This page contains information about how you can support St. Maroun Church at Ain el Delb. Below is the Bank Account Information where you can transfer your donations directly to the Church Bank Account at BLC Bank
هذه الصفحة تحتوي على معلومات كي تساعد اللذين يريدون التبرع لكنيسة مار مارون في عين الدلب. المعلومات أدناه تحتوي على رقم حساب الكنيسة حيث يمكنكم تحويل التبرعات مباشرة
Beneficiary's name: Eglise Saint Maroon Ain el Delb
Account nbr: 01-420-082308-00
Bank Name: BLC Bank
Branch: Saida
Swift Code: LICOLBBX
When you make a donation, please inform us of your donation by sending an email to administrator@aineldelb.com
Please provide us with your name, contact information and amount of the donation, and if this donation is to go towards a specific church project, please specify which project. For a list of current church projects and collections, please visit the church projects page by clicking here.
فلس الأرملة
21 1ورَفَعَ طَرْفَه فرأَى الَّذينَ يُلْقونَ هِباتِهِم في الخِزانة، وكانوا مِنَ الأغنِياء. 2ورأَى أَرمَلَةً مِسكينَةً تُلْقي فيها فَلسَين. 3فقالَ: ((بِحَقٍّ أَقولُ لَكُم إِنَّ هذِهِ الأَرمَلَةَ الفَقيرةَ أَلْقَت أَكثَرَ مِنهُم جَميعاً، 4لِأَنَّ هؤلاءِ كُلَّهم أَلقَوا في الهِباتِ مِنَ الفاضِلِ عن حاجاتِهم، وأَمَّا هي فإِنَّها مِن حاجَتِها أَلقَت جَميعَ ما تَملِكُ لِمَعيشَتِها )).
St. Maroun
Father and Founder of the Maronite Church. A hermit who led one of the most austere ascetic lives, in his hermitage and very often in the open air. He was an ardent follower of Christ, and consumed with enthusiasm for Christian perfection. He renounced the world and its attractions, and hid on one of the mountains in the diocese of Cyr.
LIFE
Our major source of information about St. Maron comes from 2 figures: The first is from Theodoret the Christian Historian and the second is from Saint John Chrysostom that is "John the Golden Mouth.”
In his book Historia Religiosa, Theodoret wrote:
“After him [Acepsimas] I shall recall Maron, for he too adorned the godly choir of the saints. Embracing the open-air life, he repaired to a hill-top formerly honored by the impious. Consecrating to God the precinct of demons on it, he lived there, pitching a small tent which he seldom used. He practiced not only the usual labors, but devised others as well, heaping up the wealth of philosophy.
The Umpire measured out grace according to his labors: so the magnificent one gave in abundance the gift of healing, with the result that his fame circulated everywhere, attracted everyone from every side and taught by experience the truth of the report. One could see fevers quenched by the dew of his blessing, shivering quieted, demons put to flight, and varied diseases of every kind cured by a single remedy; the progeny of physicians apply to each disease the appropriate remedy, but the prayer of the saint is a common antidote for every distress. He cured not only infirmities of the body, but applied suitable treatment to souls as well, healing this man's greed and that man's anger, to this man supplying teaching in self-control and to that providing lessons in justice, correcting this man's intemperance and shaking up another man's sloth. Applying this mode of cultivation, he produced many plants of philosophy, and it was he who planted for God the garden that now flourishes in the region of Cyrrhus. A product of his planting was the great James, to whom one could reasonably apply the prophetic utterance, 'the righteous man will flower as the palm tree, and be multiplied like the cedar of Lebanon', and also all the others whom, with God's help, I shall recall individually.
Attending in this way to the divine cultivation and treating souls and bodies alike, he himself underwent a short illness, so that we might learn the weakness of nature and the manliness of resolution, and departed from life. A bitter war over his body arose between his neighbors. One of the adjacent villages that was well-populated came out in mass, drove off the others and seized this thrice desired treasure building a great shrine, they reap benefit therefrom even to this day, honoring this victor with a public festival. We ourselves reap his blessing even at a distance; for sufficient for us instead of his tomb is his memory."
John the Golden mouth dedicated his 36th epistle to Saint Maron while exiled in Cucussus. In this letter to St. Maron he wrote:
“To Maron, the Monk Priest:
We are bound to you by love and interior disposition, and see you here before us as if you were actually present. For such are the eyes of love; their vision is neither interrupted by distance nor dimmed by time. We wished to write more frequently to your reverence, but since this is not easy on account of the difficulty of the road and the problems to which travelers are subject, whenever opportunity allows we address ourselves to your honor and assure you that we hold you constantly in our mind and carry you about in our soul wherever we may be. And take care yourself that you write to us as often as you can, telling us how you are, so that although separated physically we might be cheered by learning constantly about your health and receive much consolation as we sit in solitude. For it brings us no small joy to hear about your health. And above all please pray for us".
Little is known about St. Maron’s birth and origins. Any information that we have comes from the date when St. Maroun decided to lead a life of isolation. We know that he was a disciple of St. Zebinus. Under the direction of Saint Zebinus, Maron learned to pray without ceasing. Zebinus surpassed all the solitaries of his time in his assiduity to prayer to which he devoted whole days and nights without any weariness or fatigue. His ardor for prayer seemed to increase, rather than slacken with time. Zebinus gave advice to those who sought it in as few words as possible in order to spend more time in heavenly contemplation.
Maron followed Zebinus's constancy in prayer, yet he not only received all visitors with great tenderness but also encourage them to stay with him. Few, however, were willing to pass the night standing in prayer. God rewarded Maron's charity and constancy with abundant graces including the gift of healing. He prescribed admirable remedies against all vices, which drew crowds to him.
At the beginning of his mission and following Zebineus trail, Maron went to a rugged mountain half-way between Cyrrhus and Aleppo. There was a huge pagan temple for god Nabo of which was derived the name of the mountain and the neighboring village Kfarnabo. St. Maroun consecrated the temple for divine Christian worship. His disciples multiplied and included not only men but also women.
After Saint Maron's death, his relics were the object of considerable interest and conflict. The people of a neighboring village, believed to be Brad or Barad in the environs of Kfar-Nabo succeeded in taking his body. Then a church was built in his name, and a sarcophagus containing the Saint's body was housed in it. It is believed that later the Saint's skull was transported by the Saint's disciples to Apamea in Syria where they built the famous Saint Maron Monastery or "Beit Maron" around the year 452.
Compiled and edited by Maroun Kassab