Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!

In the Maronite Church, we pray the Hymn of Light (nuhro), attributed to Saint Ephrem, every day during Morning Prayer (Safro). It is especially beautiful to meditate on the words of the prayer during this season of the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord.

The Light of the just and joy of the upright, is Christ Jesus our Lord. Begotten of the Father, he manifested himself to us. He came to rescue us from darkness and to fill us with the radiance of his light.

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Day is dawning upon us; the power of darkness is fading away. From the true light then arises for us the light which illumines our darkened eyes.

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His glory shines upon the world and enlightens the very depths of the abyss. Death is annihilated, night has vanished, and the gates of Sheol are broken.

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Creatures lying in darkness from ancient times, are clothed in light. The dead arise from the dust, and sing because they have a Savior.

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He brings salvation and grants us life. He ascends to his Father on high. He will return in glorious splendor and shed his light on those gazing upon him.

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Our king comes in majestic glory. Let us light our lamps and go forth to meet him. Let us find our joy in him, for he has found joy in us. He will indeed rejoice us with his marvelous light.

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Let us glorify the majesty of the Son and give thanks to the Almighty Father, who, in an outpouring of love, sent him to us, to fill us with hope and salvation.

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When he manifests himself, the saints awaiting him in weariness and sorrow, will go forth to meet him with lighted lamps.

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The angels and guardians of heaven will rejoice in the glory of the just and upright people of earth: Together, crowned with victory, they will sing hymns and psalms.

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Stand up, then and be ready. Give thanks to our King and Savior, who will come in great glory to gladden us with his marvelous light in his kingdom.

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Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen. Alleulia.

Living in a predominantly Roman Catholic area here in the United States, many people have questions regarding why the Maronites (an Eastern Catholic Church within the greater Catholic Church) do things a little differently. Watch this video where Fr. Claude Franklin addresses a wide range of questions regarding Maronite theology and Maronite liturgy. Abouna Claude gives great detail and resources quoting Church Fathers, Church documents, Synodal documents, and of course the Sacred Scripture.

Looking for a specific question? Here is a breakdown of the questions asked and answered in the video:

• 0:00 [Opening Prayer]
• 2:07 [Is the Maronite Liturgy based on the Resurrection?]
• 5:45 [Why don’t we kneel?]
• 10:48 [How many Anaphoras do we traditionally have?]
• 12:23 [Why is there a difference in the order of admission of Holy Sacraments b/n the Roman Catholic and Maronite Rites? Specifically with Confirmation?]
• 15:00 [What is the history and reasoning behind the distribution of Holy Communion regarding the difference b/n Latin Churches and other Eastern Churches?]
• 29:17 [Why doesn’t the Maronite Church – unlike the other Eastern Churches – give First Communion to infants at Baptism?]
• 37:14 [What is the theological meaning/connection of the funeral bread and the “mercy meal”?]
• 40:22 [Why do we use the “Protestant” ending to the Our Father?]
• 42:36 [Why do we raise our hands only when we pray the “Our Father” and the “Make us worthy…” prior to Communion?]
• 45:02 [Why do Maronite Priests hold a small Cross in their right hand throughout the Liturgy?]
• 46:05 [What is the history behind the Syriac hymn melodies?]
• 47:24 [How should the choiring be done?]
• 49:12 [Should hair be covered?]
• 54:42 [Why does the Bishop wear the black hood? And why is it removed for some parts of the Liturgy?]
• 56:52 [Maronite Theology on the Trinity]
• 1:01:47 [What is our belief on the timing of the resurrection of the soul and body?]
• 1:04:52 [Are we in communion with our loved ones after they die or at the end of time?]
• 1:05:50 [Are there differences b/n Eastern Maronite Spirituality and Latin Spirituality?]
• 1:09:30 [Is the Maronite Church growing in the USA and throughout the world?]
• Abouna receives questions from those participating in the Zoom talk:
• 1:11:09 [Maronite teaching on mortal sin]
• 1:16:22 [Does the Maronite Church traditionally make the Sign of the Cross from R to L or L to R?]
• 1:21:30 [Abouna recommends different resources to read more about these different topics]

With Saint Maron’s feast day approaching, we are providing a few more coloring and activity pages for children! Enjoy the feast of Saint Maron!

Download the Coloring Pages, Mazes, Let’s Draw, and Word Search below! 👇

“But I will always hope, and praise you ever more and more.” ~ Psalm 71:14

We beseech you, O Christ, on this second day of your entombment, as you await your resurrection, to awaken this love in our hearts, that we may know your love which surpasses all understanding. May our new life be filled with the fullness of God. As you visited the just in their dwellings and enabled them to enter paradise, grant rest to our dead, that they may celebrate your heavenly resurrection. With them, we shall give glory to you, your Father, and your Holy Spirit, for ever. +Amen (Sedro, Great Saturday of the Light, Maronite Divine Office)

By: Tresa Van Heusen

The simple answer is: YES! Here is the story of how my parents and I discovered and joined the Maronite Church.

Tresa with her parents, Abouna Chuck & Marie Van Heusen ~ Christmas at St. Maron Church in Youngstown, Ohio in 2022

In my family, we often speak to each other with movie quotes. The first time my parents attended the Divine Liturgy in the Maronite Church, when the priest began the liturgy chanting in Syriac, my father leaned over to my mother and said with trepidation and confusion, “Marie, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!”

Both of my parents are from small towns in Western New York. My mother is one of thirteen children raised in a devout Catholic family. My father grew up on a dairy farm and was baptized and raised Presbyterian. A few years after they were married my father converted to Catholicism. A couple of years later my father enlisted in the Army, and we began moving all over the world.

Now my father was stationed at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina, and my parents had just bought a house in Fayetteville. They saw a sign down the road for a “Catholic Church,” and that first Sunday they attended Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Maronite Catholic Church. Ironically, my parents had just moved to the area from Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas!

For sure, they were not in Kansas anymore, but now my father wasn’t sure where they were! The sign outside the Church said it was Catholic, but this was something completely foreign to my father. My mother, on the other hand, responded, “I think it is Eastern Rite. I remember reading about them when I was young.” Thankfully the priest at St. Michael’s was accustomed to new people coming by, so he quickly put their worries to rest before the liturgy continued by stating, “As our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, always says, ‘Be not afraid.’ For those of you joining us for the first time, you are in a Catholic Church.”

St. Michael the Archangel Maronite Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina

This is how my parents first discovered the Maronite Church. At this time, both my two brothers and I were grown and out of the house. I was also in the Army and stationed overseas in Germany. I remember my mother calling and telling me about St. Michael’s, to which I quickly and adamantly told her, “Mom, you are in an Orthodox Church. You can’t go there!” My mother gently corrected me and began to explain about the Eastern Churches within the Catholic Church, something I had never heard of until this time.

Not only did I learn more about the Maronite Church from my parents, but when I returned to the United States and was stationed in Atlanta, Georgia, I happened to buy a house not too far from the Maronite Church there. I immediately became a parishioner of St. Joseph’s Maronite Church, hoping to simply learn more about the Eastern Rites and experience their liturgy for a little while. But like my parents, I too fell in love with the Maronite church myself.

Coming to know the Maronite Church really helped me to grow in my faith and in my love for our Lord and His Church. As I began to learn more about all the different “churches” within the Catholic Church, I was delighted to see the great variety of expression of the faith we actually have. Most importantly, I soon found my true spiritual home is within the Maronite Church as I connected with the liturgy, spirituality and the community in a way I never had in the Roman Rite Mass.

What is the Maronite Church, and how is she different from the Roman Church?

First it is important to note that the Catholic Church is comprised of twenty-three Church traditions that each embrace a particular spirituality, cultural identity and liturgical practice, while sharing the same dogmatic faith and unity with the Holy Father in Rome. The Maronite Church is one of the twenty-two Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris (self-governing), and she follows the Antiochene-Syriac tradition.

In the early Church, Antioch was a major center of Christianity. Not too far from Antioch, during the late fourth century, there lived a holy hermit, Saint Maron, who resided on a hilltop in prayer, living a radically ascetical life while seeking union with God. Because of his great holiness, numerous people came to him, and many began to imitate his way of life. These disciples of St. Maron eventually began to form monasteries living in community while following his example of holiness. A great monastery then grew in the region known as “Beit Maroun,” or “House of Maron.” Even after St. Maron’s death around the year 410 AD, this monastery continued to grow and flourish in the region and became a great center of the faith. 

Saint Maron 350-410 AD

In the late seventh century, however, the Christians in this region faced persecution and turmoil. The Patriarchal see of Antioch became vacant, and so the people, in need of a spiritual leader, elected a monk, John Maron, from the monastery of St. Maron as their Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch. St. John Maron then led the people into the mountains of Lebanon, now known as the Qadisah Valley, or Holy Valley. It was here that the people began to identify themselves more formally as the Maronite Catholic Church.

They lived in this region for almost four hundred years being physically separated from Rome with no communication with the Holy See. Because they were isolated, the Maronites did not take part in the Schism and always remained faithful to the Church in Rome. It was not until the arrival of the Crusaders, however, that they were able to reestablish communication with the Holy Father and the Catholic Church at large. Once they were reconnected, the Vatican gave them formal permission to remain in their tradition as the Maronite Church sui iuris within the Catholic Church, and the Holy Father formally recognized John Maron and his successors as Patriarch of Antioch.

A unique aspect of the Maronite Church is that she is the only Catholic Church who identifies herself with a person other than Jesus Christ. Because she takes her name from the holy hermit, Saint Maron, and she grew and formed around the monastery of “Beit Maroun”, we recognize how monasticism is not merely a part of her identity, as you would find in the other Catholic Churches, but is her core and foundation. From the time of St. Maron, the “Maronite” people grew in their faith around the monastery, and the monastery was at the heart of their spirituality and way of life.

In Lebanon today, where the core of the Maronite Church resides, this monastic reality is easily seen and lived. The country of Lebanon is itself very small (the CIA factbook compares it to one-third the size of the state of Maryland), but for such a small country it is overflowing with monasteries. One does not have to travel far in Lebanon in order to reach a monastery, and the majority of people could get to one on foot. The mountains, valleys, and coastlines are literally dotted with monasteries, old and new. For a Maronite living in Lebanon, seeing and experiencing their monastic spirituality is not difficult. Where ever one is, they are sure to hear monastery bells ringing daily for the time of Divine Liturgy (Mass), times of prayer, and specific hours of the day.

For Maronite communities outside of Lebanon, however, this monastic reality is not as visible or easy to find lived. In the west, as we see here in the United States, the Maronites are mainly formed around parishes, as is the norm in this part of the world. While the parish provides the liturgical and communal support for the people, the monastic spirituality is lacking. One can see some aspects of the monastic roots in the liturgy and with the traditional Syriac melodies, as well as in the traditional dress of the priests. If one would like to see Maronite monastic life being lived here in the United States, we currently only have two male communities — one in Massachusetts and one in Washington.

For now, if you have never experienced the Maronite Church, or any of the other Eastern Catholic Churches, I would like to encourage you to find one close to your home and join them some time for Divine Liturgy. The different liturgical expressions found within the Catholic Church at large beautifully reflect how we as people throughout the world have our differences, and how our Lord seeks to speak with us in different ways. May each of us find our Lord more fully within our diverse and inspiring Catholic Church.

What’s a Maronite Catholic? One Woman’s Experience in the Eastern Rites (catholic-link.org)

This article was first written for Catholic-Link.org.

March 2nd we celebrate the feast of St. John Maron, the first Patriarch in the Maronite Church. In the 7th century there was turmoil in the area of Syria, and the seat of the Patriarch in Antioch became vacant. In need of a spiritual father to lead the Christians, the monks of the monastery of Beit Maroun, or “House of Maron”, elected one of their own to fill the vacancy. In 685 AD St. John Maron was elected as Patriarch of Antioch. He was later instrumental in leading the Maronite people into the mountains of Mount Lebanon as they sought a safe place to live their faith and worship God.

St. John Maron, pray for us!

Enjoy these ** FREE ** downloadable coloring and activity sheets!

This week we celebrate the feasts of the three women who were disciples of St. Maron — followers of his spiritual way of life in striving to grow in deeper intimacy with Our Lord! You can learn more about each of these incredible women from the small biographies about them in the book “A History of the Monks of Syria” by Theodoret of Cyrrhus. They are also mentioned in our children’s book, “Saint Maron and the Maronite People.” ncluded is a coloring sheet for children — help them learn a little about these devote women!

In celebration of the feast of Saint Maron (February 9th), download this pdf file with a coloring page and an activity page! Print from your computer at home and enjoy!

Monastic Creations is moving to a new location in Newton Falls, Ohio! We are excited for this new beginning with great potential and possibilities! There is a small house on the property with a big basement perfect for making soap, candles, and whatever other projects come along. The house sits on almost 30 acres of land which provides great potential for the future. Its located in a quiet area perfect for a contemplative life of work and prayer. Please keep this move in your prayers and stay tuned for updates in the new location!