Maron

Saint Maroun
Russian Orthodox icon of Saint Maron
Born	Unknown
Died	410 AD Kefar-Nabo, Ol-Yambos, Syria Prima province, Byzantine Empire (modern Syria)
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Maronite Church
Feast	February 14(Eastern Orthodox Church) February 9 (Maronite Church)

Moroun (also Maron or Maro; Syriac: ܡܪܘܢ‎, Morōn; Arabic: مارون‎‎; Latin: Maron; Greek: Μάρων) was a 4th-century Syriac Christian monk whose followers, after his death, founded a religious Christian movement that became known as the Maronite Church. The religious community which grew from this movement are the modern Maronites.

Saint Maroun is often portrayed in a black monastic habit with a hanging stole, accompanied by a long crosier staffed by a globe surmounted with a cross. His feast day in the Maronite Church is February 9.

Maroun, born in the middle of the 4th century in Syria, was a priest who later became a hermit, retiring to a mountain of Taurus in the region of Cyrrhus, near Antioch. His holiness and miracles attracted many followers, and drew attention throughout the empire. John Chrysostom wrote to him around AD 405 expressing his great love and respect, and asking Maron to pray for him. Maron and Chrysostom are believed to have studied together in the great Christian learning center at Antioch, which at the time was the third largest city in the Roman Empire.

Maron embraced a life of quiet solitude in the mountains north-west of Aleppo. He was known for his simplicity and his extraordinary desire to discover God’s presence in all things.

Maron is considered the Father of the spiritual and monastic movement now called the Maronite Church.

Maron's way was deeply monastic with emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic aspects of living. For Maroun, all was connected to God and God was connected to all. He did not separate the physical and spiritual world and actually used the physical world to deepen his faith and spiritual experience with God. He was able to free himself from the physical world by his passion and fervour for prayer and enter into a mystical relationship of love with God.