The martyrdom of the Patriarch of Antioch in 602 AD[
citation needed] left the Maronites without a leader, a situation which continued because of the final and most devastating
ByzantineSassanid War of 602628. In 687 AD, the Emperor
Justinian II agreed to evacuate many thousands of Maronites from Lebanon and settle them elsewhere. The chaos and utter depression which followed led the Maronites to elect their first Patriarch,
John Maroun that year. This however was seen as a usurpation by the Orthodox churches. Thus, at a time when Islam was rising on the borders of the
Byzantine Empire and a united front was necessary to keep out the Islamic infiltration, the Maronites were focused on a struggle to retain their independence against imperial power. This situation was mirrored in other Christian communities in the Byzantine Empire and helped facilitate the Muslim conquest of the most of Eastern
Christendom by the end of the century.