Politics of a Church at War: Maronite Catholicism in the Lebanese Civil War

Abstract

Intrinsically linked to the power-sharing Maronite Catholic community, and historically tied to the fate of Lebanon, the Maronite Church was deeply involved in, and affected by, the 1975–90 Civil War. This study seeks to understand the changing role of the patriarchs during this time, recognizing that their relative withdrawal from politics – declining to assert the temporal authority of their predecessors – does not equate to the marginalization of the church as a whole. Analysing the internal politics of the church as a microcosm of the community's struggle, the study examines in detail a threefold relationship between the patriarchate, the papacy, and the monastic orders.

Notes

¹ Transliteration of Arabic names follows convention, or in the case of personal names the individual's preference.

² There are now five separate claimants to this title; the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch is one of three recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.

³ Holding sui iuris status, in the phraseology of canon law.

⁴ Under pressure from the Vatican, as will be explained below.

⁵ Abbot Naaman denounced the affair (Saad, 2005: 441).

⁶ The traditional Maronite account of their perpetual catholic orthodoxy and communion is widely challenged – the refutation of which challenge has been a preoccupation of Maronite historians since Gabriel Ibn al-Qila'i in the fifteenth century, and continues to be the official line of the Maronite Church.

⁷ Ultramontane: supporting papal authority; literally ‘beyond the mountains’, i.e. the Alps.

⁸ He was a prime signatory of a letter objecting to the appointment of an apostolic prelate (Saad, 2005: 26).