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History of the Maronite Church

by Fr. John H. Nahal 

The Origin of Independent Churches

There is no evidence of a consistent or uniform ecclesiology in the early Church, rather there were New Testament Churches with distinct and varying emphases on theology, worship, and practice.[1]
From the very beginning of Christianity, the ruling Roman Empire subjected the Church to cruel persecution. Yet despite serious adversities, the gospel message of Jesus spread throughout the Roman Empire in the second century. The Acts of the Apostles described the expansion of Christianity into Syria, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, Southern Italy, Gaul, and Rome.[2]

Tradition says that John arrived at Ephesus some time in A.D. 44 and established one of the first Churches outside of Jerusalem. When Paul visited Ephesus about A.D. 55, he found a well-established Church there. Although Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia, the official military headquarters of the whole of the Eastern Empire was Antioch. After the Ascension of Christ, a number of Christians fled to Antioch to avoid the persecutions of the Jewish Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. It was from Antioch that Paul set out on his missionary journeys, and where Luke actually wrote his Gospel.

Mark, a close associate of Peter, founded the Alexandrian Church in A.D. 59. Alexandria was the education center and home for many Greek philosophers, and the Church in Alexandria was able to exercise freedom of speech not permitted in other imperial centers such as Antioch or Rome; thus, the Church in Alexandria became the second Christian center after Ephesus. The Church in Rome was established with the arrival of Peter and Paul about A.D. 61.[3]

In addition to the concentration of Christians in Palestine and Asia Minor by the end of the second century, Christians were to be found in sizeable numbers in Italy, including Sicily and Sardinia, and along the North African coast with its center in Carthage. In the third century, Tertullian (A.D. 160-220) said there were Christian communities established under local bishops in Spain, France, Armenia, and Britain. Some went beyond the Roman territory. “Due to severe persecution under the Emperor Valerian (A.D. 240-267), many leading Christians had to leave their cities to go into hiding. Because of persecution, many Christians in Palestine and Egypt found it safer to leave the empire altogether and fled to Persia, the present day Iran. At the same time, others from Caesarea in Cappadocia crossed over the border into the hill country of Armenia.”[4]I

n general, early Christian Churches developed simultaneously within and outside the confines of the Roman Empire, each with self-government and without direct control from any external authority. Before Constantine, the Churches in Armenia, Persia, and India enjoyed a certain degree of freedom and even approval from secular rulers. The Syriac-speaking Christians in Armenia, Persia, Edessa (the metropolis of the Syriac-speaking Church) before 214 A.D., and India comprised the Churches outside of the Roman Empire.[5] Though the bishops of these areas were independent, they were part of the general organizational structure of the Church.[6] Ultimately, the intellectual power of the Byzantine world and the political power of Rome were to fall sway to the teachings of the followers of Jesus. It is obvious from the history that a variety of Churches and communities of the faithful were in existence from the very beginning of Christianity.

 

The Early Church at Antioch

The primary purpose of this research project is to identify and focus on ways to promote the growth of the Syriac Maronite Catholic Church of Antioch in the United States of America, in order to spread the Word of God. However, there can be no success in the future without remembering the past. We cannot safeguard the traditions of the Eastern Christian Church without understanding them. Therefore, we shall familiarize the reader with the Eastern Church’s history, limiting our scope to those events that directly affect the churches of the Antiochian Tradition.

It is to Antioch that we turn our attention, for it was from there that the Maronite Church traces her origin and much of her religious tradition. Seleucus the Great of the Seleucid Empire founded this ancient city, now called Antakya in modern-day Turkey, in 300 B.C. Located on the fertile banks of the Orontes River, it quickly became a major center of trade, culture, and architecture. Jews also were among the first inhabitants of this city; while they certainly did not enjoy full citizenship, they “enjoyed the right to observe their own customs as a distinct group.”[7] When Syria fell to Roman invaders in 64 B.C., Antioch became the capital of the Empire in the East, and its Jewish population was now able to use the Mosaic Law to decide intra-communitarian problems.[8] Relations between Jew and Gentile in Antioch appeared to be good, with many gentiles appearing  curious about the Jewish religion.[9] This curiosity would prove helpful during the early stages of evangelization. Whether Jew or Gentile, the ancient city of Antioch was culturally quite Hellenized, and Greek was its principal language.The church at Antioch was founded several years after the death of Jesus, but most likely before A.D. 40, and it was there that the followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time.[10]

The noted American priest and biblical scholar John Meier comments: Antioch was the first important urban center of the Christian movement outside of Jerusalem. From Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch in the second century, to John Chrysostom, priest of that church in the late fourth century, Antioch was the home of great theologians and strong bishops (recognized later as patriarchs), the seat of a celebrated school of exegesis, and a hotbed of heretical tendencies as well. Anyone interested in the development of NT communities of the first century to the Catholic Church (Ignatius’ he katholike ekklesia) of the second centuries must pay special attention to Antioch.[11]