13 Facts About Maron

Maron, revered as a highly spiritual ascetic monk with a connection to God through his communion with the natural environment, garnered widespread respect within Christian circles.

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.

Maron, born in what is modern Syria, in the middle of the 4th century, was a priest who later became a hermit, retiring to the Taurus Mountains in the region of Cyrrhus, near Antioch.

John Chrysostom wrote to him around AD 405 expressing his great love and respect, and asking Maron to pray for him.

Maron embraced a life of quiet solitude in the mountains north-west of Aleppo.

Maron was known for his simplicity and his extraordinary desire to discover God's presence in all things.

Maron's way was deeply monastic with emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic aspects of living.

For Maron, all was connected to God and God was connected to all.

Maron did not separate the physical and spiritual world and actually used the physical world to deepen his faith and spiritual experience with God.

Maron 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.

Maron lived his life in the open air next to a temple he had transformed to a church.

Maron spent his time in prayer and meditation exposed to the forces of nature such as sun, rain, hail and snow.

Saint Maron was a mystic who initiated a new ascetic-spiritual approach that attracted many people in the region encompassing what is Syria and Lebanon to become his disciples.