Syriac Orthodox Christians (Middle East)

Syriac Orthodox Christians
Suryoye
Regions with significant populations
Middle East 150,000–200,000
 Syria 82,000 (mid-1970s)
 Turkey 15–20,000 (2008)
 Iraq 15–20,000 (1991)
 Lebanon few thousand (1987)
 Israel 200–1,500
Diaspora 100,000+
 Germany 37–55,000 (2005)
 United States 50,000 (2010)
 Sweden 30–40,000 (2016)
Languages
Neo-Aramaic (incl. Turoyo), Arabic, Turkish
Religion
Syriac Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Other Syriac Christians (especially Syriac Catholics)

The Syriac Orthodox Christians, known simply as Syriacs (Suryoye), is the ethno-religious[1] community adhering to the West Syrian Rite Syriac Orthodox Church in the Middle East, numbering between 150,000 and 200,000 people according to estimations.

The community formed and developed in the Near East in the Middle Ages. They speak Neo-Aramaic (their original and liturgical language) and Arabic. The traditional community of Syriac Orthodox Christians is Tur Abdin, regarded the homeland, in southeastern Turkey, from where many people fled the Ottoman government-organized genocide (1914–18) to Syria and Lebanon, and Mosul in northern Iraq. Significant diaspora communities exist in Western Europe and North America.

The Syriac Orthodox community is regarded a subgroup of Syriac Christians, and thus may also be regarded that of the Assyrian people, although the latter identification is a matter of debate.

Identity

There is an ongoing debate over the identification of the people. Historically identified as "Assyrians", the community tends to identify as "Syrian" or "Syriac" (Sūryōyē), or "Aramean" (Oromoye).[2] They have also been called "Jacobites", after Bishop Jacob Baradaeus (d. 578) of Edessa, and "Monophysites" (owing to the division of Syriac Church bodies).[3] The identification as "Assyrians" means that they share identity with non-Orthodox Syriacs (such as Syriac Catholics and Chaldeans), while the "Aramean" identity almost solely represents the Syriac Orthodox.[4]

The ethnic identification of Syriac Orthodox as "Assyrians" is contested by the community itself.[5] In the diaspora, the Syriac Orthodox identify with the term Suryoye.[6] In Arabic and Kurdish, they were identified as Suryani, and in Turkish as Süryaniler.[6] In Tur Abdin (Turkey), the community does not consider converts to Protestantism (Prut) and Catholicism (Katholik, Kaldoye) as Suryoye, thus, in Tur Abdin the identification as Syriac only applies to the Syriac Orthodox, who share a collective identity and consciousness.[7]

In the 19th century, the various Syriac denominations did not view themselves as part of one group.[8] The Syriac Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire was for long not recognized as its own millet (legal entity), but part of the Armenian millet (under the Armenian Patriarch).[9] Then, during the Tanzimat reforms (1839–78), the Syriac Orthodox were granted independent status with the recognition of their own millet in 1873.[10] Late 19th- and early 20th-century Syriac Orthodox intellectuals predominantly used the "Assyrian" identification.[11] Despite this "Assyrian" intellectual trend, the identity of Syriac Orthodoxy in the Ottoman Empire in the 1910s was principally religious and linguistic.[12]

A secular "Assyrianism", as an ethnic category, was then reduced by creating a separate "Aramean" or "Syrian" (or "Syriac") identity by the Syriac Orthodox Church.[13] Overall, the Syriac Orthodox of Turkey, Syria and to a lesser degree Iraq today identify as Aramean.[14] The Syriac Orthodox community is currently divided over their common ancestry and name, also outside the Middle East.[15] Riots and debates are recorded in Sweden among Syriacs from mainly southeastern Turkey, and in the Netherlands (towns such as Enschede and Hengelo), where many Syriac Orthodox refugees have settled.[15]

The Syriac Orthodox identity was not only religious, although this was dominant, but also included cultural traditions of the pagan Assyrian and Aramean kingdoms.[16] Syriac Orthodox traditions crystallized into ethnogenesis through their invention of an own tradition, of their stories and customs, the Syriac Orthodox being aware of their core identity already by the 12th century.[16]

History

Middle Ages

The 8th-century hagiography Life of Jacob [Baradaeus] evidents a definite social and religious differention between the Chalcedonians and Miaphysites (Syriac Orthodox).[17] By the time of the longer hagiography on Jacob Baradaeus, he had become the hero of the "Jacobite" Syriac Orthodox Church; the followers eventually wore his name.[18] The longer hagiography shows that the Syriac Orthodox (called "Jacobites" in the work, suryoye yaquboye) self-identified with Jacob's story more than those of other saints.[19] Coptic patriarch Al-Muqaffa (ca. 897), of Miaphysite (Syriac Orthodox) ancestry, speaks of Jacobite origins, on the veneration of Jacob Baradaeus; he explained that the Chalcedonian "Melkites" were labelled as such because the Miaphysite Jacobites never traded their Orthodoxy to win the favour of the king as the Melkites had done (malko is derived from "king, ruler").[20]

It has been assumed that in the Principality of Antioch (1098–1268), the Syriac Orthodox made up the civilian population, their elite consisting of clergy; they did not participate in the military nor administration.[21] It seems that in Antioch itself, after the 11th-century persecutions, the Syriac Orthodox population was almost extinguished.[21] Only one Jacobite church is attested in Antioch in the first half of the 12th century, while a second and third are attested in the second half of the century, perhaps due to refugee influx.[21] Dorothea Weltecke thus concludes that the Syriac Orthodox populace was very low in this period in Antioch and its surroundings.[21] In Adana, on the other hand, an anonymous 1137 report speaks of the entire population consisting of Syriac Orthodox.[21] In the 12th century several Syriac Orthodox patriarchs visited Antioch and some established temporary residences.[22] In the 13th century the Syriac Orthodox hierarchy in Antioch was prepared to accept Latin supervision, however, for the whole Church, this was of little consequence.[22]

The Syriac Orthodox were the most numerous non-Latin sect in Jerusalem and Bethlehem prior to 1187.[23]

16th century

Moses of Mardin (fl. 1549–d. 1592) was a diplomat of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Rome in the 16th century.[24]

17th century

By the early 1660s, 75% of the 5,000 Syriac Orthodox of Aleppo had converted to Catholicism following the arrival of Friar missionaries.[25] The Catholic missionaries had sought to place a Catholic patriarch among the Jacobites, and consecrated Andrew Akhijan as the patriarch of the newly founded Syriac Catholic Church.[25] The Propaganda Fide and foreign diplomats pushed for Akhijan to be recognized as the Jacobite patriarch, and the Porte then consented, and warned the Syriac Orthodox that they would be considered an enemy if they did not recognize him.[26] Despite the warning and gifts to priests, frequent conflicts and violent arguments continued between the Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs.[26]

19th century

Syriac Orthodox women from Mardin, Turkey.

In the 19th century, the various Syriac denominations did not view themselves as part of one group.[8] During the Tanzimat reforms (1839–78), the Syriac Orthodox were granted independent status with the recognition of their own millet in 1873.[10]

The 1895–96 massacres in Turkey affected the Armenian and Syriac Orthodox communities; an estimated 105,000 Christians were killed.[27] By the end of the 19th century, 200,000 Syriac Orthodox Christians remained in the Middle East, most concentrated around Deir el-Zaferan, the Patriarchal seat.[28]

Diyarbakır province

In 1870, there were 22 Syriac Orthodox settlements in the vicinity of Diyarbakır.[29] In the 1870–71 Diyarbakır salnames, there were 1,434 Orthodox Syriacs in that city.[30] In the 1881/82–93 census, the kaza of Diyarbakır had 4,046 "monophysites" (Syriac Orthodox), while the sancak of Diyarbakır had 5,909 Syriac Orthodox.[31] The results of these records shows that the Syriac Orthodox were rural, as opposed to the Catholics who were less but more urbanized.[32] The 1894–95 salname of Diyarbakır records 4,096 Syriac Orthodox in the kaza.[32] In the 1897–98 salname the vilayet (province) of Diyarbakır had 20,082 Syriac Orthodox, out of 84,906 non-Muslims.[32]

20th century

Syriac Orthodox Christian celebration in Mosul, Iraq.

Genocide (1914–18)

Further information: Assyrian genocide

The Ottoman authorities looted, killed and deported Orthodox Syriacs.[33] In 1915–16, the number of Orthodox Syriacs in the Diyarbakır province was reduced by 72%, in the Mardin province by 58%.[34]

Inter-war period

In 1924, the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church was transferred to Homs in Syria.[35] This happened after Kemal Atatürk expelled the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, who took the library of Deir el-Zaferan and settled in Damascus.[28] The Syriac Orthodox villages in Tur Abdin suffered from the 1925–26 Kurdish rebellions; massive flight to Lebanon, northern Iraq and especially Syria ensued.[36]

1945–present

In 1959, the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church was transferred to Damascus in Syria.[35]

In the mid-1970s, it was estimated that 82,000 Syriac Orthodox lived in Syria.[37]

In 1977, the number of Syriac Orthodox followers in diaspora dioceses were: 9,700 in the Diocese of Middle Europe; 10,750 in the Diocese of Sweden and surrounding countries.[38]

By 1990, there were 4,000 Syriac Orthodox in Tur Abdin.[28]

After the Turkish–PKK ceasefire in 1999, conditions to Christians in Turkey have improved.[35]

Population

Estimations of the total number of Syriac Orthodox Christians in the Middle East include: 150–200,000 (2002)[39] and 146,300 (2008).[40] In the diaspora, there are significant communities in Western Europe and North America, most notably in Sweden, Germany and the United States. A Syriac migration wave out of Turkey was prompted by the Turkey-PKK conflict (1970s–90s). Syriac Orthodox refugees from Syria and Iraq has recently increased the number of Syriacs in Turkey and the diaspora.

Turkey

Syriac villages and monasteries in Tur Abdin.

The Tur Abdin region is a traditional stronghold of Orthodox Syriacs.[41] The community identifies as Sūryōyō, historically as Sūrōyō or Sūrōyē (until 20 years ago).[42] The identity characteristics defining the Tur Abdin Syriacs is the Neo-Aramaic language and the Syriac Orthodox Church, and their religious identity correlates to an ethnic identity. Intermarriage between Syriacs and other Christian groups (Armenians and Greeks) is very rare.[43] It is estimated that there are 15–20,000 Syriac Orthodox in Turkey.[44] 2,400 still live in Tur Abdin.[28] The community speaks Syriac (Suryani) in Tur Abdin, and Arabic, due to historical reasons, in Mardin.[45]

Syria

The Syriac Orthodox is one of eight Christian denominations in the country. The community of Syriac Orthodox are concentrated in Hassake and Qamishli in the Jazira region of Syria (the northeast).[46] It originated from the 1915 massacres, when many people fled Turkey.[46] In the mid-1970s it was estimated that 82,000 Syriac Orthodox lived in the country.[37] The community has been Arabized. Syriac Orthodox settlements include Al-Qamishli, Fairouzeh, Al-Hafar,[47] Kafr Ram,[48] Maskanah, Al-Qaryatayn, Sadad[49] and Zaidal. The community increased with an influx of Iraqi refugees after the 2003 invasion.[46] The shelling of Homs in 2012 affected the city, which was until then home to a large Christian community.[46]

Iraq

An estimated 15–20,000 Syriac Orthodox Christians lived in northern Iraq in 1991.[50]

Lebanon

Syriac Orthodox Christians are one of several Christian minority groups in Lebanon. A Jacobite community settled in Lebanon among the Maronites after Mongol invasions in the Late Middle Ages, however, this community was either dispersed or absorbed by the Maronites.[51] Assemani (1687–1768) noted that many Maronite families were of Jacobite origin.[51] A Jacobite community was present in Tripoli in the 17th century.[51] In 1944 it was estimated that 3,753 Syriac Orthodox lived in Lebanon.[52] As of 1987 there were only a few thousands Syriac Orthodox in Lebanon.[53]

Diaspora

Memorial to the Syriac genocide outside a Syriac Orthodox church in Sweden.

Language

Main article: Neo-Aramaic languages

The Syriac language, of the Semitic Aramaic family, is the literary language of the Syriac Orthodox Church. In Tur Abdin, Turoyo is the Neo-Aramaic dialect spoken by the Syriac Orthodox community. The Turoyo-speaking population prior to the 1915 genocide largely adhered to the Syriac Orthodox Church.[60] In 1970 it was estimated that there were 20,000 Turoyo-speakers still living in the area, however, they gradually migrated to Western Europe and elsewhere in the world.[60] The Turoyo-speaking diaspora is now estimated at 40,000.[60] Today only hundreds of native speakers remain in Tur Abdin.[60]

The Jacobites adopted Arabic early on; Arabic had become the dominant language of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt by the 11th century.[61] Syriac Orthodox clergy wrote in Arabic using Garshūni, a Syriac script, as early as the 15th century.[61] They only later adopted the Arabic script.[61] An English missionary in the 1840s noted that the Arabic speech of the Syriacs was intermixed with Syriac vocabulary.[61] They chose Arabic and Muslim-sounding names, while women had Biblical names.[61]

The community speaks Arabic (Mesopotamian and Levantine) and Neo-Aramaic in Arabic countries, and Turkish, Arabic and Neo-Aramaic in Turkey.

Culture

Television

Organizations

Notable people

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Diaspora

See also

References

  1. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009; Jongerden & Verheij 2012, p. 223; Romeny 2012; Romeny 2005
  2. ↑ Brock & Taylor 2001, p. 123.
  3. ↑ Michael Lapidge (2 November 2006). Archbishop Theodore: Commemorative Studies on His Life and Influence. Cambridge University Press. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-0-521-03210-0.
  4. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009.
  5. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009, p. 90.
  6. 1 2 Hämmerli & Mayer 2016, "Suryoye as a Social Category in the Homeland"
  7. ↑ Hämmerli & Mayer 2016.
  8. 1 2 Jongerden & Verheij 2012, p. 21.
  9. ↑ Taylor 2014, p. 84.
  10. 1 2 Taylor 2014, p. 87.
  11. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009, p. 77.
  12. ↑ Taylor 2014, p. 201; Romeny 2005
  13. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009, p. 80.
  14. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009, p. 72.
  15. 1 2 Romeny 2010, p. 51.
  16. 1 2 Romeny 2012, p. 195.
  17. ↑ Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 131.
  18. ↑ Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 103, 131.
  19. ↑ Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 103, 106.
  20. ↑ Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 136.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 Ciggaar & Metcalf 2006, p. 108.
  22. 1 2 Ciggaar & Metcalf 2006, p. 123.
  23. ↑ Benjamin Arbel (15 April 2013). Intercultural Contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean: Studies in Honour of David Jacoby. Routledge. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-1-135-78195-8.
  24. ↑ Dale A. Johnson. Living as a Syriac Palimpsest. Lulu.com. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-0-557-40255-7.
  25. 1 2 Joseph 1983, p. 40.
  26. 1 2 Joseph 1983, p. 41.
  27. ↑ Peter C. Phan (21 January 2011). Christianities in Asia. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 251–. ISBN 978-1-4443-9260-9.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Tozman & Tyndall 2012, p. 9.
  29. ↑ Jongerden & Verheij 2012, p. 225.
  30. ↑ Jongerden & Verheij 2012, p. 222.
  31. ↑ Jongerden & Verheij 2012, pp. 222–223.
  32. 1 2 3 Jongerden & Verheij 2012, p. 223.
  33. ↑ Kevorkian 2011.
  34. ↑ Gaunt, David. Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2006, pp. 433–436
  35. 1 2 3 Parry 2010, p. 259.
  36. ↑ Michael Angold (17 August 2006). The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 5, Eastern Christianity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 513–. ISBN 978-0-521-81113-2.
  37. 1 2 Joseph 1983, p. 110.
  38. ↑ Sobornost. 28–30. 2006. p. 21.
  39. ↑ Avraham Sela (5 September 2002). Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East: Revised and Updated Edition. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-8264-1413-7.
  40. ↑ Jos M. Strengholt (2008). Gospel in the Air: 50 Years of Christian Witness Through Radio in the Arab World. Boekencentrum. p. 147. ISBN 978-90-239-2280-3. In the whole Arab World, but mostly in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, there are an estimated 146,300 Syriac-Orthodox.
  41. ↑ Aphram I. Barsoum; Ighnāṭyūs Afrām I (Patriarch of Antioch) (2008). The History of Tur Abdin. Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-715-5.
  42. ↑ Donabed & Mako 2009, p. 88.
  43. ↑ Roy, Olivier (2014). Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19-932802-4.
  44. ↑ D. Jung; Catharina Raudvere (29 September 2008). Religion, Politics, and Turkey's EU Accession. Springer. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-0-230-61540-3.
  45. ↑ Diana Darke (1 May 2014). Eastern Turkey. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 280–. ISBN 978-1-84162-490-7.
  46. 1 2 3 4 Lucian N. Leustean (30 May 2014). Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. pp. 547–. ISBN 978-1-317-81866-3.
  47. ↑ Batatu, Hanna (1999). Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics. Princeton University Press. pp. 14, 356. ISBN 0691002541.
  48. ↑ Said, H. (2015-06-15). "Kafram: An Ancient Syriac Town Famous for Gorgeous Nature Charms". Syrian Arab News Agency. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  49. ↑ Mounes, Maher Al (2015-12-24). "Fearful Christmas for Syrian Christian town threatened by IS". Agence France-Presse. Yahoo News. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  50. ↑ Farida Abu-Haidar (1991). Christian Arabic of Baghdad. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-3-447-03209-4.
  51. 1 2 3 Joseph 1983, p. 111.
  52. ↑ A. H. Hourani (1947). Minorities in the Arab World. London.
  53. ↑ John C. Rolland (2003). Lebanon: Current Issues and Background. Nova Publishers. pp. 79–. ISBN 978-1-59033-871-1.
  54. ↑ Prakash Shah; Marie-Claire Foblets (15 April 2016). Family, Religion and Law: Cultural Encounters in Europe. Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-317-13648-4.
  55. ↑ United States. Dept. of State; Committee on International Relations; United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (2005). Annual report, international religious freedom. U.S. G.P.O. p. 342.
  56. ↑ Gerhard Robbers (2010). Religion and Law in Germany. Kluwer Law International. p. 32. ISBN 978-90-411-3352-6.
  57. ↑ Marlou Schrover; Willem Schinkel (4 September 2015). The Language of Inclusion and Exclusion in Immigration and Integration. Routledge. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-1-317-43254-8.
  58. ↑ John H. Erickson (2010). Orthodox Christians in America: A Short History. Oxford University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-19-995132-1.
  59. ↑ R. Khanam (2005). Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia: A-I. Global Vision Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-8220-063-0.
  60. 1 2 3 4 Weninger 2012, p. 697.
  61. 1 2 3 4 5 Joseph 1983, p. 22.
  62. ↑ "25, Christin - und Bürgermeisterin in Südanatolien". Stern.
  63. ↑ ""Baylan började hos mig när han var sju år"". SVD.
  64. ↑ "Syrianske stjärnan Abgar Barsom tackar Syrianska folket".; Grimlund, Lars (2004). "Artisten Barsom vill vara perfekt". DN.
  65. ↑ Max Wiman (2011). "Ur ilskan växte årets stora succé".
  66. ↑ "Jimmy Durmaz ska underlätta flytt - kan skaffa turkiskt pass". Fotbolltransfers.
  67. ↑ . Svenska fans http://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/mff/259544.aspx. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  68. ↑ "yilmazkerimo". socialdemokraterna.
  69. ↑ "Zweedse Assyriër in Twente" [Swedish-Assyrian in Twente]. De Pers (in Dutch). 9 March 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  70. ↑ http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=128431. Missing or empty |title= (help); "Touma kan ersätta Porokara". na.se.
  71. ↑ "Sarah Ego repräsentiert die syrisch-orthodoxe Kirche". Beth Nahrin. 2012.

Sources

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