Languages of prayer, languages of life

Where it stands today: Liturgical, and still a mother tongue in a few places

Aramaic was the language of Jesus and of Palestine in his time. The dialect of Edessa grew into a major literary language — Syriac — the language of the Peshitta translation and of a vast theological, medical and philosophical library, and the channel through which much Greek learning reached Arabic.

Where it stands today: Liturgical; no longer an everyday spoken language

Coptic is the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language, a direct link to the speech of the pharaohs. It gave way to Arabic after the conquest and died out of daily use in later centuries, but remains the language of prayer and chant in the Coptic Church to this day.

Where it stands today: Liturgical, alongside Arabic

The language of the New Testament, of the great councils and of patristic theology. It was the language of the cities and administration of the Roman East, and remains the language of the Byzantine liturgy — though Arabic is now the main language of worship in the sees of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.

Where it stands today: Liturgical, and a living community and school language

An alphabet devised by Mesrop Mashtots around 405 in order to translate the Bible, which made Armenian a complete ecclesiastical and literary language. Its presence in the region is ancient in Jerusalem, and expanded greatly after 1915 in Lebanon and Syria.

Where it stands today: The mother tongue and language of worship for most Christians in the region

From the ninth century Christians began writing their theology in Arabic, building a large “Christian Arabic” library. Today Arabic is the mother tongue and the liturgical language of most Christians in the region, and Arab Christians played a founding role in the Arab renaissance, in journalism and in modern lexicography.