Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon: back to the source of the Syriac language (II)

We talk to malfono Amine Jules Iskandar, founder of the Syriac Maronite Union -Tur Levnon – which works for the preservation of the Syriac language, in a series of 3 articles. He will elaborate the goals and workings of Tur Levnon, based in Lebanon, as well as the importance of the Syriac language which is born from the encounter between Greek and Canaanite-Aramaic, and its interconnection with identity, culture, and liturgy.

How is Syriac important for Lebanon? And how is it vital for Eastern Christianity?

Syriac is not an ethnic group. It is a collection of churches made up, roughly speaking, of three peoples from Eastern Antiquity: the Mesopotamians, the Arameans and the Canaaneans (Phoenicians). When some of them were Christianized, they adopted a new Christian language called Syriac. Together, they made up the Syriac people whose lands were later conquered by the Arabs, Turks, and Kurds. Their villages were scattered on both sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border, the Turkish-Syrian border and in Lebanon. They suffered several genocides which almost entirely decimated them, especially during World War I, together with their Armenian and Pontic Greek brothers and sisters. Only Lebanon, which lost three-quarters of its population, escaped total extermination thanks to France’s military intervention, first in 1860, then in 1918 with the allied powers.

---

Syriacs are still highly equated with their Church affiliation. Although the borders between these three peoples are not hermetic. We can distinguish them, for simplicity’s sake, according to whether they are united with Rome or not. When applying this measure, the Mesopotamians today are roughly the Chaldeans (Catholics) and the Assyrians, the Arameans are the current Syriac Catholics and Syriac Orthodox, and the Canaaneans brought forth the Syriac Maronites (Catholics) and the Syriac Rum (Greek Orthodox; then Greek Catholics). Except for the Rums, all still use the Syriac language in their liturgy.

---

The Syriac language

At the time of Christ, the languages ​​of the Levant region was dominated by a strong Aramaic influence. The populations of Canaan (Phoenicia and the Holy Land) as well as those of Syria-Mesopotamia used different versions of Aramaic. The vast majority of these dialects have disappeared today. Only one form survived as a language and created a rich and flourishing literature. It is the Aramaic of Edessa [modern-day Urfa. Syriac: Urhoy] also called Christian Aramaic i.e., the current Syriac language. In its western version, it is a form of Aramaic which developed in the land of Canaan and took Phoenician forms notably in the pronunciation of the “Olaph” still in force in the north of Lebanon. But it is above all a dialect composed from a mixture of this Canaanized Aramaic with the Greek language of the region.

The people of the Levant have always practiced bilingualism and tri-lingualism. The mixture is such that a Lebanese person today does not realize that he uses as many French and English terms as Syriac and Arabic expressions within the same sentence. The same phenomenon took place at the beginning of the Christian era in this very strongly Hellenized region. The Levantines spoke a mixture of Greek and Aramaic.

Phoenician and Aramaic, being pagan languages, could not meet the needs of the new Christian religion and its theology which required an adapted vocabulary. Greek philosophy brought all the literary tools and enrichment necessary. The dialect, once written, became a language composed of a lexicon of which 30% was of Greek origin. A new language, a new identity and new designation arose. The region in question was the Roman ‘Provincia Syria’ of the time, the Christians adopted this name for their language and their identity in order to differentiate themselves from the pagan populations around them. The Hellenized Christian Aramaic language thus became Syriac, a name that the Christian populations adopted from then on.

From there, their language only got richer especially in its contacts with Greek philosophy and other sciences which the Syriacs translated and bequeathed to humanity. The vast majority of science practiced by the Arabs was in fact the work of these Christian Syriacs who first translated into Syriac, and then from Syriac into Arabic. Because the latter language still had a very limited repertoire, it was necessary to compose at first in Syriac, to then create the necessary Arabic terms from Syriac Arabized words.

The #Maronites founded a Nation on four pillars: 1-land (#Lebanon) 2-#Church (patriarch st John #Maron), 3-army (Maradïts) 4-identity (#Syriac language). With the fall of on pillar, the country collapses. Don’t sell the land, don’t abandon the Church and your language. Resist.

— ܬܐܘܕܪܘܣ ܒܪܝܘܠܝܘܣ ܐܠܟܣܢܕܪ Amine Bar-Julius Iskandar (@Amineiskandar2) February 9, 2022

Syriac is therefore a Christian language and heir to Hellenized Eastern Antiquity. It is both the bearer of our Canaanean past and the expression of our Christian faith.

As a living testimony of our past, it is the guarantor of our future. The Phoenician language crossed the Middle Ages under the name of Syriac, wrote Ernest Renan (1); “Under the name of Syriac and identified with the dialect of the populations of Lebanon, … Phoenician crossed the middle Ages…” It is identified with the dialect of the peoples of Lebanon. It is, so to speak, the link between modern Lebanon and its ancient origins. Renan contradicts the theory of a rupture as advocated by today’s official historical framework.

The establishment of the Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon, was first announced in Bkerké (Bkerki) to the Patriarch of the Syriac Maronites, Mor Béchara Boutros Raï. In May 2017, it was officially launched in New York in the presence of the Maronite diaspora and the Maronite bishop Gregory Mansour. Since then Tur Levnon works diligently to spread the Syriac message in Maronite masses and recitals in the Syriac language, conferences, television programs, and other cultural activities.

Tomorrow part III in the series “back to the source of the Syriac language” with malfono Amine Amine Iskandar of the Syriac Maronite Union -Tur Levnon.

Read part I: Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon: back to the source of the Syriac language (I)

References

Ernest Renan, Mémoire sur l’origine et le caractère véritable de l’histoire phénicienne qui porte le nom de Sanchoniathon (Essay on the Origin and True Character of the Phoenician History that Bears the Name Sanchuniathon, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Paris, 1858, p. 243