Bet Moroon
The Cup of Faithfulness
(452 A.D. —- 938 A.D.)
The leader rings the bell.
He blows out the first small candle.
A child asks:
What happened to the first Maronites?
The leader responds:
There were many attempts to impair their faith:
1. In 517 A.D., 350 Maronite monks were killed for the sake of the teaching of the Council of Chalcedon.
[13]
2. In 694 A.D., 500 Maronites were killed by Justinian the Byzantine Emperor because the Maronites
elected their first Patriarch John Maron. Bet Moroon was also damaged.[14]
3. In 938 A.D., Bet Moroon and many Maronite monasteries in Syria were completely destroyed by the
Arabs. The Maronite Patriarch took refuge in the Mountains of Lebanon.[15]
These three major persecutions left behind hundreds of martyrs and thousands of refugees. This resulted
in many waves of migration from northern Syria to Mount Lebanon. The Maronites had to make the most
difficult decision: to leave the rich plains of Syria and take the rugged mountains of Lebanon as a refuge
to protect their faith. The Aramean Syrian Maronites of Syria joined the Canaanite Phoenician Maronites
of Lebanon and the Mardaites in Lebanon.[16]
The child asks:
Where was the hand of God in all of these events?
The leader responds:
God brought the first Maronites out of Syria and led them into the mountains of Lebanon to form a
Church with the Canaanite Phoenician Maronites of Lebanon and worship Him in freedom.
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