The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1492 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Marks of perfection, thirty-two
(of a great man or Buddha):
Maronites
.
Uniat
Syrian
Christian body whose homeland is Lebanon. Maronite scholars trace their origin to a monastery founded by the disciples of a 4th-cent. Syrian
anchorite
, called Maro. It seems certain, however, that they became a separate body only in the 7th cent., with their adoption of
Monothelite
doctrines and subsequent excommunication in 680. Following the Arab conquest, their monastery on Mount Lebanon was destroyed. They formally united with Rome at the time of the Crusades (1182), and since then have maintained relations with the West.
As a Uniat body they have their own liturgy (mostly Syriac) and their own hierarchy of patriarch and ten bishops. Outside Lebanon and Syria there are also churches in Cyprus, Egypt, and N. and S. America.
Maror
(Heb., ‘bitter herb’). The bitter herb the Jews eat at the
Passover
festival. According to Exodus 12. 8, the Israelites were commanded to eat maror with unleavened bread (
mazzah
) and the Passover offering, and it is one of the
foods
displayed and eaten at the
seder
table.
Mar-pa
(Mar-pa Chos kyi blo gros)
(
c.
1012–
c.
1098).
Tibetan
yogi
, who journeyed three times to India and returned with the teachings of
mah
mudr
and
N
ro Chos Drug
. He taught
Milarepa
, and was the key link in the transmission lineage of
Kagyupa
.

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