The Maronites CISTERCIAN STUDIES SERIES: NUMBER TWO HUNDRED FORTY-THREE The Maronites The Origins of an Antiochene Church A Historical and Geographical Study of the Fifth to Seventh Centuries Abbot Paul Naaman Translated by The Department of Interpretation and Translation (DIT), Holy Spirit University Kaslik, Lebanon 2009 Cistercian Publications www.cistercianpublications.org LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org Maps adapted from G. Tchalenko, Villages antiques de la syrie du Nord (1953), T. II Pl. XXIII, Pl. XXIV, Pl. XXV. Used with permission. A Cistercian Publications title published by Liturgical Press Cistercian Publications Editorial Offices Abbey of Gethsemani 3642 Monks Road Trappist, Kentucky 40051 www.cistercianpublications.org © 2011 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Naaman, Paul, 1932– The Maronites : the origins of an Antiochene church : a historical and geographical study of the fifth to seventh centuries / Paul Naaman ; translated by the Department of Interpretation and Translation (DIT), Holy Spirit University, Kaslik, Lebanon. p. cm. — (Cistercian studies series ; no. 243) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87907-243-8 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-87907-794-5 (e-book) 1. Maronites—History. 2. Catholic Church. Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch (Syria)—History. 3. Catholic Church—Maronite rite—Middle East—History. 4. Middle East—Church history. I. Title. II. Title: Origins of an Antiochene church. BX182.N33 2011 281'.509021—dc22 2010048732 To my nephews and nieces To Professor Norman ASMAR So that they may realize from which mountain rock they were carved, and from which fountainhead springs their spiritual wealth Contents FOREWORD xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiv INTRODUCTION xv CHAPTER ONE: THE EVIDENCE OF ABÁ L-FIDÅ AS TO THE FOUNDING OF THE MONASTERY OF MARON 1 External Criticism 2 The Text 2 Source Criticism 2 Critical Classification of the Sources 5 Internal Criticism 7 The Context 7 The Text 7 Criticism of Accuracy 9 Syria, a Roman Province 14 Syria under Islam 15 General Conclusion 19 CHAPTER TWO: MARON AND MARCIAN: NORTH SYRIAN MONASTICISM IN THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES 20 Northern Syria 22 General Surroundings 22 Population: Origin and Language 24 The Great Communication Routes 26 Cyr 28 Cyr in History 28 Cyr and Christianity 30 vii viii The Maronites Apamaea 31 Apamaea in History 31 Apamaea and Christianity 33 Apamenia 35 Marcian and His Disciples: The Cenobitic Life in Apamaea in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries according to the Religious History 36 The Religious History 36 Saint Marcian the Anchorite 38 Life 38 Literary Works 40 Disciples and the Monastic Movement of Apamaea 40 Chalcedonian Orthodoxy 42 Ascetic Doctrine: Marcian’s Rule (1325D) 47 Prudence 48 Wisdom 49 Maron and His Disciples: The Eremitic Life in the Region of Cyr in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries 51 The Anchorites of Cyr 51 The Hypethrite Monks 53 Saint Maron the Anchorite 53 The Disciples of Maron 59 Characteristic Traits of the Syrian Anchorites 60 Love of Contemplation 61 The Practice of Penance 62 Total Submission to the Hierarchy 62 Conclusion 63 CHAPTER THREE: THEODORET OF CYR AND THE PATRIARCHATE OF ANTIOCH AFTER THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS (431–452) 65 Theodoret of Cyr: Life, Monastic Formation, Activities 67 Childhood 67 Education 69 The Monastery of Nikertai, 416(?)–423 70 Bishop of Cyr, 423–466(?) 73 Activities 73 Frequentation of the Solitaries of Cyr 75 Contents ix Theodoret and the Christological Debate from 431 to 451 78 The Council of Ephesus 79 The Act of Union 79 From 438 to the Council of Chalcedon 83 The Council of Chalcedon 90 The Identity of Views between the Easterners and the Legates 91 The Influence of Theodoret in the Elaboration of the Dogmatic Formula of Chalcedon 93 The Monks and the Hierarchy during the Christological Crisis 96 The Monks and the Hierarchy 96 Letters to the Monks of the East 100 The Circumstances of Writing the Religious History 102 Theodoret and the Monastic Legislation of Chalcedon 105 Monasticism and the Church according to Theodoret 105 The Legislation of Chalcedon 108 The Historical Context 109 The Meaning 110 The Import 111 GENERAL CONCLUSION 116 I. First Section: The History of Monasticism in Northern Syria in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries 118 II. Second Section: The Doctrinal Divergences and the Political Competition between Syria and Egypt 122 III. Third Section: The Role of the Monks in the Doctrinal Struggles between Antioch and Alexandria 125 IV. Fourth Section: The Circumstances of the Founding of the Monastery of Saint Maron 128 APPENDIX 135 Document I: Petition of the Monks of Syria Secunda to Pope Hormisdas (517) 135 Document II: Hormisdas, to the Priests, Deacons and Archdeacons of Syria Secunda (518) 138 Document III: Copy of the Petition Presented by the Community of the Monks of the Region (of Apamaea) 143 x The Maronites Document IV: Supplica dei Chierici e dei Monaci d’Antiochia al Patriarca Giovanni e al Sinodo Radunato Contro Severo 148 Document V: The Maronites, Inquisitors of the Catholic Faith in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries 152 Introduction 152 I. Letter of the Maronites 157 II. Response of the Jacobites 159 Document VI: The Kings of Roum 173 SOURCES 175 I. Manuscripts 175 II. Printed Books 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY 178 GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL INDEX 188 INDEX OF NAMES AND PERSONS 192 MAPS 196 Foreword Some attribute early Christianity’s worldwide growth to the peace of Constantine in AD 313 and his support of the Church. This assumption, however, does not consider the heroic missionary movement of the early Christians, even in the midst of stiff opposition and martyrdom. In fact, Christianity reached all parts of the Mediterranean basin, as well as India and perhaps China before it became the “state religion” of the Roman Empire. Another movement, equally heroic, which flourished after the peace of Constantine and had a stabilizing effect on culture and Church order, was monasticism, the story of countless men and women who gave up everything for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. Egypt had Saint Anthony, and Europe, Saint Benedict. Anthony’s way was solitary, that is, hermits for God alone, Benedict’s way communal—“a school for the Lord’s service.” Both pioneers spearheaded spiritual movements which are still vibrant today and have left a lasting mark on Church and society. The story of Maron, a fifth-century hermit-priest, and the community gathered around him, later called Maronites, is part of this fascinating story of monastic and missionary movements in the Church. In the context of Syrian monasticism, which has always been a combination of both solitary and communal life, the Maronite story is one of a community of Christians who navigated through rough seas of political divisions and ecclesiastical controversies. Today, the Maronite Church is one of twenty-one Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Pope of Rome. Her patriarch resides in Lebanon and forty-three bishops and approximately ten million faithful make up her presence throughout the world. xi xii The Maronites Abbot Paul Naaman, a Maronite scholar and former superior general of the Order of Lebanese Maronite Monks, wisely places the study of the origins of the Maronite Church squarely in the midst of the history of the Church. This book offers plausible insights into her formation and early development, grounding the Maronite Church in her Catholic, Antiochian, Syriac, and monastic roots. Abbot Naaman maintains that Theodoret, the bishop of Cyr, himself a monk for seven years and the author of Religious History written in 444, along with the support of the Byzantine emperor, Marcian, founded a monastery from among numerous monks and hermits in order to support the definitions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). The monastery was named after the hermit-priest Maron, who was well known in that region for his sanctity. According to Naaman, citing Theodoret’s Religious History, there were two monastic realities in northern Syria: one was coenobitic, that is, monastic communities in the region of Apamaea. The other was eremitical, that is, hermits living in the region of Cyr. Ironically, Saint Maron, a hermit, lived in the region of Cyr; however, after his death, the monastery of Saint Maron was founded in the region of Apamaea. Naaman offers the following explanation. During the christological controversies of the fifth century, there was a severe lack of discipline among monks and hermits, according to Theodoret. The monastery of Saint Maron, and soon, other Maronite monasteries in the region, provided stability and support to the efforts of Theodoret to arrest the spread of Monophysitism (Christ had only one nature, i.e., a fusion of human and divine) and promote orthodox faith. Naaman notes that this balanced faith and careful discernment served Maronites well in their beginnings, throughout history, and up to the present day. Naaman, basing his argument on primary and contemporary sources, also recounts the zeal of the monks of Saint Maron in the spread of the Gospel and the effort to defend the Council of Chalcedon, and notes that the head of the monastery of Saint Maron was ordained a bishop in order to assure apostolic succession for the nascent Maronite monastic movement in the midst of threatening influences from other monasteries in the area. Naaman’s insightful history, which needs balance from another perspective, namely, the Eastern Orthodox point of view, nonetheless Foreword xiii sheds light on the early Maronite monastic and missionary movement.