Syrian Christianity

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tur-Abdin is considered to be the historical heartland of the Syrian Orthodox Assyrians .

The Syrian Christianity is the part of Eastern Christianity , which in the area of ancient Syria was and the Aramaic tradition of the Patriarchate of Antioch (westsyrisch) and the Catholicosate Ctesiphon back (Eastern Syriac). The Syrian Christians include various ethnic groups from the Middle East , but above all Assyrians - Syriacs (also known as Arameans and Chaldeans ) and Arab Christians . The Bible ( Peschitta ) and liturgy are traditionally in use in Syrian , a variety of Aramaic spoken in biblical times . In this language, Syrian Christianity developed a rich Christian literature of theological and profane content.

The church language of the scriptures and the service was regionally for some time, the Christian Palestinian-Aramaic, Syriac common, with slightly varying language and forms of writing formed the East Syrian and West Syriac Christianity. The Chalcedonian Christians, who did not separate from the state church of the Roman - Byzantine Empire , in the patriarchates of Jerusalem and Antioch continued to use Greek , especially in their centers . For this reason, and because of their proximity to the Greek Empire and the Byzantine Church, they are also referred to as Rum-Orthodox Christians (Rum = Rhomean ) or Greek-Orthodox Christians of the Orient. Later, in addition to Syriac, Arabic was very popular , especially among the Roman Orthodox churches and the Maronites, but also in some regions of the Syrian Orthodox and Catholic and the Assyrian, Old Assyrian and Chaldean Christians.

Celebration of the ancient Jerusalem liturgy by the Jacobites (in India).

The main ecclesiastical centers are Antioch , Edessa , Damascus , Beirut and Baghdad . The Syrian church language developed from the Aramaic dialect of Edessa. In Antioch, the members of the community were the first to be referred to as christianoi , as Christians .

Syrian Christianity is generally divided into West Syrian and East Syrian Christianity.

In late antiquity and in the Middle Ages, the East Syrian " Church of the East " operated a wide-ranging mission across Persia and Central Asia to China and South India, as a result of which parts of the population who had never spoken a Syriac-Aramaic language form converted to this church with the Syrian church language . Most of these “ Nestorian ” Christians disappeared from history with the devastation of the Mongolian migrations and especially Timur and the breakdown of the church hierarchy. Only the Thomas Christians in South India survived, who until the 16th century belonged to the "Assyrian" Church of the East. The attempts of the Portuguese colonial rulers to join the Thomas Christians at the Synod of Diamper in 1599 led to some of them joining the Catholic Uniate branch with the East Syrian rite; In 1814 a branch emerged from them again, which connected with the independent Assyrian Church of the East. Another part of the Thomas Christians resisted Catholicism with the Oath of the Leaning Cross and in 1665, because the East Syrian Church could not give much support, submitted to the West Syrian Syrian Orthodox ("Jacobite") Church , which had not been represented in the region until then . Over the question of an autonomous or independent church and because of further Catholic and Protestant missions, they subsequently split into several churches with Western Syrian rites.

West Syrian Christianity

West Syrian Christianity goes back to the Patriarchate of Antioch and is part of the West Syrian tradition ( Antiochian rite ).

Family Tree of the Syrian Churches of the Middle East.
  • The Syrian Orthodox Church , which sees itself as the mother of the Syrian churches, was mostly represented in the countryside. Early on he turned to Monophysitism / Miaphysitism , which was rejected by the Byzantine imperial church in the Council of Chalcedon , also called "Jacobite Church" in the west after the church founder Jakob Baradai , but rejected by them
  • Syrian Catholic Church , split from the Syrian Orthodox Church in the 18th century, union with the Roman Catholic Church
  • the Syrian Free Church , "'Ito hirto Suryayto", who are mostly known as Mhaymne (corresponding to Arabic muʾmin , "believers"), evangelical-free church missionaries.
  • Maronite Syrian Church of Antioch (Maronites), gained independence through the election of its own patriarch in the 7th century, named after the monk Maroun, considers itself to be continuously associated with the Roman Catholic Church, i.e. H. always in union with Rome, but in fact they were probably only since the 12th century. According to the common hypothesis, originally supporters of monotheletism , a compromise formula that did not lead to a balance between monophysitism and the dyophysitism of the imperial church, but only to the formation of another church that was rejected by both sides, but probably abandoned this dogma with the union with Rome in the Middle Ages
  • The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch , in contrast to the Syrian Orthodox Church, adherents of the Council of Chalcedon, still oriented towards the Byzantine imperial church, was mostly represented in the cities. Therefore, in the past often called " Melkiten " (people of the king), today this is often the name of their Catholic wing united with Rome. According to the imperial church, Antioch was one of the five patriarchates ( pentarchy ) next to Jerusalem, Constantinople, Alexandria and Rome (from the latter the Roman Catholic Church developed)
  • Melkite Greek Catholic Church , split from the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the 18th century, union with the Roman Catholic Church
  • Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem , another of the five patriarchates of the Byzantine Imperial Church, almost exclusively in Palestine, clergy often sent away Greek priests due to the spiritual importance of the Holy Land

The following churches from India have a special position within the West Syrian churches ( Thomas Christians )

Family tree of the Syrian churches in India. In the 17th century, some turned away from the East Syrian Assyrian Church and towards the West Syrian Syrian Orthodox Church, which was further divided by Catholic and Protestant missionaries.

Other churches in India, such as the Church of South India, have no Syrian rite and no Syrian church language and mainly go back to missionary work during the British period.

East Syrian Christianity

The East Syrian, d. H. Nestorian and Chaldean Christianity goes back to the Catholic Seleukia Ctesiphon and is in the East Syrian tradition (Chaldean rite).

The following churches in India ( Thomas Christians ) have a special position

literature

  • David Gaunt, Naures Atto, Soner O. Barthoma (eds.): Let them not return. Sayfo - The Genocide against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire (= War and Genocide 26). Berghahn Books, New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-78533-498-6 ( review ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Svante Lundgren: The Assyrians: From Nineveh to Gütersloh . Lit Verlag, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-643-13256-7 , pp. 175 .
  2. ↑ Christoph Leonhardt: The Greek and the Syriac-Orthodox Patriarchates of Antioch in the context of the Syrian Conflict. In: Chronos 33 (2016), pp. 193–242.
  3. ↑ Andreas Feldtkeller :  Syria III - From Late Antiquity to the Present . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 32, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-016712-3 , pp. 589-595.