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Maronites (, ) are members of one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maroun in the early 5th century. The first Maronite patriarch, John Maron, was appointed in the late 7th century. Today, they are one of the principal religious groups in Lebanon.Some Maronites were originally Aramaic-speaking people who Arabized during the 9th century. Like most Lebanese people, their ethnic background is a mix of Phoenician, Assyrian, Greek, Israelite, Roman, Ghassanids (Arab), European Crusaders, Turks, and French.