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| ROOTS OF THE MARONITE CHURCH The Maronite Catholic Church stems from the Syrian-Antiochene Church that takes its name from the ancient city of Antioch, where one of the earliest Christian communities was formed. In fact, it was in Antioch that Christ’s followers were first called “Christians.” After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Antioch remained the only Christian metropolis in the East, with jurisdiction over Syria, Phoenicia (Lebanon), Arabia, Palestine, Cyprus and Mesopotamia. From the beginning, the Antiochene Church had strong missionary tendencies, spreading the Gospels to Mesopotamia and to the Persian Empire. Aramaic – the language spoken by Jesus himself – was the common spoken language in the first years A.D. and was the language used in the Maronite Church until the 19th century. Secular antagonisms between the Roman and Persian Empires led to a partition in the Antiochene Church in two parts: 1. Western Syrian Church (Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Palestine) 2. The Eastern Syrian Church (Mesopotamia, Persia, India). (Reprinted from 1988 Maronite Convention program Book) |
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