It is somewhat understood that the Christians of Lebanon and Kerala, though separated by 4,000 miles of land & sea, belong to the same ancient linguistic and theological world. Both descend from the Syriac-speaking Christianity that once stretched from Antioch to the Malabar Coast, and both have wrestled with what it means to be indigenous after centuries of empire, conversion, and cultural layering.
1. The Syriac World
Before Latin or Arabic ruled their respective shores, both Lebanon and south western India were part of an Aramaic Christian zone. The language of Christ, Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, became the scriptural and liturgical medium for Christians from Edessa to Mylapore. From this matrix emerged:
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The Maronites of Lebanon; Chalcedonian Syriac Christians who accepted the Christology of Constantinople but maintained their own monastic independence in the mountains.
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The Nasrānīs (Saint Thomas Christians) of Kerala; East Syriac Christians under the Church of the East in Persia, who never knew Byzantium but shared the same liturgical ancestry.
In both regions, Syriac liturgy defined the faith long before Latin, Greek, or Malayalam translations appeared. To this day, Maronite and Keralite priests still whisper “Qadishāt Alohō”, Holy God, in the same ancestral tongue.
2. Lebanon; A Christian Mountain Built on Shiʿite Soil Continue reading Syriac Echoes: From the Mountains of Lebanon to the Coasts of Kerala