon has a rich history. Its foundation can be traced to early followers of
Maron, who migrated from the region of
Antioch to Mount Lebanon. Historically, Lebanese Maronites resided in remote mountain villages and were led by influential noble families. More specifically, Maron, a fourth-century
monk and the contemporary and friend of
St. John Chrysostom, left Antioch for the
Orontes River to lead an
ascetic life, following the traditions of
Anthony the Great of the Desert and
Pachomius. Many of his followers also lived a monastic lifestyle. Following the death of Maron in 410, his disciples built a monastery in his memory and formed the nucleus of the Maronite Church. The Maronites held fast to the beliefs of the
Council of Chalcedon in 451. When the
Monophysites of Antioch slew 350 monks, the Maronites sought refuge in the mountains of Lebanon. Correspondence concerning the event brought the Maronites papal and orthodox recognition, which was solidified by
Pope Hormisdas (514–523) on 10 February 518. A monastery was built around the shrine of St. Maron (Marun) after the
Council of Chalcedon. The martyrdom of the
Patriarch of Antioch in the first decade of the seventh century, either at the hands of
Persian soldiers or local Jews, left the Maronites without a leader, a situation which continued because of the final and most devastating
Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628. In the aftermath of the war, the Roman Emperor
Heraclius propagated a new Christological doctrine in an attempt to unify the various Christian churches of the east, who were divided over accepting the
Council of Chalcedon. This doctrine,
monothelitism, was meant as a compromise between supporters of Chalcedon, such as the Maronites, and opponents, such as the
Jacobites. To win back the Monophysites,
Monoenergism was first advocated by
Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople.
Pope Honorius I (625–638) of Rome naively called for an end to dispute and interpreted Sergius' view as true since Christ exhibited only one will insofar as His sinless human nature will never disagree with His divine will. Instead, the
Patriarch of Constantinople's doctrine and subsequent
Monothelitism caused greater controversy and was declared a heresy at the
Sixth Ecumenical Council in 680–681. Contemporary Greek, Latin and Arab sources indicate that the Maronites accepted monothelitism, rejected the sixth council, and continued to maintain a belief in the largely discredited monothelite doctrine for centuries, only moving away from monothelitism in the time of the crusades in order to avoid being branded heretics by the crusaders. The modern Maronite Church, however, rejects the assertion that the Maronites were ever monothelites separated from the rest of the universal Church. The question remains a cause of significant offence to this day. In 687, the Roman Emperor
Justinian II agreed to evacuate many thousand Maronites from Lebanon and settle them elsewhere. The chaos and utter depression which followed led the Maronites to elect their first Patriarch,
John Maroun, that year. This, however, was seen as a usurpation by the then undivided Orthodox Catholic church. Thus, at a time when Islam was rising on the borders of the
Byzantine Empire and a united front was necessary to keep out Islamic infiltration, the Maronites were focused on a struggle to retain their independence against imperial power. This situation was mirrored in other Christian communities in the
Byzantine Empire and helped facilitate the Muslim conquest of most of Eastern
Christendom by the end of the century. In 1858, there was a popular movement dubbed the "Kisrawan Uprising", aimed at reform of social order in a predominantly Maronite district, among Maronite Christians. This uprising was spurred by the
Tanzimat, wealth and material inequality and a unfair division of land between the notables and "common" people. with amicable relations between the two groups prevailing throughout history, with the exception of some periods, including
1860 Mount Lebanon civil war. The Maronite Catholics and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through a governing and social system known as the "
Maronite-Druze dualism" in the
Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate. ==Religion==