The Church was founded by the followers of St Maroun, a monk who lived in Antioch in the 4th and 5th centuries. His monastic and ascetic way of life inspired many to the faith in a time where Christian persecution was prevalent in the region.

Early Maronites settled in Northern Syria, building a monastery named “The House of Maroun.” In their missionary work, many monks traveled and settled in Lebanon, converting people from paganism and establishing churches. Following the Ecumenical Council of Chaldeon in 451 AD, which condemned Monophysitism, 350 Maronite monks went to meet and reconcile with the Monophysites, but were ambushed and martyred.

The Maronites fled and found refuge in Lebanon, where they took shelter and built monasteries in hard-to-reach places, able to practice their religion freely in the midst of Byzantine and Islamic conquests in the Middle East. With the patriarchal seat vacant, St Jean Maroun, the then-Bishop of Batroun was chosen as the first Maronite Patriarch.

The 13th century was a blossoming period for the Maronites, who, under the protection of Crusaders, were able to expand and build more churches, monasteries and convents. After the departure of the Crusaders, a number Maronites left with them and established communities in the Mediterranean, some of which still exist today. The Maronites who remained in Lebanon retreated back to the mountains, where they lived until Soleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman ruler, confirmed the rights of the Maronites to manage their own affairs.

In 1584, the Maronite School of Rome was built under Pope Gregory’s reign. The school graduated 40 bishops, 12 of which became Patriarchs, including Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy, the first Maronite historian.

In the 1860s, war with the Druze saw at least 10,000 Maronites killed, triggering a wave of Maronite migration. The Maronites who left Lebanon established churches wherever they settled, with many choosing to settle in Australia, South Africa and North and South America.
More Maronite migration occurred through the 1900s, which saw churches, monasteries and convents being established globally. Today, there are an estimated 3-4 million Maronites in the world, with communities across Australia, the Americas, Europe and Africa.