Syriac Christianity

Syriac Christianity is a tradition rooted in Syriac-speaking Christian communities of the Middle East. It encompasses distinct churches, liturgies, theological inheritances, and literary cultures.

Syriac language: A dialect of Middle Aramaic that became a major literary and liturgical language of Eastern Christianity. It carried the tradition’s scriptures, theology, poetry, and worship.
Syriac Orthodox Church: An Oriental Orthodox church whose liturgical and theological heritage is expressed in West Syriac traditions. It is a major church within the Syriac Christian tradition.
Edessa: An ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia, known as an early center of Syriac Christian scholarship and literature. Its schools and writers helped establish Syriac as a Christian literary language.
Council of Chalcedon: The ecumenical council held in 451 that affirmed Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human. Its definition became a point of division for the Syriac Orthodox tradition.
Assyrian genocide: The mass killing and forced displacement of Assyrians and other Christians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It devastated Syriac Christian communities in their historic homelands.
Peshitta: The standard Syriac version of the Bible, translated from Hebrew and Greek sources over several centuries. Its biblical wording shaped Syriac teaching and liturgical life.
Church of the East: A historic Christian church that developed east of the Roman Empire, with Syriac as its principal liturgical language. Its East Syriac heritage forms a major branch of Syriac Christianity.
Aphrahat: A fourth-century Syriac Christian author known for a collection of theological demonstrations. His writings preserve an early expression of Syriac Christian theology.
Dyophysitism: A Christological position affirming that Christ exists in two natures, divine and human. Its association with Chalcedon contrasts with the Syriac Orthodox rejection of that council’s formula.
Sayfo: The Syriac name for the mass killings and displacement of Assyrian Christians during World War I. The term preserves a community’s memory of violence and loss.

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