The new patriarch traveled to Rome to receive papal approval. Pope Sergius confirmed him as "Patriarch of Antioch and all the East," and gave him the Pallium as a sign of hierarchical succession and supreme authority. Since Pope Sergius was from the Church of Antioch and knew John Maron personally, he bestowed upon the new Patriarch a miter, a crosier and a pectoral cross. John Maron returned to Antioch with great fanfare, and with royal ceremony he was installed as the first Maronite Patriarch in the most ancient See of the Catholic Church. This period marked a golden page in the history of the Maronite Church spiritually, politically and militarily.

The Patriarchal See Moves to Lebanon
Having defeated the Arabs in several battles, the Maradites levied a heavy tribute on the Umayyad Dynasty. Their dominance in the area threatened the Byzantine Empire and irritated Emperor Justinian II. When the Maronites elected their Patriarch without bowing to Justinian II for approval he was infuriated. He decided to put an end to the Maronite legacy of power and independence beginning by first destroying the Maradites in Armenia and in Syria, and then by finishing them off in Lebanon. His army waged a sudden war and defeated the Maradites in the first phase of his diabolical plan. Then he ordered the Byzantine army to invade the Monastery of St. Maron, to capture Patriarch John Maron and to bring him to Constantinople alive. Justinian II thought that by seizing the patriarch, i.e., the leader of the Maronites, he would subjugate the army and deal the final blow to the stronghold of the Maradites in Lebanon. The Byzantine army destroyed the Monastery and brought it to ruin, killing five hundred monks. The Patriarch fled to Lebanon where he once lived as a bishop, and the Byzantine army pursued him to Lebanon in order to fulfill the Emperor's plan. The Byzantine army clashed with the Maradites in two strategic locations: in Amyoun, which is south of Tripoli, and in Semar-Jbeil, which is in the district of Batroun. The nephew of the Patriarch, Ibrahim, who headed the Maradites in this fierce battle, recorded one of the greatest victories for the Maronites. He crushed the Byzantine army on both fronts. Maurice and Mouricianos, the commanders in chief of the Byzantine army, were killed and the Army of Justinian II was defeated, losing thousands of men and returning to the emperor empty-handed.

After the clouds of war scattered, John Maron constructed a Monastery for his new patriarchal See in Kefar-Hay, a village in the hills above Batroun, and named it "Reesh Moran" which means the "head of our Lord." It is believed that John Maron brought with him the scull of St. Maron to Lebanon, as a safe haven, and he built upon it this beautiful monastery which is still standing to this day. Patriarch John Maron and the Maradites moved the Patriarchal See from Antioch to Mount Lebanon and established their religious, political and military identity as an autonomous church sealing off Lebanon as a strong fortress, a sovereign nation, and an independent homeland.

John Maron's Achievements
John Maron was both a civil and a religious leader. He had the good judgment and the vision to strengthen the army of the Maradites, to organize it and to relocate it in an invincible fortress, which is Lebanon. He brought the Maronites under one banner and made them an independent nation and an autonomous Church. He gathered its isolated monasteries and freed them from the imperial tyranny of the Byzantine rule. He separated the Maronite Church from the Byzantine Empire, from the Church of Constantinople, and he preserved its Antiochene liturgical and theological identity. He collected the scattered flock providing it with a land that it could call its own- sovereign and independent. The most impressive achievement, which was unprecedented,