An Invitation to Syriac Christainity: An Anthology (original) (raw)
2022, An Invitation to Syriac Christainity: An Anthology
Despite their centrality to the history of Christianity in the East, Syriac Christians have generally been excluded from modern accounts of the faith. Originating from Mesopotamia, Syriac Christians quickly spread across Eurasia, from Turkey to China, developing a distinctive and influential form of Christianity that connected empires. These early Christians wrote in the language of Syriac, the lingua franca of the late ancient Middle East, and a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Collecting key foundational Syriac texts from the second to the fourteenth centuries, this anthology provides unique access to one of the most intriguing, but least known, branches of the Christian tradition.
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CHRISTOLOGICAL THOUGHT OF THE SYRIAC FATHERS
Syriac theology had a very interesting kind of development. The Syriac language was the principal element in the foundation of the theological symbols, terminology and dogmas and in the understanding of the Holy Scripture. Crafted on the ancient Aramaic tradition, the Syriac theological heritage was considered from its very beginning a veritable vehicle for Christianity. 1 In this context, the Semitic context and also the relationship with the Greek world are very important to understand the evolution of the Christological dogma. 2 The interaction between Greek and Syriac theology was activated in the fourth Christian century. This was the start of a very important theological communication. The Syriac tradition, largely symbolic, was in contact with the Greek conceptual approach. This context is confirmed and described by the English professor Sebastian Brock, who speaks about the theological confluence: " Syriac into Greek and Greek into Syriac ". " In the late fourth and early fourth centuries " – says professor Brock – " there was a considerable amount of direct exchange between the two languages in the form of translations in both directions. … The Greek translations of Ephrem " s narrative verses reproduce the seven-syllable meter of the original. … Further witness to the very considerable prestige enjoyed by Greek poetry in the late fourth and early fifth centuries even in the Greek world is provided by
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