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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:

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.

Exonyms

During most of Anno Domini, the Assyrian people were known as 'Syrians', or 'Sūrāyē', which has been in use since early Syriac Christianity. In 1976, the Church of the East added "Assyrian" as an addendum to its official name. 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.

Proponents of self-identification as Chaldeans are in fact a sub-group of Syriac Christianity, the Chaldean Christians, adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church (the Church of the East adopted Catholicism in 1551-1553, but increasingly, only since 1830), while the dispute between self-identification as "Assyrians" vs. "Aramaeans" concerns the entire ethnicity.

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:

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

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

History and descent

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. The "Assyrian" faction, on the other hand, in defence, argues that Nahum 3:18, is intentionally being neglected by the "Aramaean" faction.

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:

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

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

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

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:

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. 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:

However, in Lebanon, some DNA enthusiasts and researchers have been eager to prove a genetic link between modern Lebanese Christians and the ancient Phoenicians.

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". The official census avoids the question by listing the group as "Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac". Some Maronite Christians also joined this US census (as opposed to Lebanese American).

Background

During the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, Assyrian patriotism amongst the Jacobites (Syrian Orthodox Christians) was permeating during the period when the Assyrian Genocide occurred. Syrian Orthodox Christians from the Middle East founded Assyrian churches in America, 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 by the Britons been promised as a repayment for the Assyrian Levies' loyal support to both the Allies of World War I and Allies of World War II. 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, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and ended up in the hands of the Arabs and the Turks instead of in the hands of the Assyrians.

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. In Sweden, the majority of those who identify themselves as Assyrians, are Jacobites from the Syriac Orthodox Church, but there are also Assyrians in Sweden representing the other Syriac churches.

Academic controversies

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. 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, 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”. 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”. 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.

Subsequently, Joseph decided to refute claims made by Assyriologist H. W. F. Saggs, in his book, The Might That Was Assyria, where he had stated that the ancient Assyrians, after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, had continued on for centuries and afterwards became Christians. According to Joseph, the early communities of Syriac-speaking Christians, had no Assyrian names. 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.

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 been settled (see Syria#Etymology) since 2006, and it has been proven through archaeology that Syrians (and thereby "Syriacs") is derived from Assyrians. Although there are exceptions, generally speaking, Syriac Christians don't use 'Syrians' as an ethnic designation any longer, because since the 1940's, the term Syrians has attached a connotation, pointing to citizens of the Arab republic, Syria.

Sweden

In Sweden, this name dispute has its beginning when immigrants from Turkey, belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church emigrated to Sweden during the 1960's 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.

Controversies

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

Aramaic

J. Joseph emphasizes non-identity of the two terms Assyria and Syria, not so much on etymological as on geographical grounds, a position criticized by Michael (2002).

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:


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


In the wake of the modern rediscovery of Ancient Assyria from the 1840s, "Assyrian" identity was embraced with renewed enthusiasm in Assyrian nationalism.

See also

External links

Bibliography

References

Footnotes



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