Names of Syriac Christians

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The various communities of adherents of Syriac Christianity and speakers of Neo-Syriac advocate different terms for ethnic self-designation:

• "Assyrians", after the ancient Assyrian Empire, advocated by the Assyrian Church of the East ("Eastern Assyrians"),^[2] and other Aramaic-speaking Christians from the other Syriac Churches, e.g., Assyrian nationalists from the Syriac Orthodox Church ("Western Assyrians") ^[3]
• "Aramaeans", after the ancient Aramaeans, advocated by the Syriac Orthodox Church ("Aramean-Syriac")
• "Chaldeans", after ancient Chaldea, advocated by the Chaldean Catholic Church ("Chaldean Assyrians")
• "Phoenicians", after ancient Phoenicia, advocated by many Maronites, and other Syriac Christian factions in Lebanon.

The terminological problem goes back to colonial times, but it became more acute in 1946, when with the independence of Syria, the adjective Syrian referred to an independent state. The controversy isn't restricted to exonyms like English "Assyrian" vs. "Aramaean", but also applies to self-designation in Neo-Aramaic, but confusingly, the "Aramaean" faction endorses both Sūryāyē ܣܘܪܝܝܐ and Ārāmayē ܐܪܡܝܐ, while the "Assyrian" faction insists on Āṯūrāyē ܐܬܘܪܝܐ but also accepts Sūryāyē ܣܘܪܝܝܐ.

Syriac Christians from the Middle East shouldn't be confused with Syriac Christian Dravidians from India, who are an entirely different ethnic group but follow the same version of Christianity that was spread by Syriac Christians from the Middle East, centuries earlier.

Contents 1 History of the dispute 2 Exonyms 3 Aramaic language self-designations 4 Syriac diaspora 4.1 USA 4.2 Sweden 5 Syriac national identities 5.1 Assyrian identity 5.2 Aramaean identity 5.3 Chaldean identity 5.4 Phoenician identity 6 Iron Age demographics 7 See also 8 External links 9 Bibliography 10 References 10.1 Footnotes

[edit] History of the dispute

Syriac Christianity was established among the Syriac (Aramaic) speaking population of Upper Mesopotamia during the 1st to 5th centuries. Until the 7th century Islamic conquests, the group was divided between two empires, Sassanid Persia in the east and Rome/Byzantium in the west. The western group settled in Syria, the eastern in Assyria: the two names, although likely sharing the same etymology, have been separate lexemes since the Roman period. Syriac Christianity was divided from an early date over questions of Christological dogma, viz. Nestorianism in the east and Monophysitism in the west.

The historical English term for the group is "Syrians" (as in, e.g., Ephraim the Syrian). It is not now in use, since after the 1936 declaration of the Syrian Arab Republic, the term "Syrian" has come to designate citizens of that state regardless of ethnicity.

Since the 19th century discovery of ancient Assyria (which in its final phase was largely Aramaic speaking), Syriac Christians have often been associated with that culture. The rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire in the area resulted in Assyrianism ("Assyrian" flavoured ethnic nationalism) among the Syriac Christian population.

It was in this period that the Assyrian Genocide traumatized the ethnicity, scattering it across the world (the Assyrian diaspora). Syrian Orthodox Christians from the Middle East founded Assyrian churches in America,^[5][6] and Assyrian nationalists like Naum Faiq and Ashur Yousif, amongst the Jacobites, along with other Assyrian nationalists from the other Syriac churches, were leading the struggle for an Assyrian homeland. Freydun Atturaya, who was a Nestorian (East Syrian Christians) and Agha Petros, who was a Chaldean (Chaldean Christians) all had their aim on the Assyrian Question, which had been brought up at the League of Nations and been promised by the Britons as a repayment for the Assyrian Levies' loyal support to both the Allies of World War I and Allies of World War II.^[7][8][9] This promise, however, was not kept for various realpolitikal reasons, and northern Mesopotamia, which was in consideration to become a new Assyria, instead became a part of the new states, the Republic of Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Republic of Turkey.

[edit] Exonyms

Since the 1st century AD, the Assyrian people were known as 'Syrians',^[2] or 'Sūrāyē', which has been in use since early Syriac Christianity.^[10] In 1976, the Church of the East added "Assyrian" as an addendum to its official name.^[11] The most common English exonym today is "Assyrians", but emphatically denounced by the "Aramaean" faction. In other parts of the Assyrian diaspora, the case may lie differently, depending on the confessional composition of the regional population. Thus, in Germany and in Sweden, "Aramaean" (Aramäer, Araméer) is more common, but by no means undisputed. Alternative terms are "Syriac" or "Syrian", both rarely used because "Syriac" is usually reserved for early Christian times, and "Syrian" for citizens of the modern nation of Syria. In Sweden Syrianer is commonly used in the Aramaean faction (as opposed to Syrier "Arab citizen of Syria"). However, Assyrier/Syrianer is a very common designation in use by Swedish authorities, in order to specify that both are from the same ethnic group.^[12]

Apart from the dispute between self-identification as Assyrians vs. Aramaeans, which concerns the entire ethnicity, some Chaldean Christians, adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church (in communion with the Pope), further propose a self-identification as Chaldeans.^[13]

The confusion was noted as early as the 18th century by Edward Gibbon, who wrote that the Nestorians "Under the name Chaldeans or Assyrians, are confounded with the most learned or the most powerful nation in Eastern antiquity."

The English appellation "Assyrian" has been common since the First World War. In 1910, William A. Wigram in his An introduction to the history of the Assyrian Church opts for "Assyrian" in the interest of clarity, noting of the alternatives:

Syrian to an Englishman, does not mean 'a Syriac-speaking man'; but a man of that district between Antioch and the Euphrates where Syriac was the vernacular once, but which is Arabic-speaking today, and which was never the country of the 'Assyrian' Church. Chaldean would suit admirably; but it is put out of court by the fact that in modern use it means only those members of the Church in question who have abandoned their old fold for the Roman obedience; and Nestorian has a theological significance which is not justified. Thus it seemed better to discard all these, and to adopt a name which has at least the merit of familiarity to most friends of the church today.

Assyriologist Simo Parpola argues for a common designation Assyrian, on grounds that:

In this context it is important to draw attention to the fact that the Aramaic-speaking peoples of the Near East have since ancient times identified themselves as Assyrians and still continue to do so. The self-designations of modern Syriacs and Assyrians, Sūryōyō and Sūrāyā, are both derived from the ancient Assyrian word for "Assyrian", Aššūrāyu, as can be easily established from a closer look at the relevant words.^[14]

Efrem Yildiz comments on the indigenous Suraya/Suryoyo designation and its Church history:

On the one hand we find the so-called Nestorians and Chaldeans who call themselves Suraye (Suraya in the singular), whose language is called Suret. On the other the so-called Syriacs who call themselves Suryoye (singular Suryoyo), whose language is called Suryoyo. For many these terms are all more or less synonyms of one thing: “Christians.” Leaving to one side all these terms, however, both Churches are conscious of belonging to the Oriental Church. For instance, if we take a closer and more careful look at the Aramaic transcription of the terms “Suraya” and “Suryoyo” we find they are preceded by the letter “A” with a symbol above indicating that this “A” is not to be pronounced. If we therefore eliminate this sign, the more exact pronunciation of these two words would be “Asuraya” and “Asuryoyo,” a clear indication of their connection with the word “Assyrian.” Since the beginning of this century the term “Aturaye” began to replace the term “Suraye.” Aturaya, comes from the word Atur and means Assyria.^[15]

The former patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Mar Raphael I Bidawid, caused some controversy when he spoke out publicly on the name issue:

I personally think that these different names serve to add confusion. The original name of our Church was the ‘Church of the East’ ... When a portion of the Church of the East became Catholic, the name given was ‘Chaldean’ based on the Magi kings who came from the land of the Chaldean, to Bethlehem. The name ‘Chaldean’ does not represent an ethnicity... We have to separate what is ethnicity and what is religion... I myself, my sect is Chaldean, but ethnically, I am Assyrian.^[16]

[edit] Aramaic language self-designations

Further information: Syria (etymology)

In the Aramaic language, the dispute boils down to the question of whether Sūryāyē "Syrian" and Āṯūrāyē "Assyrian" are synonymous. Etymologically, the question has open until recently, but there are now indications that the words do in fact share the same etymology.^[17]

When Horatio Southgate visited the Syrian Orthodox communities of Turkey in 1843 he reported that its followers were calling themselves Suryoye Othoroye:

“	I began to make inquiries for the Syrians. The people informed me that there were about one hundred families of them in the town of Kharpout, and a village inhabited by them on the plain. I observed that the Armenians did not know them under the name which I used, Syriani; but called them Assouri, which struck me the more at the moment from its resemblance to our English name Assyrians, from whom they claim their origin, being sons, as they say, of Assour who 'out of the land of Shinar went forth, and build Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resin between Nineveh and Calah.[18]	„

Michael the Great in the 12th century reports on a 9th century dispute between Greek and Syriac sects, and has the Jacobites answer derogatory comments of their Greek opponents to the effect:

“	That even if their name is "Syrian", they are originally 'Assyrians' "and they have had many honorable kings ... Syria is in the west of Euphrates, and its inhabitants who are talking our Aramaic language, and who are so-called 'Syrians', are only a part of the 'all', while the other part which was in the east of Euphrates, going to Persia, had many kings from Assyria and Babylon and Urhay. ... Assyrians, who were called 'Syrians' by the Greeks, were also the same Assyrians, I mean 'Assyrians' from 'Assure' who built the city of Nineveh.[19]	„

In 1961, John Joseph published his book the Nestorians and Their Muslim Neighbors. In this book he stated that the term Assyrians had for various political reasons been introduced to Syriac Christians by British missionaries during the 19th century, and strengthened by archaeological discoveries of ancient Assyria.^[20] 30 years later, in his article entitled, Assyria and Syria: Synonyms, Richard Frye disagreed and proved that the term "Assyrians" had existed amongst the Jacobites and the Nestorians already during the 17th century,^[21] and argued that both terms (Assyrian and Syrian) in actuality, were synonyms, on the basis of Herodotus' statement, “This people, whom the Greeks call Syrians, are called Assyrians by the barbarians”.^[22][23] Joseph countered by stressing that the ancient Greek historian, Posidonius, had at one point stated: “The people we [Greeks] call Syrians were called by the Syrians themselves Aramaeans”.^[24] Joseph interpreted this as it undoubtedly must have existed some Aramaean identity amongst the Syrians. Frye ended the academic debate by inquisitively asking himself why Joseph ignored Armenian and Persian sources where Assyrian had been used by and about the ethnic group in question.^[25]

[edit] Syriac diaspora

[edit] USA

During the 2000 United States census, Syriac Orthodox Archbishops Cyril Aprim Karim and Clemis Eugene Kaplan issued a declaration that their preferred English designation is "Syriacs".^[26] The official census avoids the question by listing the group as "Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac".^[27][28] Some Maronite Christians also joined this US census (as opposed to Lebanese American).^[29]

[edit] Sweden

In Sweden, this name dispute has its beginning when immigrants from Turkey, belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church emigrated to Sweden during the 1960s and were applied with the ethnic designation Assyrians by the Swedish authorities. This caused many who preferred the indigenous designation Suryoyo (who today go by the name Syrianer) to protest, which lead to the Swedish authorities began using the double term assyrier/syrianer.^[30][31]

With the dispute escalating in the 1980s, the Syrian Orthodox Church in Sweden, banned many of its members who identified as Assyrians.^[32]

[edit] Syriac national identities

[edit] Assyrian identity

Main article: Assyrianism

The Assyrian movement today, is still very strong going amongst the Jacobites, but has in later times partially been superseded amongst some Jacobites in lieu of an Aramaean identity.^{[citation needed]}]] In Sweden, the majority of those who identify themselves as Assyrians, are Jacobites from the Syriac Orthodox Church,^[33] but there are also Assyrians and Syriacs in Sweden representing the other Syriac churches.

[edit] Aramaean identity

The "Aramaean" faction often puts emphasis on the destruction of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, especially in the words of the prophet Nahum and his vivid description of the fall of Nineveh.^[34]

[edit] Chaldean identity

The Chaldean Catholic Church was established as a split off the East Syrian Rite, its first patriarch was proclaimed patriarch of "Mosul and Athur" on Feb. 20, 1553 by Pope Julius III.^[35] The term "Chaldean" was chosen at the time to distinguish from the adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East (also known as the Nestorian Church, after Nestorius).^[36][37]

Many Chaldean Catholics no longer subscribe to an "Assyrian" identity,^[38] due in part to the Church identity promoted by the Chaldean Catholic Church.^[38] However, many priests in the Chaldean Church, such as Mar Raphael I Bedawid, advocate the Assyrian ethnicity.^[39]

They have been settling primarily in Iraq and Turkey, for the most part speaking the Chaldean Neo-Aramaic language.

Also sometimes known as "Chaldean Christians" are the Christians of St. Thomas of India (also called the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church), ethnically Nasrani (speakers of Malayalam).

[edit] Phoenician identity

Main article: Phoenicianism

Middle East expert Walid Phares speaking at the 70th Assyrian Convention, on the topic of Assyrians in post-Saddam Iraq, began his talk by asking why he as a Lebanese Maronite ought to be speaking on the political future of Assyrians in Iraq, answering his own question with "because we are one people. We believe we are the Western Assyrians and you are the Eastern Assyrians."^[40] However, other Maronite factions in Lebanon, such as Guardians of the Cedars, in their opposition to Arab nationalism, advocate the idea of a Phoenician racial heritage (see Phoenicianism). Kamal Salibi on the other hand, a prominent Lebanese historian, is critical of any Phoenician ancestry:

Clearly, between ancient Phoenicia and the Lebanon of medieval and modern times, there is no demonstrable historical connection. The historical chasm between the two involves two major changes of language, from Canaanite to Aramaic, then from Aramaic to Arabic, and the accompanying shifts of population which no doubt occurred at the same time. There is also the intervening Hellenistic period to account for, when Phoenicia, certainly by the late Roman period, was no more than a geographical expression loosely used. Not a single institution or tradition of medieval or modern Lebanon can be legitimately traced back to ancient Phoenicia. One must bear in mind, above all else, that the history of ancient Phoenicia was set along the coast, while that of modern Lebanon had its small beginnings since early Islamic times in the mountains, where it remained fixed until the creation of the State of Greater Lebanon in 1920.^[41]

[edit] Iron Age demographics

Many Aramean nationalist claim that it is impossible for anybody to be of Assyrian decent, since when Nineveh fell at 608 BC, the entire Assyrian population parished. Many Assyriologist have come to contract this popular believe. Assyriologist H. W. F. Saggs, in his book, The Might That Was Assyria, had stated that the ancient Assyrians, after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, had continued on for centuries and afterwards became Christians.^[42] J. Joseph objected to these conclusions, stating that the early communities of Syriac-speaking Christians, had no Assyrian names.^[43] However, this was later criticised by Odisho Gewargis, with the argument that the process of Christianisation had reduced the Assyrian birth names amongst the Assyrian people.^[44]

Historian Sidney Smith seemed to be in agreement with the eradication of the Assyrian people theory, although it seems he was not clear if he was opting for a complete genocide theory, or if he only meant to imply that the Assyrian people disappeared from history as an independent nation:

The disappearance of the Assyrian People will always remain a unique and striking phenomenon in ancient history. Other similar kingdoms and empires have indeed passed away, but people have lived on. Recent discoveries have, it is true, shown that poverty-stricken communities perpetuated the old Assyrian names at various places, for instance on the ruined site of Ashur, for many centuries, but the essential truth remains the same. A nation, which had existed for two thousand years and had ruled over a wide area, lost its independent character.^[45]

Assyriologist Simo Parpola has dedicated an entire article, to refute Smith's claim.^[46]

Assyriologist J. A. Brinkman, comments on the alleged total wipeout of the Assyrian population:

There is no reason to believe that there would be no racial or cultural continuity in Assyria, since there is no evidence that the population of Assyria was removed.^[47]

Likewise, Assyriologist Robert D. Biggs, concurs in unison with Brinkman:

Especially in view of the very early establishment of Christianity in Assyria and its continuity to the present and the continuity of the population, I think there is every likelihood that ancient Assyrians are among the ancestors of modern Assyrians of the area.^[48]

However, in a different context, Sidney Smith was clear on that the Assyrians survived the fall of Nineveh and survived well into the Christian era:

In Achaemenian times there was an Assyrian detachment in the Persian army, but they could only have been a remnant. That remnant persisted through the centuries to the Christian era, and continued to use in their personal names appellations of their pagan deities. This continuance of an Assyrian tradition is significant for two reasons; the miserable conditions of these late Assyrians is attested to by the excavations at Ashur, and it is clear that they were reduced to extreme poverty under Persian rule.^[49]

[edit] See also

• Beth Nahrin
• Assyrian homeland
• Aram Nahrin
• Assyrianism
• Syria (etymology)
• Çineköy inscription
• Assyrian - The Struggle for Identity
• The Hidden Pearl

[edit] External links

• Kelley L. Ross, Note on the Modern Assyrians, The Proceedings of the Friesian School
• Los Angeles Times (Orange County Edition), Assyrians Hope for U.S. Protection, February 17, 2003, p. B8.
• Sarhad Jammo, Contemporary Chaldeans and Assyrians: One Primordial Nation, One Original Church, Kaldu.org
• Edward Odisho, Ph.D., Assyrians, Chaldeans & Suryanis: We all have to hang together before we are hanged separately (2003)
• Aprim, Fred, The Assyrian Cause and the Modern Aramean Thorn (2004)
• Wilfred Alkhas, Neo-Assyrianism & the End of the Confounded Identity (2006)
• Nicholas Aljeloo, Who Are The Assyrians?, (2000)
• William Warda, Aphrim Barsoum's Role in distancing the Syrian Orthodox Church from its Assyrian Heritage, (2005)

[edit] Bibliography

• Andersson, Stefan (1983). Assyrierna - En bok om präster och lekmän, om politik och diplomati kring den assyriska invandringen till Sverige (in Swedish). Falköping: Gummessons Tryckeri AB. ISBN 9155029132. 
• Aprim, Fred (2005). Assyrians: The Continuous Saga (in English). United States: Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 1413438571. OCLC 58448793. 
• Göran Gunner; Sven Halvardson (2005). Jag behöver rötter och vingar: om assyrisk/syriansk identitet i Sverige (in Swedish). Skelleftea: Artos & Norma. ISBN 9172170808. OCLC 185176817. 
• Joseph, John (2000). The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East - Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archeologists & Colonial Powers (in English). BRILL. ISBN 9004116419. OCLC 43615273. 
• Kamal S. Salibi (2003). A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered (in English). London: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1860649122. OCLC 51994034. 
• Mirza Dawid Gewargis Malik (2006). The Throne of Saliq: The Condition of Assyrianism in the Era of the Incarnation of Our Lord, and Notes on the History of Assyria (in Syriac). Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 1593334060. OCLC 76941895. 
• Saggs, H.W.F. (1984). The Might That Was Assyria. Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0283989610. OCLC 10569174. 

[edit] References

• Frye, Richard Nelson (Oktober 1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 51 (No. 4): pp. 281–285. reprinted in Journal of the Assyrian Academic Studies 1997, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp.30-36.. 
• Joseph, John (1997). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms?" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 11 (No. 2): 37–43. 
• Frye, Richard Nelson. "Reply to John Joseph" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 13 (No. 1). 
• Yildiz, Efrem. "The Assyrians A Historical and Current Reality: The Assyrians and the Babylonians: two peoples but one history?" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 13 (No. 1). 
• Joseph, John (1998). "The Bible and the Assyrians: It Kept their Memory Alive" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol XII. (No. 1): 70–76. 
• Yana, George. "Myth vs Reality" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 14 (No. 1): pp. 78–82. 
• Gewargis, Odisho (2002). "We Are Assyrians" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. XVI (No. 1). 
• Parpola, Simo (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 18 (No. 2). 
• Biggs, Robert (2005). "My Career in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies Vol. 19 (No. 1). Oriental Institute, University of Chicago†. 
• Rollinger, Robert (2006). "The terms “Assyria” and “Syria” again" (in English) (PDF). Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 65 (No. 4): pp. 283–287. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, ETATS-UNIS (1942) (Revue). 
• Berntsson, Martin (2003). Assyrier eller syrianer? Om fotboll, identitet och kyrkohistoria (Swedish) pp. 47-52. Gränser (Humanistdag-boken nr 16).
• Nordgren, Kenneth. "Vems är historien? Historia som medvetande, kultur och handling i det mångkulturella Sverige Doktorsavhandlingar inom den Nationella Forskarskolan i Pedagogiskt Arbete" (in Swedish) (No. 3). 
• Sargon R. Michael, review of J. Joseph The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East, Zinda magazine (2002)

[edit] Footnotes

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