Syriac Churches

Syriac Christianity (Syriac: ܡܫܝܚܝܘܬܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܬܐ‎ / mšiḥāiūṯā suryāiṯā) refers to Eastern Christian traditions that employs Syriac in their liturgical rites. The Syriac language is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that emerged in Edessa, Assyria-Upper Mesopotamia, in the early 1st century AD, and is considered closely related to the Aramaic of Jesus. Tracing back their historical heritage to the 1st century, Syriac Christianity is today represented in the Middle East by the Maronite Church, Syriac Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East, as well as by the Saint Thomas Christians of respective communions centered in Kerala, India.

Christianity began in the Middle East in Jerusalem among Jewish Aramaic-speaking Semitic peoples of the Kingdom of Judah (modern Israel, Palestinian Territories and Jordan). It quickly spread, initially to other Semitic peoples, in Parthian-ruled Assyria and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), Roman-ruled Syria (ancient Aramea), Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), southern and eastern Asia Minor (modern Turkey), and northwestern Persia (modern Iran) and Malta. From there it spread to Greece, Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, the Caucasus region and on into the Balkans, India, North Africa, Rome, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nubia (modern Sudan), Arabia, and eventually southern and western Europe.