THE SYRIAC CHURCH

The Syriac church is perhaps unique amongst the various Apostolic churches as it preserves the original Aramaic tongue of Christ straight through the medieval period up until our modern day. Traditionally, the Syriac church might be split into at least three primary spheres of influence: Edessa, Antioch, and Seleucia-Ctesiphon, or alternatively, between the West and East Syriac dialects. The affiliations of Syriac Christians are politically complicated, and today they straddle the line between Catholic and Orthodox communions, as well as the fragments of the Church of the East. Many of their writer are prolific and known to Christians on the far reaches of the world. They include: Tatian the Assyrian, Isaac of Nineveh, Ephrem the Syrian, and John of Damascus to name a few.