Feast Day July 31
In 517 AD, 350 monks from Beit Maroun were martyred whilst travelling to Saint Simon Stylite Monastery. They were massacred for upholding the teachings of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, which found that the Monophysites’ recognition of only one human-divine nature of Christ was heretical.
The Maronites were persecuted by high-ranking clerics of Antioch, including the Patriarchs Severus and Peter, who opposed the Ecumenical Council. The Maronite Church has always been in union with Rome and its teachings, particularly on the two natures of Christ, before and after the Council.
The opening prayer of the Liturgy of the 350 martyrs states, “their death witnessed to their faith in the great mystery of Your incarnation, which revealed that Your two perfect natures, divine and human, were united in Your one divine person.”
We learn of their martyrdom from a detailed letter written to Pope Hormisdas by the superior of Beit Maroun and superiors of neighbouring monasteries. Pope Hormisdas replied in 518 AD, praising the martyrs for their faith and encouraging them.
O Lord, You are the strength of the combatants and the help of martyrs. In Your divine wisdom You chose three hundred and fifty monks, the disciples of Saint Maroun, to testify, by the shedding of their blood, that You are one person in two natures, human and divine.
Strengthen us, so that we will always keep the faith of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, with loyalty and courage, so that we may always glorify You, Your Father, and Your Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Adapted from the First Prayer of Evening Prayers on the Feast of the Three Hundred and Fifty Martyrs.