Syriac Orthodox Christians (Middle East)

Identity

There is an ongoing debate over the identification of the people. Commonly seen as a part of the Assyrian people, the community tends to identify as "Syrian" (Suryoye), or more recently "Syriac". Today some also identify themselves as either Othuroyo or Oromoyo, which is synonymous with identifing oneself as "Assyrian" or "Aramean". They have also been called "Jacobites", after Bishop Jacob Baradaeus (d. 578) of Edessa, and "Monophysites" (owing to the division of Syriac Church bodies). The identification as "Assyrians" means that they share identity with non-Orthodox Syriacs (such as Nestorians, Syriac Catholics and Chaldean Catholics), while the "Aramean" identity almost solely represents the Syriac Orthodox.

The ethnic identification of Syriac Orthodox as "Assyrians" is contested by the community itself. In the diaspora, the Syriac Orthodox identify with the term Suryoye. In Arabic and Kurdish, they were identified as Suryani, and in Turkish as Süryaniler. 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.

In the 19th century, the various Syriac denominations did not view themselves as part of one group. 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). Then, during the Tanzimat reforms (1839–78), the Syriac Orthodox were granted independent status with the recognition of their own millet in 1873. Late 19th- and early 20th-century Syriac Orthodox intellectuals predominantly used the "Assyrian" identification. Despite this "Assyrian" intellectual trend, the identity of Syriac Orthodoxy in the Ottoman Empire in the 1910s was principally religious and linguistic.

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. Overall, the Syriac Orthodox of Turkey, Syria and to a lesser degree Iraq have been identifing themselves as Assyrian, or more recently also as Aramean. The Syriac Orthodox community is currently divided over their common ancestry and name, also outside the Middle East. 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.

The Syriac Orthodox identity was not only religious, although this was dominant, but also included cultural traditions of the pagan Assyrian and Aramean kingdoms. 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.

Middle Ages

The 8th-century hagiography Life of Jacob [Baradaeus] evidents a definite social and religious differention between the Chalcedonians and Miaphysites (Syriac Orthodox). 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. 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. 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").

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. It seems that in Antioch itself, after the 11th-century persecutions, the Syriac Orthodox population was almost extinguished. 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. Dorothea Weltecke thus concludes that the Syriac Orthodox populace was very low in this period in Antioch and its surroundings. In Adana, on the other hand, an anonymous 1137 report speaks of the entire population consisting of Syriac Orthodox. In the 12th century several Syriac Orthodox patriarchs visited Antioch and some established temporary residences. 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.

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

16th century

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

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. 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. 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. Despite the warning and gifts to priests, frequent conflicts and violent arguments continued between the Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs.

19th century

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

The 1895–96 massacres in Turkey affected the Armenian and Syriac Orthodox communities; an estimated 105,000 Christians were killed. 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.

In the late 19th century, the Syriac Orthodox community of the Middle East, namely from Adana and Harput began its diaspora process, United States being one of the first destinations in the 1890s. Later, in Worcester, the first Syriac Orthodox Church in the United States was built, where it was originally called the Assyrian Apostolic Church of Anitoch.

Diyarbakır province

In 1870, there were 22 Syriac Orthodox settlements in the vicinity of Diyarbakır. In the 1870–71 Diyarbakır salnames, there were 1,434 Orthodox Syriacs in that city. 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. The results of these records shows that the Syriac Orthodox were rural, as opposed to the Catholics who were less but more urbanized. The 1894–95 salname of Diyarbakır records 4,096 Syriac Orthodox in the kaza. In the 1897–98 salname the vilayet (province) of Diyarbakır had 20,082 Syriac Orthodox, out of 84,906 non-Muslims.

Genocide (1914–18)

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

Inter-war period

In early 1920s, the city of Qamishli was built mainly by Syriac Orthodox refugees, escaping the Assyrian genocide.

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

In 1919, the school and orphanage Beth Yatme d-Othuroye b-Qiliqiya was opened by the Syriac Orthodox bishop Yuhanon Dolabani in Adana. It was later renamed Taw Mim Semkath (TMS).

1945–present

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

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

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.

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

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

Population

Estimations of the total number of Syriac Orthodox Christians in the Middle East include: 150–200,000 (2002) and 146,300 (2008). 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) and the Cyprus dispute. Syriac Orthodox refugees from Syria and Iraq has recently increased the number of Syriacs in Turkey and the diaspora.

Turkey

The Tur Abdin region is a traditional stronghold of Orthodox Syriacs. The community identifies as Sūryōyō, historically as Sūrōyō or Sūrōyē (until 20 years ago). 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. It is estimated that there are 15–20,000 Syriac Orthodox in Turkey. 2,400 still live in Tur Abdin. The community speaks Syriac (Suryani) in Tur Abdin, and Arabic, due to historical reasons, in Mardin.

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). It originated from the 1915 massacres, when many people fled Turkey. In the mid-1970s it was estimated that 82,000 Syriac Orthodox lived in the country. The community has been Arabized. Syriac Orthodox settlements include Qamishli, Fairouzeh, Al-Hafar, Kafr Ram, Maskanah, Al-Qaryatayn, Sadad and Zaidal. The community increased with an influx of Iraqi refugees after the 2003 invasion. The shelling of Homs in 2012 affected the city, which was until then home to a large Christian community.

Iraq

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

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. Assemani (1687–1768) noted that many Maronite families were of Jacobite origin. A Jacobite community was present in Tripoli in the 17th century. In 1944 it was estimated that 3,753 Syriac Orthodox lived in Lebanon. As of 1987 there were only a few thousands Syriac Orthodox in Lebanon.

Diaspora

Language

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. 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. The Turoyo-speaking diaspora is now estimated at 40,000. Today only hundreds of native speakers remain in Tur Abdin. Mlahso, today extint, was once spoken among the community, particularly in the village with the same name.

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

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

Television

Notable people