Syriac Christianity

Syriac Christianity (Syriac: / Mšiḥāyuṯā Suryāyṯā) is the form of Eastern Christianity whose formative
theological writings and traditional liturgy are expressed in the Syriac language.[1][2][3]

The Syriac language is a variety of Middle Aramaic that in an early form emerged in Edessa, Upper Mesopotamia in the first century
AD.[4] It is closely related to the Jewish Palestinian Aramaic spoken by Jesus.[5] This relationship added to its prestige for
Christians.[6] The form of the language in use in Edessa predominated Christian writings and was accepted as the standard form, "a
convenient vehicle for the spread of Christianity wherever there was a substrate of spoken Aramaic".[1] The area where Syriac or
Aramaic was spoken, an area of contact and conflict between the Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire, extended from around
Antioch in the west to Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital (in Iraq), in the east[1] and comprised the whole or parts of present-
day Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.[2]

Contents
History
East-West theological contrast
East-West liturgical contrast
Further divisions
Names
Churches of Syriac traditions
See also
References
Citations
Sources
External links

History
Christianity began in the Middle East in Jerusalem among Aramaic-
speaking Jews. It soon spread to other Aramaic-speaking Semitic
peoples along the Mediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of
the Roman Empire and beyond that into the Parthian Empire and the
later Sasanian Empire, including Mesopotamia, which was
dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires.

The ruins of the Dura-Europos church, dating from the first half of
the 3rd century are concrete evidence of the presence of organized
Christian communities in the Aramaic-speaking area, far from
Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast, and there are traditions of the
preaching of Christianity in the region as early as the time of the
Apostles. Present-day Middle-Eastern Syriac Christian
denominations
However, "virtually every aspect of Syriac Christianity prior to the
fourth century remains obscure, and it is only then that one can feel
oneself on firmer ground."[7] The fourth century is marked by the many writings in Syriac of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, the
Demonstrations of the slightly older Aphrahat and the anonymous ascetical Book of Steps. Ephrem lived in the Roman Empire, close
[7]
to the border with the Sasanian Empire, to which the other two writers belonged.

Other items of early literature of Syriac Christianity are the Diatessaron of Tatian, the Curetonian Gospels and the Syriac Sinaiticus,
the Peshitta Bible and the Doctrine of Addai.

The bishops who took part in the First Council of Nicea (325), the first of the ecumenical councils, included twenty from Syria and
one from Persia, outside the Roman Empire.[8] Two councils held in the following century divided Syriac Christianity into two
opposing parties.

East-West theological contrast

In 431, the Council of Ephesus, which is reckoned as the third ecumenical council, condemned Nestorius and Nestorianism. It was
ignored by the East SyriacChurch of the East, which had been established in the Sasanian Empire as a distinct Church at the Council
of Seleucia-Ctesiphonin 410, and which at the Synod of Dadisho in 424 had declared the independence of its head, the Catholicos, in
relation to "western" (Roman Empire) Church authorities. Even in its modern form of Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient
Church of the East, it honours Nestorius as a teacher and saint.[9]

In 451, the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, condemned Monophysitism. This council was rejected by the
Oriental Orthodox Churches, one of which is the West Syriac Syriac Orthodox Church. The Patriarchate of Antioch was then divided
between a Chalcedonian and a non-Chalcedonian communion. The Chalcedonians were often labelled 'Melkites' (Emperor's Party),
while their opponents were labelled Monophysites (those who believe in the one rather than two natures of Christ) and Jacobites
(after Jacob Baradaeus). The Maronite Church found itself caught between the two (allegedly embracing Monothelitism), but claims
to have always remained faithful to theCatholic Church and in communion with thebishop of Rome, the Pope.[10]

The two Christological doctrinesthat were thus condemned are polar opposites.[11] Both the West Syriac Church and the East Syriac
maintained that their own doctrine was notheretical and accused the other of holding the opposing condemned doctrine.

Their fifth-century estrangement still persists. In 1999 theCoptic Orthodox Churchblocked admittance of the Assyrian Church of the
East to the Middle East Council of Churches, which has among its members the Chaldean Catholic Church and some Protestant
Churches,[12] [13] and demanded that it remove from its liturgy the mention of Diodore, Theodore, and Nestorius, whom it venerates
as "the Greek doctors".[14]

East-West liturgical contrast

The liturgies of the East and West Syriacs are quite distinct. The East Syriac Rite is
noted especially for its eucharistic Qurbana of Addai and Mari, in which the Words
of Institution are absent. West Syriacs use the Syro-Antiochian or West Syriac Rite,
which belongs to the family of liturgies known as the Antiochene Rite.

The Syriac Orthodox Church adds to the Trisagion ("Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us") the phrase "who were crucified for us". The Church of
Holy Qurbana of the Syriac Orthodox the East interpreted this as heretical.[15] Church of the East Patriarch Timothy I
Church celebration of the Divine declared: "In all countries of Babylon, of Persia, and of Assyria and in all countries
Liturgy of Saint James
of sunrise, that is to say among the Indians, the Chinese, the Tibetans, the Turks, and
in all provinces under the jurisdiction of this Patriarchal See there is no use of
'Crucified for us'.”[16]

Among the Saint Thomas Christians of India, the East Syriac Rite was the one originally used, but those who in the 17th century
accepted union with theSyriac Orthodox Churchadopted the rite of that church.
Further divisions
A schism in 1552 in the Church of the East gave
rise to a separate patriarchate, which at first
entered into union with the Catholic Church but
later formed the nucleus of the present-day
Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church
of the East, while at the end of the 18th century
most followers of the earlier patriarchate chose
union with Rome and, with some others, now
form the Chaldean Catholic Church.

In India, the majority of the Saint Thomas

Christians, who initially depended on the Church
of the East, maintained union with Rome in spite
of discomforts felt at Latinizations by their
Present-day divisions ofSaint Thomas Christians(also known as
Portuguese rulers and clergy, against which they Syrian Christians)
protested. They now form the Syro-Malabar
Catholic Church. A small group, which split from
these in the early 19th century, united at the beginning of the 20th century, under the name of Chaldean Syrian Church, with the
Assyrian Church of the East.

In India, all the Saint Thomas Christians are collectively called Syrian Christians.

Those who in 1553 broke with the Catholic Church as embodied in the Portuguese in India and soon chose union with the Syriac
Orthodox Church later split into various groups. The first separation was that of the Malabar Independent Syrian Church in 1772. In
1889 the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, adopted an Anglican-inspired theology, broke away and in turn those within it who adopted a
more pronounced Reformation attitude formed in 1961 the St. Thomas Evangelical Church. At the end of the 19th century and in the
course of the 20th, a division arose among those who remained united with the Syriac Orthodox Church who insisted on full
autocephaly and are now called the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Churchand those, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, who remain
faithful to the patriarch.

A reunion movement led in 1930 to the establishment of full communion between some of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox and the
Catholic Church. They now form theSyro-Malankara Catholic Church.

In the Middle East, the newly enthroned patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Michael III Jarweh, declared himself a
Catholic and, having received confirmation from Rome in 1783, became the head of the
Syriac Catholic Church.

In the 19th and 20th centuries many Syriac Christians, both East ad West, left the Middle East for other lands, creating a substantial
diaspora.[17]

Names
Indigenous Aramaic speakers of Mesopotamia Syriac:
( , Arabic: ‫ﺳﺮﻳﺎن‬ [18] adopted Christianity very early, perhaps already
ُ )
from the first century, and began to abandon their three-millennia-old traditional ancient Mesopotamian religion, although this
religion did not fully die out until as late as the tenth century. The kingdom of Osroene with the city of Edessa was absorbed into the
Roman Empire in 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state and then, after a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, was
incorporated as a simpleRoman province in 214.[19][20]

In 431 the Council of Ephesus declared Nestorianism a heresy. Nestorians, persecuted in the Byzantine Empire, sought refuge in the
parts of Mesopotamia that were part of the Sasanian Empire. This encouraged acceptance of Nestorian doctrine by the Persian
Church of the East, which spread Christianity outside Persia, to India, China, Tibet and Mongolia, expanding the range of this eastern
 branch of Syriac Christianity.
The western branch, the
Jacobite Church, appeared
after the Council of
Chalcedon's condemnation of
Monophysitism in 451.[21]

Celebration at a Syriac Orthodox

monastery in Mosul, Ottoman Syria Churches of East Syriac (Church of the East)
metropolitan sees in the Far East in the
(now Iraq), early 20th century
Syriac 9th to 13th centuries

traditions
West Syriac Rite and non-Chalcedonian tradition

The Syriac Orthodox Church(Non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East)

The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church; (Non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox Church of India within the
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate)
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church(Autocephalous; Non-ChalcedonianOriental Orthodox Church of India)
with her part the Brahmavar (Goan) Orthodox Church
The West Syriac Rite Churches within the Catholic Church

The Eastern Catholic Syriac Catholic Church.

The Eastern Catholic Maronite Church.
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala, India.
The Malankara Marthoma Syrian Church. (Mar Thoma Church), an Eastern Oriental church based inKerala,
India. Mar Thoma church is in communion with theAnglican Church.
The Malabar Independent Syrian Church(Thozhiyur church), an independent church based inKerala, India.
East Syriac Rite and non-Ephesian tradition

Church of the East, founded in the Sasanian Empire, became known as the Nestorian Church, once widespread
throughout Asia

The Assyrian Church of the East, traditionalist continuation of the Church of the East that took this name in
1976

The Chaldean Syrian Churchan archbishopric in India of the Assyrian Church of the East
The Ancient Church of the East, split from the Assyrian Church of the East in the 1960s
The East Syriac Rite Churches within the Catholic Church

The Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church that emerged from the Church of the East
following splits in 1552, 1667/1668 and 1779.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church based in Kerala, India

East Syriac Christians were involved in the mission toIndia, and many of the present Churches in India are in communion with either
East or West Syriac Churches. These Indian Christians are known asSaint Thomas Christians.

In modern times, various Evangelical denominations sent representatives among the Syriac peoples. As a result, several Evangelical
groups have been established, particularly the Assyrian Pentecostal Church (mostly in America, Iran, and Iraq) from East Syriac
peoples, and the Aramean Free Church (mostly in Germany, Sweden, America and Syria) from West Syriac peoples. Because of their
Protestant theology these are not normally classified asEastern Churches or Syriac Christianity.

See also
Assyrian Church of the East
Syriac Orthodox Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
Ancient Church of the East
 Terms for Syriac Christians
West Syriac Rite
East Syriac Rite
Saint Thomas Christians
Saint Thomas Christian denominations

References

Citations
1. Lucas van Rompay, "The East: Syria and Mesopotamia" in Susan Ashbrook Harvey, David G. Hunter (editors),The
Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies(Oxford University Press 2008), p. 366(https://books.google.com/book
s?id=NgPI7Jt1HewC&pg=PA367&lpg=PA366&focus=viewport&dq=Syriac+Christianity#v= onepage&q=Syriac%20Ch
ristianity&f=false)
2. Heleen Murre-van der Berg, "Syriac Christianity" in Ken Parry (editor),The Blackwell Companion to Eastern
Christianity (John Wiley & Sons 2010), p. 249(https://books.google.com/books?id=fWp9JA3aBvcC&pg=P A249&dq=
Syriac+Christianity&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjR7tO_lO_eAhWDsKQKHSIzBuoQ6AEITjAI#v=onepage&q=Syria
c%20Christianity&f=false)
3. Robert A. Kitchen, "The Syriac Tradition" in Augustine Casiday, The Orthodox Christian World(Routledge 2012), p.
66 (https://books.google.com/books?id=IcDeFiZgxK0C&pg=P A66&dq=Syriac+Christianity&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahU
KEwjM_5Ghoe_eAhWNNOwKHbxGCb44FBDoAQg3MAM#v=onepage&q=Syriac%20Christianity&f=false)
4. Cameron, Averil; Garnsey, Peter (1998). The Cambridge Ancient History(https://books.google.nl/books?id=zdoUNiv
K_hsC&pg=PA708). 13. p. 708. ISBN 9780521302005.
5. Allen C. Myers, ed (1987). "Aramaic". The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary . Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans. p. 72. ISBN 0-8028-2402-1. "It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Palestine
in the first century A.D. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of
Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73)."
6. Robert L. Montgomery, The Lopsided Spread of Christianity: T
oward an Understanding of the Diffusion of Religions
(Greenwood Publishing Group 2002), p. 27(https://books.google.com/books?id=RkeOL TrPDI0C&pg=PA27&dq=lops
ided+syriac+prestige&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrqKr_tu_eAhVCjqQKHcFbArAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=lopsi
ded%20syriac%20prestige&f=false)
7. Sebastian P. Brock, "Ephrem and the Syriac Tradition" in Frances Young, Lewis Ayres, Andrew Louth (editors),The
Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature(Cambridge University Press 2004), Volume 1, p. 362 (https://books.
google.com/books?id=aepYpUVf9OkC&pg=PA362&dq=Syriac+Christianity&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQuN-no-_e
AhWM3KQKHXVsA2A4KBDoAQhPMAg#v=onepage&q=Syriac%20Christianity&f=false)
8. Montgomery (2002), pp. 27, 57
9. Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler, The Church of the East: A concise history(Routledge 2003), pp. 5, 30(htt
p://www.peshitta.org/pdf/CoEHistory.pdf)
10. Moosa, Matti. The Maronites in history. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1986
11. Brian Albert Gerrish, Faith: Dogmatics in Outline(Presbyterian Publishing Corp 2015), p. 152(https://books.google.c
om/books?id=xHJoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA152&dq=polar+opposite+Nestorianism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJ-ruq9
O_eAhWLNOwKHSFCD2AQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=polar%20opposite%20Nestorianism&f=false)
12. Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler, The Church of the East: A concise history(Routledge 2003), pp. 151−152(h
ttp://www.peshitta.org/pdf/CoEHistory.pdf)
13. Aidan Nichols, Rome and the Eastern Churches: A Study in Schism(Ignatius Press 2010), footnote 98(https://book
s.google.com/books?id=74tHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT304&lpg=PT304&dq=%22middle+east+council+of+churches%22
+%22church+of+the+east%22+shenouda&source=bl&ots=98HUZHd9Eo&sig=wOqQbxGCQgn5ho6uegWdWdkvhuo
&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOs4-ahPDeAhXR_aQKHUMCAdY4ChDoA TAIegQIABAB#v=onepage&q=%22middl
e%20east%20council%20of%20churches%22%20%22church%20of%20the%20east%22%20shenouda&f=false)
14. Metropolitan Bishoy, "The Assyrian Churches" (http://metropolitan-bishoy.org/files/ecumenieng/Assyrian.doc)
15. Marijke Metselaar-Jongens,Defining Christ: The Church of the East and Nascent Islam(Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam 2016), p. 79(https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/19638871/complete+dissertation.pdf)
16. B.M. Thomas, "The St Thomas Christians and their East Syrian Connection: Sources and conclusions" (Federated
Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture, Kottayam 2015), p. 3(https://www.academia.edu/19353088/THE_ST.T
HOMAS_CHRISTIANS_AND_THEIR_EAST_SYRIAN_CONNECTION)
17. Chaillot, Christine. "The Syrian Orthodox Church Of Antioch And All The East. Geneva: Inter-Orthodox Dialogue
1998
18. Donabed, Sargon (2015).Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the wentieth
T Century (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=bwLdCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT18) . Edinburgh University Press. p. 18.ISBN 978-0-7486-8605-6.
19. Steven K. Ross, Roman Edessa: Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114 - 242 C.E.
(Routledge c2000), p. 49(https://books.google.com/books?id=xayEAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_g
e_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)
20. Adrian Fortescue, The Lesser Eastern Churches(Catholic Truth Society 1913), p. 23(https://books.google.com/book
s?id=TKbuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23&dq=Fortescue+suzerainty+Edessa&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMhbnm5PfeAh
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Brock, Sebastian P. (1996). Syriac Studies: A Classified Bibliography
, 1960-1990. Kaslik: Parole de l'Orient.
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Institute.
Brock, Sebastian P. (2006). Fire from Heaven: Studies in Syriac Theology and Liturgy
. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Chabot, Jean-Baptiste (1902). Synodicon orientale ou recueil de synodes nestoriens(PDF). Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale.
Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450–680 A.D.The Church in historyb.2.
Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
Seleznyov, Nikolai N. (2010). "Nestorius of Constantinople: Condemnation, Suppression, eVneration: With special
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External links
Jacobite Syrian Church
(in French) – Translation into EnglishSyriac Christianity on WikiSyr
(in French) – Translation into EnglishSyriac Catholic Circle
Qambel Maran- Syriac chants from South India- a review and liturgical music tradition of Syriac Christians revisited
Traditions and rituals among the Syrian Christians of Kerala
Audio Aramaic-Bible
The Center for the Study of Christianity: A Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity

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