Syria
سوريا
Antioch, Damascus and the language of Christ
It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians, and on the road to Damascus that Paul was converted. Syria preserves the oldest layers of Eastern Christianity, and villages where Aramaic, the language of Christ, is still spoken.
Christian population
About 300,000–500,000 today
Estimates; there were around 1.5 million (some 10% of the population) before 2011, a number much reduced by war and emigration.
Languages of liturgy and life
Syriac and Aramaic in the liturgy; Western Aramaic is still an everyday language in Maaloula and nearby villages, alongside Arabic, Greek and Armenian.
Churches and denominations
Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch
بطريركية أنطاكية للروم الأرثوذكس
The largest denomination in Syria, with its see in Damascus.
Syriac Orthodox Church
السريان الأرثوذكس
An unbroken Syriac-Aramaic tradition, present in Aleppo, the Jazira and Homs.
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
الروم الكاثوليك (الملكيون)
A patriarchal see in Damascus.
Armenian Apostolic Church
الأرمن الأرثوذكس
Aleppo and Kessab; among the largest Armenian communities in the Levant before the war.
Syriac Catholic, Maronite, Chaldean and Assyrian
السريان الكاثوليك والموارنة والكلدان والآشوريون
Smaller communities spread between Damascus, Aleppo and the Jazira.
Historical milestones
c. 40 AD
Antioch becomes a centre of mission, and there “the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26).
3rd century
The house church at Dura-Europos, among the oldest churches ever excavated, containing the earliest decorated baptistery.
4th–5th century
The Syriac Peshitta translation, and the School of Edessa flourishing as a centre of theology and science.
451
The Council of Chalcedon and the division that distinguished the Syriac Orthodox Church.
c. 490
The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is built, one of the largest structures of the Byzantine church.
636
The Muslim conquest; Damascus remains a patriarchal see to this day.
2011 onwards
War and emigration, and damage to sites such as Maaloula, Deir Mar Elian and the old churches of Aleppo.
Places and heritage sites
Maaloula
معلولا
Rural Damascus
One of the few villages where Aramaic is still spoken; home to the monasteries of Mar Sarkis and Mar Taqla.
Church of St. Simeon Stylites
قلعة سمعان
North of Aleppo
Part of the “Dead Cities” inscribed by UNESCO.
Deir Mar Musa
دير مار موسى الحبشي
Nabk
Rare wall paintings from the eleventh century.
Chapel of St. Ananias
كنيسة القديس حنانيا
Damascus, Bab Kisan
Associated with Paul's stay in Damascus after his conversion.
Saydnaya
صيدنايا
Rural Damascus
The monastery of Our Lady of Saydnaya, one of the oldest Christian pilgrimage destinations in the East.
On the map
Related articles
- Sayfo: the Syriac genocide of 1915“Sayfo” means the sword in Syriac, and is the name by which Syriac communities know what befell them in and after 1915, alongside the Armenian genocide.
- From the desert to the world: the beginning of monasticismIn the Egyptian desert of the third century a way of life began that would reshape all of Christianity, spreading from there to Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, and on into Europe.
- The translators of Baghdad: how philosophy crossed into ArabicBetween the eighth and tenth centuries, Syriac scholars carried Greek medicine and philosophy into Arabic, often by way of Syriac — a decisive role in the flowering of the sciences in the Islamic world.
References
General further reading, not citations to specific pages.
Further reading
- Sebastian P. Brock. An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Gorgias Press, 2006
- Habib Badr, Suad Abou el-Rouss Slim, Joseph Abou Nohra (eds.). Christianity: A History in the Middle East. Middle East Council of Churches, 2005
- Jean-Pierre Valognes. Vie et mort des chrétiens d'Orient. Fayard, 1994
- Anthony O'Mahony and Emma Loosley (eds.). Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East. Routledge, 2010
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNESCO World Heritage List. whc.unesco.org
- Pew Research Center. Religious composition reports for the Middle East and North Africa. www.pewresearch.org