MAR'ONITES, a Christian tribe of Syria, of very- ancient origin, regarding which con siderable controversy has arisen. The most probable account represents them as 4lescendants of a remnant of the Monothelite sect (see MoxonrEmsm) who, fleeing from the repressive measures of the emperor Anastashis II., in the early part of the 8th c., .gettled on the slopes of the Lebanon, their chief seats being around the monastery of Maron, a saint of the 5th c., whose life is found in Theodoret's Religious Histories (iii. p. 1'222). The emigrants are said to have elected as their chief and patriarch a monk of the .sarne name, with the title of patriarch of Antioch, and, throughout the political vicissi tudes of the succeeding centuries, to have maintained themselves in a certain independ .ence among the :Moslem conquerors. In the 12th c., on the establishment of the Latin 'kingdom of Jerusalem, the Maronites abandoned their distirictiVe monothelite opinions, and recognized the authority- of the Roman church. Again, in the council of Florence,. 1445, they entered iuto a formal act of union with Rome. • In 1584 a colleg,e was founded in Rome for the education of the Maronite clergy; and in 1736 they formally subscribed the decrees of the council of Trent. 'Nevertheless, although united with Rome, they are permitted to retain their distinctive national rites and usages. They administer com munion in both kinds; they use the ancient Syriac lainniage in their liturgy; their clergy, if married before ordination, are permitted to retain their wives; and they have many- festivals and saints not recoo-nized in the Roman calendar. The Maronites at present are about 150,000 in number,sdistributed into 150 parishes. Their patriarch is still styled patriarch of Antioch, and resides in the convent of Canobin on the Lebanon. He
acknowledges the supremacy of the pope, and is bound to lay before him every tenth year a report of the state of his patriarchate. Under him are 17 bishops, to whom are subject the officiating clergy- of the 150 districts alluded to above. The revenues of all orders of ecclesiastics, however, are very narrow, and the inferior clergy live in great measure by the labor of their hands. Very many convents for both sexes are spread over the country, containing, in the whole, from 20,000 to 25,000 members, who all wear a distinctive costume, but follow the rule of St. Anthony. The chief seat of the Maron hes is the district called Kesrawan, on the western declivity of :Mount Lebanon; but they are to be found scattered over the whole territory of the Lebanon, and in all the towns and larger villages towards the n. in the direction of Aleppo, and southwards as far as Nazareth. Their political constitution is a kind of military republic, regulated for the most part by ancient usages and by. unwritten, but well-recognized laws. Like the Arabs of Syria, they have a political hierarchy, partly hereditary, partly elective. The chief administration is vested in four superior sheiks, who possess a Sort of patriarchal authority, and under these are subordinate chiefs, with whom, as in the feudal system, the people hold a military- tenure. They retain even still a custom similar to that of the Sardinian vendetta, by which the kindred of the slain are bound to.avenge his death. The relations of the Maronites with the Druses have been already detailed. See DIMSES By au arranuement adopted since the recent sanguinary conflicts, both populations alike are subject eo one governor, who is appointed by the porte as governor of the Lebanon.