THE ARAMEANS ARE CALLED SYRIACS

Part I) What Bishop Manna wrote about the term.
Part II) The mistakes and contradictions.
Part III) About the origin of Syria from Surus.
Part IV) What the Orientalist Quatremere wrote about the term Syria and its origin from Assyria.

 

 

PART II - The mistakes and the contradictions in Preface

The main idea that involved the bishop in various problems concerning the equation (= the term) is his opinion that in the East Syriac language (which is wrongly called Chaldean or Assyrian today) the word meant Christian. This is an opinion which is still today common among the East Syriacs.
Moreover, the bishop found that in their publications some European scholars emphasized that the term "Syriac (Syrian)" came to replace "Aramaean/Aramaic", among the newly christened Aramaeans.
This basis was taken for granted by the bishop, and he worded it in a way that can only be accepted. He wrote:
"...therefore, the pronunciation Aramaean came to be synonymous with Sabaean and heathen. The pronunciation 'Syriac' becomes synonymous with Christian up to our time".
Precisely this emphasis on "up to our time" made many educated Syriacs who were familiar with the problem believe in the bishop's equation and so in his conclusions Le. "Aramaean means pagan and Syrian means christian" .

- For, is not the word Aramaean allegorically equivalent to heathen, for instance, in the Syriac dictionaries from the eleventh century AD. ?
- Has not the name of Naaman the Aramaean in The Old Testament been transformed into Naaman the Syriac in The New Testament?
- And are there not many other similar comparisons that the Syriacs familiar with the problem, especially the clergymen, have made the most of to confirm the bishop's equation:

"Syriac = Christian"

Most Syriac ecclesiastics have stated that the term "Syriac (Syrian)" is 2000 years old. They confirm the bishop's equation, however, in an indirect way. If the name Syriacs had meant Christians, Bar Salibi would have been proud of this name. Instead he is proud of his Aramaean identity.
For the reader's part it is important to know that the Syriacs retained their Aramaean name up to the twelfth century AD.

 

WHEN DID THE TERM ARAMAEAN BEGIN TO MEAN HEATHEN?

The answer can be found in the following lines. It is important to note that Jacob Bar Salibi is one of the most important of the Jacobite Syriac writers. He is also known under the name of Dionosius, Bishop of Amid (†1171AD.) In his book directed against the Melchites (Syriacs that are now known as Greek Ortodox Syriacs and Greek-Catholic Syriacs)
You should know that the word "Greek" is pronounced Helinos in their language (Greek) and that Helinos means "Heathen" and Helinismos "Heathenism".
We see this clearly in Jacob of Sarog praise of Mar Ephrem, the Syriac:
"He that became the crown of the whole Aramaean nation which thanks to him was blessed with spiritual gifts".
This also applies to his words about the Virgins of Edessa, Mar Ephrem's pupils:
"The Hebrew girls sang with their tambourines, and the Aramaean girls sang praises unto God with their hymns".
If the term Aramaean had actually meant only heathen at the beginning of the sixth century A.D., Jacob of Sarog, died 521, would not describe Mar Ephrem, the Syriac, as he "who became the crown of the whole Aramean nation", and neither would he have written "...the Aramaean girls sing praises...", about Mar Ephrem's pupils.

I recommend the reader to read closely what bishop Manna wrote on Bar Salibi: "Our answer is that the Syriac name that you deprive us of is no name of honour to us".

I put the following question to the reader:

Is there anything in the previous sentence that indicates that the name Syriac means Christian?
It is clear that Bishop Manna could not use the Syriac sources to confirm his theory, because these Syriac quotations and references, which he used confirms that the word Aramaean was synonymous with Syrian/Syriac and vice versa through the whole Christian era.

Bar Salibi then goes on: "... we are the sons of Aram, and we were once called Aramaeans". It is known that Bar Salibi's attitude to the Greeks was very critical as they were attached to their name which meant "Heathenism". If the Aramaen name had had the same significance, he would not have been proud of being an Aramaean. I want to draw the reader's attention to the fact that the Syriac writers always used the words Hanfo and Hanfutho when they meant heathen and heathenism.

 

 

Sources:
1.Dictionary of Chaldean-Arabic, Preface,p.15.
2.Mingana (A), ed., Bar Salibi in "Woodbroke Studies".V.1(1927),p.72. v 3. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalum, C.S.C.O., T. 6, p.360.
4. Quatre Mere, Memoire Sur les Nabateems, 1831, p.24.
5. Ibid., p.24.
6. Strabo, Geographie I (2). 74

Aram 3-4 1992