St. Maron

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

Maron, also called Maroun or Maro, (Syriac: ܡܪܘܢ‎, Morōn; Arabic: مارون‎; Latin: Maron; Greek: Μάρων) was a 4th-century Syriac Christian hermit monk in the Taurus Mountains whose followers, after his death, founded a religious Christian movement that became known as the Syriac Maronite Church, in full communion with the Holy See and the Catholic Church. The religious community which grew from this movement are the modern Maronites.

Saint Maron 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.

Maron, born in the middle of the 4th century in Syria, was a priest who later became a hermit, retiring to the Taurus Mountains 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.