Catholic rite in the Middle and Near-East

The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church of the West Syriac Antiochene tradition. It has remained in communion with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church since its inception in the fourth century. The Church is named after St. Maron, a Syrian hermit. Unlike other Syriac, Coptic, and Armenian churches that broke from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Maronites remained loyal to Catholicism. Maronite liturgy includes prayers in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. As one of 22 autonomous Catholic churches, it has its own hierarchy, led by a patriarch, with dioceses called eparchies.