View source for Syriac Christianity

{{Short description|Branch of Eastern Christianity}}
{{Eastern Christianity}}

'''Syriac Christianity''' ({{langx|syr|ܡܫܝܚܝܘܬܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܬܐ}}, ''Mšiḥoyuṯo Suryoyto'' or ''Mšiḥāyūṯā Suryāytā'') is a branch of [[Eastern Christianity]] of which formative [[Christian theology|theological]] writings and traditional [[Christian liturgy|liturgies]] are expressed in the [[Syriac language|Classical Syriac]] language, a [[Variation (linguistics)|variation]] of the old [[Aramaic]] language.{{sfn|Rompay|2008|pp=365–386}}{{sfn|Murre van den Berg|2007|p=249}}{{sfn|Kitchen|2012|pp=66–77}} In a wider sense, the term can also refer to '''Aramaic Christianity''' in general, thus encompassing all Christian traditions that are based on the liturgical uses of the [[Aramaic|Aramaic language]] and its variations, both historical and modern.{{sfn|Simmons|1959|p=13}}{{sfn|Aufrecht|2001|p=149}}{{sfn|Quispel|2008|p=80}}

Along with [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin language|Latin]], Classical Syriac was one of the three most important languages of [[Early Christianity]].{{sfn|Brock|2005|pp=5–20}} It became a vessel for the development of a distinctive Syriac form of Christianity which flourished throughout the [[Near East]] and other parts of [[Christianity in Asia|Asia]] during [[late antiquity]] and the [[early medieval]] period, giving rise to various liturgical and denominational traditions, represented in modern times by several churches which continue to uphold the religious and cultural heritage of Syriac Christianity.{{sfn|Winkler|2019|pp=119–133}}{{sfn|Hunter|2019|pp=783–796}}

Syriac Christianity comprises two [[Ritual family|liturgical traditions]]: the [[East Syriac Rite]] and the [[West Syriac Rite]].{{sfn|Varghese|2019|pp=391–404}}

The East Syriac Rite (also known as the Chaldean, Assyrian, or Persian Rite)<ref>{{cite book |author=John Hardon |title=Catholic Dictionary: An Abridged and Updated Edition of Modern Catholic Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MsufgDEL1oC&pg=PA493 |date=2013 |publisher=Crown Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-88635-4 |page=493}}</ref> uses the [[Liturgy of Addai and Mari]]. It is the rite of the churches descended from the [[Church of the East]], including the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], the [[Ancient Church of the East]], the [[Chaldean Syrian Church]], and the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]] and the [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]].

The West Syriac Rite (also called Antiochian Syriac Rite) uses the [[Liturgy of Saint James]]. It is the rite of the [[Oriental Orthodox]] [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] (including its component the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]]), [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]], and the [[Malabar Independent Syrian Church]]; and the [[Catholic]] [[Maronite Church]], the [[Syriac Catholic Church]], and [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]]. [[Protestant liturgy|Protestant forms]] of this rite are used by the [[Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church]] and the [[St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India]].

In India, indigenous Eastern Christians ([[Saint Thomas Christians]]) of both liturgical traditions (East and West Syriac) are called Syrian Christians. The traditional East Syriac community is represented by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the Chaldean Syrian Church of India. The West Syriac liturgical tradition was introduced after 1665, and the community associated with it is represented by the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]] (part of the Syriac Orthodox Church) and the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]], both of which are [[Oriental Orthodox]], in addition to the [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]] (an [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic church]]), the [[Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church]] (part of the [[Anglican Communion]]), and the [[Malabar Independent Syrian Church]] (an independent Oriental Orthodox Church not part of the [[Oriental Orthodox Churches|Oriental Orthodox Communion]]).{{sfn|Perczel|2019|pp=653–697}}

The [[Syriac language]] is a variety of Aramaic language that emerged in [[Edessa]], [[Upper Mesopotamia]], during the first centuries AD.{{sfn|Brock|1998|pp=708–719}} It is related to the [[Aramaic of Jesus]], a Galilean dialect.<ref>Allen C. Myers, ed. (1987), "Aramaic". ''The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary''. Grand Rapids, MI: [[William B. Eerdmans]]. p. 72. {{ISBN|0-8028-2402-1}}. "It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Palestine in the first century A.D. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73)."</ref> This relationship added to its prestige for Christians.{{sfn|Montgomery|2002|p=27}} The form of the language in use in [[Edessa]] predominated in Christian writings and was accepted as the standard form, "a convenient vehicle for the spread of Christianity wherever there was a substrate of spoken Aramaic".{{sfn|Rompay|2008|pp=365–386}} The area where Syriac or Aramaic was spoken, an area of contact and conflict between the [[Roman Empire]] and the [[Sasanian Empire]], extended from around [[Antioch]] in the west to [[Seleucia-Ctesiphon]], the Sasanian capital in [[Mesopotamia]] in the east and comprised the whole or parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Iraq, and southeastern parts of Turkey and western parts of  Iran, with its speakers being largely [[Semitic people|Semitic]]  [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Arameans]], [[Phoenicians]], [[Mandaeans]] and [[Judeans]].{{sfn|Murre van den Berg|2007|p=249}}{{sfn|Rompay|2008|pp=365–386}}

==Name==
{{further|Names of the Syriac language}}

In modern [[English language|English]], the term "Syriac Christianity" is preferred over the alternative form "Syrian Christianity", that was also commonly used in older literature, as a [[synonym]], particularly during the 19th and the 20th centuries.{{sfn|Robinson|Coakley|2013|p=1, note 1}} Since the latter term proved to be very [[polysemic]], a tendency occurred (firstly among scholars) to reduce the term "Syrian Christianity" to its primary (regional) meaning, that designates the [[Christianity in Syria]], while more specific term (Syriac Christianity) came to be used as preferred designation for the entire Syriac branch of Eastern Christianity.{{sfn|Millar|2006|pp=107–109}} That distinction is not yet universally accepted, even among scholars. It is gradually introduced in most of the English speaking world, with some notable exceptions. Churches of Syriac tradition in [[India]] still [[self-identify]], in [[Indian English]], as "Syrian" Churches, both for [[sociolinguistic]] and legal reasons.{{sfn|O'Mahony|2006|p=511}}{{sfn|Winkler|2019|pp=130–132}}

Modern distinctions between "Syrian" and "Syriac" (Christianity) are observed in English language as a partially accepted [[Convention (norm)|convention]], but such distinctions do not exist in most of the other languages, nor on the [[endonymic]] (native) level among adherents of Syriac Christianity.{{sfn|Millar|2006|pp=107–109}} Native terms ([[ethnonyms]], [[demonyms]], [[linguonyms]]) that were derived from the name of Syria did not possess a distinctive formal duality that would be equivalent to the conventional English distinction between terms ''Syrian'' and ''Syriac''.{{sfn|Andrade|2019|pp=157–174}} Since the proposed distinction is not yet universally accepted among scholars, its individual and often inconsistent application has created a complex narrative, that is additionally burdened by older problems, inherited from terminological controversies that originated much earlier, within [[Syriac studies]] in particular, and also within [[Aramaic studies]] in general.{{sfn|Burnett|2005|pp=421–436}}

The use of Syrian/Syriac labels was also challenged by common scholarly reduction of Syriac Christianity to the [[Eastern Aramaic]] Christian heritage found among the [[Assyrian people]] in what is today Iraq, Southeast Turkey and Northwest Iran, and its offspring. Such reduction was detaching Syriac Christianity from [[Western Aramaic]] Christian traditions, that were enrooted in the very homeland of Christianity, encompassing ancient [[Aramaic language|Aramaic-speaking]] communities in [[Judea]] and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], with [[Galilee]] and [[Samaria]], and also those in the regions of [[Nabatea]] and [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]] to the east,{{sfn|Jobling|1996|pp=62–73}} and [[Phoenicia]] and [[Roman Syria|Syria]] proper to the north. Since Western Aramaic Christians did not fit into narrow scholarly definition of Syriac Christianity, focused on [[Eastern Aramaic]] traditions,{{sfn|Rompay|2008|p=366}} various researchers have opted for an additional use of some wider terms, like "Aramaic Christianity",{{sfn|Simmons|1959|p=13}}{{sfn|Aufrecht|2001|p=149}} or "Aramaic Christendom",{{sfn|Quispel|2008|p=80}} thus designating a religious, cultural and linguistic continuum, encompassing the entire branch of Christianity that stemmed from the first Aramaic-speaking Christian communities, formed in apostolic times, and then continued to develop throughout history, mainly in the [[Near East]] and also in several other regions of [[Christianity in Asia|Asia]], including India and China.{{sfn|Dickens|2019|pp=583–624}}{{sfn|Takahashi|2019|pp=625–652}}

In English language, the term ''Aramaic Christianity'' should not be confused with term ''Aramean Christianity'', since the first designation is linguistically defined and thus refers to Aramaic-speaking Christians in general, while the second designation is more specific and refers only to Christian [[Arameans]].{{sfn|Healey|2014|p=391}}{{sfn|Healey|2019a|p=433–446}}

== History ==
{{Further|History of Eastern Christianity}}
[[File:Syriac Christian denominations.svg|thumb|right|400px|Present-day Middle-Eastern Syriac Christian denominations]]
[[File:Syriac Christianity.svg|thumb|right|300px|East Syriac ([[Church of the East]]) metropolitan sees in [[Christianity in Asia|Asia]] from the 9th to the 13th centuries]]

Christianity began in the [[Near East]], in [[Jerusalem]] among Aramaic-speaking Christians (Assyrians). It soon spread to other Aramaic-speaking [[Semitic people]]s like Aramaic pagan peoples along the Eastern Mediterranean coast{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} and also to the inland parts of the [[Roman Empire]] and beyond that into the [[Parthian Empire]] and the later [[Sasanian Empire]],{{sfn|Daryaee|2019|pp=33–43}} including [[Mesopotamia]], which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires. Like its Greek and Latin counterparts, the Syriac traditions includes non-ethnic members who wrote in [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and were members of the tradition at large, such as [[Aphrahat|Aphraat]] the Persian.<ref name="Rompay 71–1042">{{Cite journal |last=Rompay |first=Lucas Van |date=2010-03-01 |title=Past and Present Perceptions of Syriac Literary Tradition |journal=Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |page=81 |doi=10.31826/hug-2010-030105 |issn=1097-3702 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The ruins of the [[Dura-Europos church]], dating from the first half of the 3rd century are concrete evidence of the presence of organized Christian communities in the Aramaic-speaking area, far from Jerusalem and the Mediterranean coast, and there are traditions of the preaching of Christianity in the region as early as the time of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]].

However, "virtually every aspect of Syriac Christianity prior to the fourth century remains obscure, and it is only then that one can feel oneself on firmer ground".{{sfn|Brock|2004a|p=362}} The fourth century is marked by the many writings in Syriac of Saint [[Ephrem the Syrian]], the ''Demonstrations'' of the slightly older [[Aphrahat]] and the anonymous ascetical ''[[Book of Steps]]''. Ephrem lived in the Roman Empire, close to the border with the Sasanian Empire, to which the other two writers belonged.{{sfn|Brock|2004a|p=362}} However, another source claims there is a significant amount of evidence from the fourth century and before about liturgical practices.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rouwhorst |first=Gerard |date=March 1997 |title=Jewish Liturgical Traditions in Early Syriac Christianity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1584359 |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=72–93 |doi=10.2307/1584359 |jstor=1584359 |issn=0042-6032|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Early Syriac Christian communities, especially around such as [[Edessa]] and [[Nisibis]], retained a strong [[Judeo-Christian]] character influenced in part by the Jewish presence in nearby [[Adiabene]]. Early Syriac authors like Ephrem and Aphrahat drew upon Jewish exegetical methods and sectarian traditions in their writings, and the Syriac churches remained spiritually close to Jewish practices in their early centuries. They also resisted successive attempts at Hellenization and integration into the [[Byzantine Empire]]'s forced ecclesiastical and  theological framework. This resistance manifested after the [[Council of Ephesus]] (431), when the [[Church of the East]] asserted its independence from Byzantine authority and reorganised around Nisibis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Spinks |first=Bryan D. |title=Addai and Mari—The Anaphora of the Apostles: A Text for Students |date=December 1980 |publisher=Grove |isbn=978-0-905422-93-0 |series=Grove Liturgical Studies |volume=24 |location=Bramcote |pages=3 |authorlink=Bryan D. Spinks}}</ref> A similar development occurred after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (451) when the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] established its own hierarchy distinct from that of the [[Imperial Church|imperial church]]. <!-- It's anachronistic to say the SOC was established after COE simply bc they reject a later council, as the COE was formally established long after the council of chalcedon & the SOC-Chalcedon schism -->

Other items of early literature of Syriac Christianity are the [[Diatessaron]] of [[Tatian]], the [[Curetonian Gospels]] and the [[Syriac Sinaiticus]], the [[Peshitta]] Bible and the [[Doctrine of Addai]].

The bishops who took part in the [[First Council of Nicea]] (325), the first of the [[ecumenical council]]s, included twenty from Syria and one from Persia, outside the Roman Empire.{{sfn|Montgomery|2002|p=27, 57}} Two councils held in the following century divided Syriac Christianity into two opposing parties.

=== East-West theological contrast ===
[[File:Dioceses of the Syrian Orthodox Church.svg|thumb|right|250px|West Syriac dioceses of the Syriac Orthodox Church during the [[medieval]] period]]

Syriac Christianity is divided on several [[Christian theology|theological]] issues, both [[Christological]] and [[Pneumatological]].{{sfn|Hainthaler|2019|p=377–390}}

In 431, the [[Council of Ephesus]], which is reckoned as the third ecumenical council, condemned [[Nestorius]] and [[Nestorianism]]. That condemnation was consequently ignored by the East Syriac [[Church of the East]], which had been previously established in the [[Sasanian Empire]] as a distinct Church at the [[Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] in 410, and which at the Synod of Dadisho in 424 had declared the independence of its head, the [[Catholicos]], in relation to "Western" (Roman Empire) Church authorities. Even in its modern form of Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East, it honours Nestorius and his mentors (e.g. [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]]) & students (e.g. [[Ibas of Edessa]]) as teachers and saints.{{sfn|Baum|Winkler|2003|pp=5, 30}}

In 451, the [[Council of Chalcedon]], the fourth ecumenical council as accepted by the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] Churches, condemned [[Monophysitism]], and also rejected [[Dyoprosopic Christology|Dyoprosopism]].{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=}} This council was rejected by the [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]] (among which is the Syriac Orthodox Church) that use the West Syriac Rite. The [[Patriarchate of Antioch]] was consequently divided between two communities: pro-[[Chalcedonian Christianity|Chalcedonian]] and [[non-Chalcedonian]]. The Chalcedonians were often referred to as "[[Melkites]]" by their opponents, derived from the Syriac word "Melka," meaning "royal." This term implied their loyalty to the Byzantine emperor and was used by non-Chalcedonians to suggest that the Melkites prioritized allegiance to the empire over adherence to true teachings. The non-Chalcedonians were dubbed "[[Monophysites]]" which means they believed in Christ having a sole, divine nature, despite that not being the actual doctrine of the [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]], which espouse [[Miaphysitism]], the teaching that Christ has one composite nature, fully human and fully divine; they were also called [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Jacobites]] (especially, but not exclusively, the Syriac Orthodox Church, particularly in the late Ottoman era) after [[Jacob Baradaeus]].

In 553, the [[Council of Constantinople (553)|Council of Constantinople]], the fifth ecumenical council, anathematized [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]], and also condemned several writings of [[Theodoret of Cyrus]] and [[Ibas of Edessa]] (see [[Three-Chapter Controversy]]).{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=}} Since those three theologians were highly regarded among Eastern Syriac Christians, further rifts were created, culminating in 612, when a major council of the [[Church of the East]] was held in [[Seleucia-Ctesiphon]]. Presided by [[Babai the Great]] (d. 628), the council officially adopted specific Christological formulations, using [[Syriac language|Syriac]] term ''qnoma'' (ܩܢܘܡܐ) as designation for dual (divine and human) properties within one [[prosopon]] (person) of Christ.{{sfn|Brock|1999d|p=281–298}}

Theological estrangement between East Syriac and West Syriac branches was manifested as a prolonged rivalry, that was particularly intensive between the [[Church of the East]] and the [[Maphrianate of the East]] (of the Syriac Orthodox Church),{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=}} with each branch claiming that its doctrines were not [[heresy|heretical]] while also accusing the other of teaching heresy. Their theological estrangement has persisted through the medieval and early modern periods and into the present era. In 1999, the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]], a sister-church of the Syriac Orthodox Church, blocked admittance of the Assyrian Church of the East to the [[Middle East Council of Churches]], which has among its members the Chaldean Catholic Church,{{sfn|Baum|Winkler|2003|pp=151–152}}{{sfn|Brock|2004b|p=58}}{{sfn|Nichols|2010|p=137}} and demanded that it remove from its liturgy the mention of [[Diodorus of Tarsus]], [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]] and [[Nestorius]], whom it venerates as "the Greek doctors".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://metropolitan-bishoy.org/files/ecumenieng/Assyrian.doc|title=Metropolitan Bishoy, "The Assyrian Churches"}}</ref>

=== East-West liturgical contrast ===
[[File:Holy mass of the Syriac Orthodox Church.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Holy Qurbana]] of the Syriac Orthodox Church celebration of the [[Divine Liturgy of Saint James]]]]

While not always being the case, the liturgies of the East and West Syriacs are quite distinct nowadays. The East Syriac Rite is noted especially for its eucharistic [[Qurbana of Addai and Mari]], in which the [[Words of Institution]] are absent. West Syriacs use the Syro-Antiochian or West Syriac Rite, which belongs to the family of liturgies known as the [[Antiochene Rite]].

The Syriac Orthodox Church adds to the [[Trisagion]] ("Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us") the phrase "who were crucified for us". The Church of the East interpreted this as heretical.<ref>[https://research.vu.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/19638871/complete+dissertation.pdf Marijke Metselaar-Jongens, ''Defining Christ: The Church of the East and Nascent Islam'' (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 2016), p. 79]</ref> Patriarch [[Timothy I of Seleucia-Ctesiphon|Timothy I]] of the Church of the East declared: "And also in all the countries of Babylon, of Persia, and of Assyria, and in all the countries of the sunrise, that is to say, among the Indians, the Chinese, the Tibetans, the Turks, and in all the provinces under the jurisdiction of this Patriarchal See, there is no addition of ''Crucifixus es pro nobis''".{{sfn|Mingana|1926|p=466}}

Among the Saint Thomas Christians of [[India]], the East Syriac Rite was the one originally used, but those who in the 17th century accepted union with the Syriac Orthodox Church adopted the West Syriac Rite of that church.

=== Further divisions ===
[[File:Branches & Denominations of Saint Thomas Christians.svg|alt=|thumb|400x400px|Present-day divisions of Saint Thomas Christians (also known as Syrian Christians)]]

A schism in 1552 in the Church of the East gave rise to a separate patriarchate, which at first entered into union with the [[Catholic Church]] but later formed the nucleus of the present-day Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East, while at the end of the 18th century most followers of the earlier patriarchate chose union with Rome and, with some others, now form the Chaldean Catholic Church.

In India, all of the [[Saint Thomas Christians]] are still collectively called "Syrian Christians". The majority of the Saint Thomas Christians, who initially depended on the Church of the East, maintained union with Rome in spite of discomforts felt at Latinization by their Portuguese rulers and clergy, against which they protested. They now form the [[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]]. A small group, which split from these in the early 19th century, united at the beginning of the 20th century, under the name of [[Chaldean Syrian Church]], with the Assyrian Church of the East.

Those who in 1653 broke with the Catholic Church as dominated by the Portuguese in India and soon chose union with the Syriac Orthodox Church later split into various groups. The first separation was that of the [[Malabar Independent Syrian Church]] in 1772.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fenwick |first1=John R.K. |title=Malabar Independent Syrian Church The Thozhiyur Church |url=https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Malabar-Independent-Syrian-Church}}</ref> At the end of the 19th century, the [[Mar Thoma Syrian Church|Malankara Marthoma Syrian Church]] separated, after which they adopted a Reformed variant of the [[Liturgy of St. James]] and later in the course of the 20th century, a division arose among those who remained united with the Syriac Orthodox Church who insisted on full [[autocephaly]] and are now called the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] and those, the [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]], who remain faithful to the patriarch.

A reunion movement led in 1930 to the establishment of [[full communion]] between some of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox and the Catholic Church. They now form the [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]].

In the Middle East, the newly enthroned patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, [[Ignatius Michael III Jarweh]], declared himself a Catholic and, having received confirmation from Rome in 1783, became the head of the Syriac Catholic Church.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, as persecution peaked especially after the [[Assyrian genocide]], many Syriac Christians, both East and West, left the Middle East for other lands, creating a substantial diaspora.{{sfn|Chaillot|1998|p=}}

In modern times, several Churches of Syriac tradition are actively participating in [[ecumenical dialogue]].{{sfn|Brock|1999e|pp=189–197}}{{sfn|Brock|2004b|pp=44–65}}

==Terms for Syriac Christians==
{{main|Terms for Syriac Christians}}
[[File:Outside the Syriac Church in Mosul.jpg|right|thumb|Celebration at a [[Syriac Orthodox]] monastery in [[Mosul]], [[Ottoman Syria]] (now [[Iraq]]), early 20th century]]

Indigenous [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]-speaking communities of the [[Near East]] ({{langx|syr|ܣܘܪܝܝܐ}}){{sfn|Donabed|2015|p=18}} adopted Christianity very early, perhaps already from the first century, and began to abandon their three-millennia-old traditional [[ancient Mesopotamian religion]], although this religion did not fully die out until as late as the tenth century.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} The kingdom of [[Osroene]], with the capital city of [[Edessa]], was absorbed into the [[Roman Empire]] in 114 as a semi-autonomous vassal state and then, after a period under the supremacy of the [[Parthian Empire]], was incorporated as a [[Osroene (Roman province)|Roman province]], first in 214, and finally in 242.{{sfn|Ross|2001|p=49}}

In 431 the [[First Council of Ephesus|Council of Ephesus]] declared [[Nestorianism]] a heresy. Nestorians, persecuted in the [[Byzantine Empire]], sought refuge in the parts of [[Mesopotamia]] that were part of the [[Sasanian Empire]]. This encouraged acceptance of Nestorian doctrine by the Persian [[Church of the East]], which spread Christianity outside Persia, to India, China, Tibet and Mongolia, expanding the range of this eastern branch of Syriac Christianity. Most of the remaining Syriac Christians within the [[Byzantine Empire]] formally accepted [[Miaphysitism]] having rejected the [[Council of Chalcedon]], and also spread their faith eastwards Persia, India, and China.<ref>T.V. Philip, [http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1553&C=1359 East of the Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428033153/http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=1553&C=1359 |date=2017-04-28 }}</ref>

== Churches of Syriac traditions ==
[[File:Syriac gospel miniature from Mosul, Iraq, c. 1220. (British Museum Add. 7170, fol. 145r).jpg|thumb|Syriac gospel miniature from [[Zengid dynasty]] [[Mosul]], Iraq, c. 1216–1220.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gorelik |first1=Michael |title=Oriental Armour of the Near and Middle East from the Eighth to the Fifteenth Centuries as Shown in Works of Art (in Islamic Arms and Armour) |date=1979 |publisher=Robert Elgood |page=Fig.38 |location=London |isbn=978-0859674706 |url=http://warfare.6te.net/Gorelik-Oriental_Armour.htm}}</ref>|236x236px]]
'''[[West Syriac Rite]]'''
* ''[[Oriental Orthodox]]''
** [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] (Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, based in [[Damascus, Syria]])
*** [[Jacobite Syrian Christian Church]] (Syriac Orthodox Church in India, [[Catholicosate]], based in [[Kochi|Kochi, Kerala, India]])
** [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]] (Indian Orthodox Church, [[Catholicosate]], based in [[Kottayam|Kottayam, Kerala, India]])
** [[Malabar Independent Syrian Church]] (Independent Oriental Orthodox Church, based in [[Thozhiyoor|Thozhiyur, Kerala, India]], not part of the [[Oriental Orthodox Communion]])
* ''[[Eastern Catholic Churches]] of the [[West Syriac Rite]]''
** [[Maronite Catholic Church]] (Syriac Maronite Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, based in [[Bkerké|Bkerké, Lebanon]])
** [[Syriac Catholic Church]] (Syriac Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, based in [[Beirut, Lebanon]])
** [[Syro-Malankara Catholic Church]] (Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, [[Catholicosate]], based in [[Trivandrum|Trivandrum, Kerala, India]])
* ''[[Eastern Protestant Christianity|Eastern Protestant Churches]]''
** [[Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church]] (in [[full communion]] with the [[Anglican Communion]], based in [[Thiruvalla|Thiruvalla, Kerala, India]])
** [[St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India]] (based in [[Thiruvalla|Thiruvalla, Kerala, India]])

'''[[East Syriac Rite]]'''
* ''[[Church of the East]]''
** The [[Assyrian Church of the East]], traditionalist continuation that emerged from the ''Shimun line'' of patriarchs of the Church of the East that took this name in 1976
*** The [[Chaldean Syrian Church]], an archbishopric in India of the Assyrian Church of the East
** The [[Ancient Church of the East]], split from the Assyrian Church of the East in the 1960s.
* ''[[Eastern Catholic Churches]] of the [[East Syriac Rite]]''
** The [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], an [[Eastern Catholic]] Church that emerged from the ''Elia'' line of patriarchs of the Church of the East following splits in 1552, 1667/1668 and 1779
** The [[Syro-Malabar Church]], an Eastern Catholic Church based in [[Kerala]] that is independent from the Chaldean Catholic hierarchy since the [[Synod of Diamper]] in 1599.
East Syriac Christians were involved in the mission to India, and many of the present Churches in India are in communion with either East or West Syriac Churches. These Indian Christians are known as [[Saint Thomas Christians]].

In modern times, even apart from the [[Eastern Protestant Christianity|Eastern Protestant]] denominations like [[Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar]] and [[St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India]], which originated from Churches of the West Syriac Rite,<ref name="Leustean">{{cite book |last1=Leustean |first1=Lucian N. |title=Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-81866-3 |page=568 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt2vAwAAQBAJ&q=Eastern+Christianity+and+Politics+in+the+Twenty-First+Century+mar+thoma+anglican |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Fortescue">{{cite book |last1=Fortescue |first1=Adrian |title=The lesser eastern churches |date=1913 |publisher=Catholic Truth Society |location=London |isbn=978-1-177-70798-5 |pages=368–371, 374–375 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TKbuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA370 |language=en}}</ref> various Evangelical denominations continue to send representatives among Syriac Christians. As a result, several [[Evangelical]] groups have been established, particularly the [[Assyrian Pentecostal Church]] (mostly in America, Iran, and Iraq) from East Syriac Christians, and the Aramean Free Church (mostly in Germany, Sweden, America and Syria) from West Syriac Christians. Because of their new ([[Protestantism|Protestant]]) theology these are oftentimes not classified as traditional churches of Syriac Christianity.

==See also==
{{portal|Christianity}}
* [[Assyrian people]]
* [[Saint Thomas Christian denominations]]

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== General and cited sources ==
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* {{Cite book|last=Ross|first=Steven K.|title=Roman Edessa: Politics and Culture on the Eastern Fringes of the Roman Empire, 114–242 CE|year=2001|location=London-New York|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134660636|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xayEAgAAQBAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Saint-Laurent|first=Jeanne-Nicole|chapter=Syriac Hagiographic Literature|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=339–354|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Seleznyov|first=Nikolai N.|title=The Church of the East & Its Theology: History of Studies|journal=Orientalia Christiana Periodica|year=2008|volume=74|issue=1|pages=115–131|url=https://www.academia.edu/1845015}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Seleznyov|first=Nikolai N.|title=Nestorius of Constantinople: Condemnation, Suppression, Veneration: With special reference to the role of his name in East-Syriac Christianity|journal=Journal of Eastern Christian Studies|year=2010|volume=62|issue=3–4|pages=165–190|url=https://www.academia.edu/1845014}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Seleznyov|first=Nikolai N.|title=Jacobs and Jacobites: The Syrian Origins of the Name and its Egyptian Arabic Interpretations|journal=Scrinium: Journal of Patrology, Critical Hagiographyand Ecclesiastical History|year=2013|volume=9|pages=382–398|url=https://www.academia.edu/3605517}}
* {{Cite book|last=Simmons|first=Ernest|title=The Fathers and Doctors of the Church|year=1959|location=Milwaukee|publisher=Bruce Publishing Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnU9AAAAYAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Takahashi|first=Hidemi|chapter=Syriac Christianity in China|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=625–652|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Taylor|first=David G. K.|chapter=The Coming of Christianity to Mesopotamia|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=68–87|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Teule|first=Herman|chapter=Current Trends in Syriac Studies|title=Eastern Crossroads: Essays on Medieval Christian Legacy|year=2007|location=Piscataway, NJ|publisher=Gorgias Press|pages=387–400|doi=10.31826/9781463212827-024|isbn=9781463212827|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9781463212827/10.31826/9781463212827-024.xml}}
* {{Cite book|last=Varghese|first=Baby|chapter=The Liturgies of the Syriac Churches|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=391–404|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Weltecke|first1=Dorothea|last2=Younansardaroud|first2=Helen|chapter=The Renaissance of Syriac Literature in the Twelfth–Thirteenth Centuries|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=698–717|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Watt|first=John W.|chapter=Syriac Philosophy|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=422–437|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wilmshurst|first=David|chapter=The Church of the East in the 'Abbasid Era|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=189–201|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/26842432}}
* {{Cite book|last=Winkler|first=Dietmar W.|chapter=The Syriac Church Denominations: An Overview|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=119–133|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wood|first=Philip|chapter=Historiography in the Syriac-Speaking World, 300–1000|title=The Syriac World|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Routledge|pages=405–421|isbn=9781138899018|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E48JswEACAAJ}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q80292|c=Category:Syriac Christianity|q=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|n=no|wikt=no|s=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no}}
* [http://www.jacobitesyrianchurch.org '''Jacobite Syrian Church''']
* {{in lang|fr|cap=yes}} – Translation into English [http://www.wikisyr.com '''Syriac Christianity'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411183545/http://www.wikisyr.com/ |date=2009-04-11 }} on [http://www.wikisyr.com/ '''WikiSyr'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411183545/http://www.wikisyr.com/ |date=2009-04-11 }}
* {{in lang|fr|cap=yes}} – Translation into English [http://www.cerclesyriac.fr '''Syriac Catholic Circle''']{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [http://nasrani.net/2008/10/31/qambel-maran-syriac-chants-from-south-india// Qambel Maran- Syriac chants from South India- a review and liturgical music tradition of Syriac Christians revisited]
* [http://nasrani.net/2007/01/12/preserved-original-rituals-of-the-early-jewish-christians-in-syrian-christians-of-kerala// Traditions and rituals among the Syrian Christians of Kerala]
* [http://www.msihoye.de/ Audio Aramaic-Bible]
* [http://www.csc.org.il/db/db.aspx?db=SB The Center for the Study of Christianity: A Comprehensive Bibliography on Syriac Christianity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024110546/http://www.csc.org.il/db/db.aspx?db=SB |date=2021-10-24 }}

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