Maronite Patriarchs

707AD,Saint John Maron died and was buried at St. Maron monastery in Kfarhaï (Batroun Region). In the Maronite calendar, he is remembered on March 2^nd. He was the founder of the Maronite hierarchy, be it the first Patriarch. He didn’t limit himself to his role as a religious leader, but was also the father of the Maronite entity and especially its guide on the political, national and military fronts. Thus, Lebanon was recognized as the homeland of the Maronites headed by Patriarch John Maron.

List of Maronite Patriarchs in chronological order

The Patriarchs who served in the region of Byblos between 938 and 1440:

Jean-Maron the second, Jean de Dmalsa, Grégoire, Étienne, Marc, Eusèbe, Jean Jésoua, David, Grégoire, Théofélix, Jésoua, Doumit, Isaac, Jean, Siméon, Youssef El Gergess (1110-1120), Pierre (1121- 1130), Grégoire de Halat (1130-1141), Jacob de Ramate (1141-1151), Jean (1151-1154), Pierre (1154-1173), Pierre de Lehfed (1173-1199), Jérémie de Amchit (1199-1230 ), Daniel de Chamate (1230-1239), Jean de Jaje (1239-1245), Siméon (1245-1277), Daniel de Hadchit (1278-1282), Jérémie de Dmalsa (1282-1297), Siméon (1297-1339 ), Jean (1339-1357), Gabriel de Hjoula (1357-1367), Jean (1367-1404), Jean de Jaje (1404-1445).

The Patriarchs who served in the Quannoubine Valley from 1440 to 1823:

Jean de Jaje (1404-1445), Yacoub de Hadath (1445-1468), Joseph de Hadath (1468-1492), Siméon de Hadath (1492-1524), Moussa Akkari de Baridi (1524-1567), Michel Rizzi de Bkoufa (1567-1581), SarkisRizzi de Bkoufa (1581-1596), Joseph Rizzi de Bkoufa (1596-1608), Jean Makhloufd’Ehden (1608-1633), Georges Omairad’Ehden (1633-1644), Joseph Halib de Akoura (1644-1648), Jean Bawab de Safra (1648-1656), George Rizkallah de Bseb’el (1656-1670), Etienne Douaihy d’Ehden (1670-1704), Gabriel de Blaouza (1704-1705), Yaccob de Hasroun (1705-1733), Joseph DerghamKhazen de Ghosta (1733-1742), Simeon Awad de Hasroun (1743-1756), Tobia (Toubia?) El Khazen de BekaataKanaan (1756-1766), Joseph Etienne de Ghosta (1766-1793), Michel Fadel de Beirut (1793-1795), Philippe Gemayel de Bikfaya (1795-1796), Youssef Tyan de Beytouth (1796-1808), Jean Helou de Ghosta (1808-1823).

The Patriarchs who served during the summer in Diman and during the winter in Bkerké from 1823 to the present:

Youssef Hobeiche de Sahel Alma (1823-1845), Youssef Raji El Khazen de Ajaltoun (1845-1854), Boulos Massaad de Achkout (1854-1890), Jean Hage de Dlebta (1890-1898), Elias Hoyaek de Helta (1898- 1931), Antoine Arida de Bsharri (1931-1955), Paul Meouchi de Jezzine (1955-1975), Antoine Khoreiche de AinEbel (1975-1986), Nasrallah Sfeir Raifoun (1986-2011) and Bechara Boutros El-Raï (2011-present).

If Saint John Maron is rightly regarded as the first of our Patriarchs, it is due to the fact that he was the first to leave the seat of Antioch. He first took refuge at the St. MaronMonastery in Syria that housed eight hundred monks. The Byzantine army pursued him, destroyed the monastery and all the surrounding Maronite villages. He then headed for Lebanon where he managed to transfer the miraculous skull of Saint Maron. He took up residence in Kfarhaï – Batroun where the Byzantine army continued its pursuit against him and the Maronites. The latter inflicted a decisive defeat to the Byzantinearmy which lost its two famous generalsMaurice and Mauricianos.

Saint John Maron died in the year 707AD and was buried at St. Maron monastery in Kfarhaï. In the Maronite calendar, he is celebrated on March 2. He was the founder of the Maronite hierarchy. He didn’t limit himself to his role as a religious leader, but was also the father of the Maronite entity and especially its guide on the political, national and military fronts. Thus, Lebanon was recognized as the homeland of the Maronites headed by Patriarch John Maron and after him his successors.

In the list of Patriarchs, there are forty-nine between the death of Saint John Maron in 707AD and of John VI in 938AD, which gives us a Patriarch every five years, and even less. If we consider the political conditions of that time, persecution and the challenges they faced, we understand better this phenomenon. In fact, the majority of the Patriarchs were martyrs whose lives were often short-lived. Professor Georges Karam, wanting to pay tribute to the valiant Patriarchs, but limited by the time and the space of a book of seventy pages, discusses a few names. These are certainly not the only ones of our Patriarchs, but a true reflection of what were the others and their contribution to the sustainability of our heritage. Professor Georges Karam mentions in passing of the Patriarch Gabriel Hejoulah who engaged himself to martyrdom to save his people and save them from the massacre. He was burned alive in 1367 testifying to his faith.

Patriarch Youssef Tyan preferred to resign and escape the prestige of his rank rather than betray his convictions. He fought against the excessive taxes imposed by Prince Bashir II and lived as a hermit while teaching theology, serving as a judge at the monastery of Louaizé and continuing his missionary activities. He died in holiness in 1920. One hundred years later, his coffin was opened and his body was found intact without any trace of decomposition.

Entire volumes are not sufficient to do justice to the genius and builder that was Patriarch Elias El Hoayek (1889-1931). No one knew better how to impose to the authorities of the planet: no emperor, king, chief of state, minister, could escape the charm of his diplomacy, the transparency of his words, the integrity of his attitude to the accuracy of his claims and the adequacy of hisarguments. With a recommendation from Pope Leo XIII, he traveled the world to collect the contributions necessary for the reconstruction and reactivation of the Maronite College in Rome which had been destroyed by Napoleon in 1799. He finally realized this project that was dear to him by buying the building located at 18 Via Porta Pinciana and the college was inaugurated on January 1st, 1894. One of his greatest achievements is building, with the collaboration of the apostolic delegate, the famous statue of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa (1906- 1908). This statue is considered one of the finest works in the world on one of the most beautiful mountains in the world. It is also essential to remember and thank him thatduring his time, the independence of Lebanon was proclaimed for the first time in 1920 , its borders stretching from Ras-El-Naqoura to Nahr-El-Kabir in the North, from the peaks of the Anti-Lebanon in the East to the shores of the Mediterranean in the West.

It is vitalto mention the preponderant place occupied by HB Patriarch and Cardinal Boulos El Meouchi (1894-1978) in Lebanon as a whole, for its diversity and its unity. His universal stature gives Maronites and Lebanon dazzling visibility around the world without the Patriarch never making any concessions on fundamental principles, those on which lie his deep faith and his undivided love for all the Lebanese. He was the one who was able to address the most difficult issues not withstanding his considerations other than the dictates of his conscience, his faith and his sense of equality. With an almost prophetic vision, he foresaw the last sad events that Lebanon had to live. During the Second Vatican Council, he advocated openness to other religions and especially Islam, in order to significantly expand the doors of ecumenism. He rose against the uncontrolled sale of Lebanese land to foreigners. At the same council, he vigorously defended the status of the Maronite Patriarch and his autonomy in the unwavering unity with the Holy See. Internationally, many honors were attributed to him. In France, His Beatitude was the worthy recipient of the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honor reserved for kings and heads of state. In the United States, President Kennedy, ignoring the protocol,received him as a head of state.

During his reign, he has worked to restore several churches, took care of community properties in regards to both the constructions and improvements. He even brought several changes to Bkerké. He wanted to give it a more austere appearance by ridding lounges and main hall of all the paintings that adorned it. All the honors that he had received didn’t turnhim away from his taste for the neatness and simplicity.

His Beatitude Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East is the seventy-sixth Patriarch of the Maronite Church and the third to be appointed Cardinal by the Holy See. He was born on May 15, 1920 at Rayfoun-Keserouan, located in theregion of the Lebanese Mountain, in the north-east of Beirut. He completed his secondary education at the St. Maron Seminary of Ghazir, and undertook and completed philosophical and theological studies at the Saint-Joseph University of Beirut. On May 7th,1950, he received his ordination. From 1951 to 1955 he was the parish priest of Rayfoun and was also responsible for the Maronite Bishopric Secretariat of Damascus. In 1956, he was appointed Secretary of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke and was professor of translation , literature and philosophy at the Marist Brothers School, in Jounieh. On July 16th, 1961, he became Bishop of Tarsus and Patriarchal Vicar.

On April 16th, 1986, he was elected Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East. On November 26th, 1994, he was appointed Cardinal by His Holiness Pope John Paul II. In 1995, he also became Deputy Chairman of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Lebanon. His publications in Arabic, focus on the sources of the Gospel and also include collections of Sunday sermons, spiritual reflections and national positions. True to the spirit of his predecessors, his Beatitude Patriarch and Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir undertook voyages to inquire about the state of his countrymen outside of Lebanon. He confirmed the link between them, across the seas and oceans, to their country of origin. He assured them that this link was as strong as ever. And according to the tradition of those who preceded him on the seat of Bkerké he decried the injustices done to his country and awakened the consciousness of those who claimed to be advocates of all peoples to freedom and to independence. Hevoiced his ideas in the decisions made by the Lebanese and ensures that these decisions were not made without them and against them. He reminded the superpowers that the solution to the Middle East problems needed the Lebanese genius to materialize.

His Beatitude Nasrallah Sfeir, assistant and comrade to Patriarch Meouchi, tried and succeeded in this challenge. Besides his annual visit to the headquarters of the Vatican, Patriarch Sfeir visited several times France (1986.1994, 1997, 1999) and visited the Soviet Union (1987), Algeria (1987), the United States of America (1988), Kuwait (1989), Cyprus (1989.1998), Germany (1989), South Africa (1992), Egypt (1992, 2000), Jordan(1993.1998), Australia (1993) and Brazil (1997). In 2000, he undertook a journey in Africa (Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal).

H.E. Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai

Born in Hemlaya (the town of St. Rafka) on February 25, 1940.The son of Youssef and Taminee Rai.He pursued his complementary and secondary studies at the Collège Notre-Dame of Jamhour (Baabda).Patriarch Rai holds a degree in philosophy and theology and a doctorate in canon and civil law from the Pontifical University of Saint-John Lateran (Rome).He took his religious vows with the Mariamite Order on August 31, 1962; was ordained a priest on September 3, 1967; on May 2^nd 1986, he was elected as Patriarchal Vicar to the See of Caesarea of Philippi. He was consecrated Bishop on July 12, 1986. From 1982 to 1986 he presided over the Court of Appeal of the Maronite Tribunal. On June 9^th, 1990, he was appointed Archbishop of Jbeil. He participated in various Synods of Bishops in Rome, including the Special Assembly for the Middle East in October 2010 and the Synod for the New Evangelization in October 2012. He was a member of the Permanent Synod and in 2009 he assumed the presidency of the Commission for Communications at the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon (APECL). On March 15, 2011, he was elected the 77^th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the Levant, by the Synod of the Maronites Bishops whom met from 9 to 15 March at the patriarchal See of Bkerki (Lebanon). Patriarch Rai is the first Maronite Patriarch to come from a religious order in more than 200 years. The last in date was Patriarch Toubia El-Khazen(1756-1766), who also was a monk of the Mariamite Order.

After all, in reviewing the history of the Maronite Patriarchs, it should be noted that Lebanon, guided by its faith and foresight, saw the macabre dance of the ebb and flow of the invaders, but it also saw the menacing waves fall helpless and pitifulto the feet of its mountains and on its immutable shores.