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John Maron was born in Sarum, a prosperous town located south of the city of Antioch. His date of birth is not mentioned but many historians place it around the third decade of the seventh century. He descended from a Frankish royal family which governed Antioch, a cosmopolitan city, that attracted professionals in all areas of expertise from both Europe and all parts of the Byzantine Empire. His parents were Agathon and Anohamia, and Prince Alidipas, his paternal Grandfather, was the nephew of Carloman, a Frankish Prince. He was called John the Sarumite in relation to Sarum where Agathon his father was governor. John's early schooling was in Antioch. He continued his higher learning at the Monastery of St. Maron (1) where he mastered mathematics, sciences, philosophy, theology, linguistics and Sacred Scripture. It was at the Monastery of St. Maron where he professed his monastic vows and was ordained to the priesthood. Adopting a monastic name as was the tradition, he chose the name of the Monastery, thus the name John Maron.
John Maron went to Constantinople where he learned Greek and studied patrology and its spirituality. After his father's death, he returned to the Monastery of St. Maron where he distinguished himself by becoming a prolific writer covering a wide variety of fields. His writing ranged from pedagogy, to the art of speech, to the sacraments, to Church property and legislation. He updated the Book of Ordination and redefined liturgical ceremonies. Later he composed a special Anaphora (Eucharistic Prayer) which bears his name "The Anaphora of St. John Maron Patriarch of Antioch" and is still in use to the present time. He taught and preached the dogma of the Catholic Church according to the Council of Chalcedon, which proclaimed that in Christ there are two natures human and divine. He compiled a series of letters in which he encouraged the faithful to adopt this sacred dogma and admonished them to reject the teaching of the Monophysite and the Monothelite heresies. The former claimed that there is one Nature in Christ, while the latter clung to the one Will in Christ.
Bishop
As a young priest he engaged himself in ecumenical debates with the Monophysites. He traveled all over Syria and around Antioch where he lectured and defended the Chalcedonian Dogma. He visited parishes and monasteries explaining the Divine and the Human Natures in Christ. He strengthened the Chalcedonians, urging them to remain loyal to the teaching of the Catholic Church, in spite of the fact that they were a minority among infidels and Moslems. His attractive style of teaching and his convincing method of argumentation converted many Monophysites and Monothelites to the Maronite fold and brought many non-believers to embrace the Catholic faith.
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