[8][9] This move was done without approval of the Byzantine emperor Justinian II and in retaliation for what he viewed as an act against his authority, in the year 694, he sent troops to pillage St. Maron’s monastery in Apamea which resulted in the death of 500 monks.

[8][10] The Byzantine troops, led by generals Maurikios and Markianos, were then sent to Lebanon to capture John Maron.

According to Ibn Asakir’s History of Damascus the Arab caliph Omar bin Abdul Aziz was buried in the Maronite Church of Saint Simeon Stylites.

[13][16] Lebanese researcher Chedid al-Azar writes: Although we are not trying to deal in warfare, a unique battle we shall mention for the impact it has left, this is the battle of south East Amyun, in the year 694, precipitated by mountain dwellers of Maronite Christian faith, as a revenge against the army of Justinian II of Byzantium, for the destruction of a monastery sheltering 350, monks adherents of Marūn, in northern Syria, near Apamea (Afamiyaħ), 350 km (217 mi) from Amyun.

The battle was fought by a group of Marūn adherents who had sought refuge formerly in the mountains facing Amyun, from the east and made a surprise attack, under the leadership of Yuhanna Marūn, against a contingent of the Byzantine army, which was defeated and the Marūn adherents returned to their mountainous sites, to stay in a state of isolation, which marked and stamped the history of the Maronites as dwellers of the mountains of Lebanon, by isolationism, that persisted among the mountainous adherents up to our present days and had touched their performances and deliberations in modern Lebanon.This Byzantine Empire–related article is a stub.