Maronite hymnody (Syriac and Arabic)

History The Maronite Church is an Eastern Antiochene Church whose liturgy uses mainly the Syriac language. It owes its name to a 4th-century saint called Maron, who lived in the north of Syria. After his death in about 410, his tomb became an important place of pilgrimage, and his followers built there the famous Monastery of Saint Maron. It was in this monastery that the Maronite Church was born. Following the Council of Ephesus in 431, condemning the Nestorian heresy, and that of Chalcedon in 451, condemning Monophysite teaching, the great Church of Antioch was divided into three groups: the Nestorians, the Monophysites, and the Chalcedonians. The Maronites belong to the last group. In...