The story
I had the privilege of leading two groups to Syria in 2022 and 2023. During both visits, we explored Mar Sarkis Monastery in Maalula—the largest of three villages near Mount Qalamun where Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is still spoken.
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According to legend, Jesus once passed through this 3,000-year-old village where religion and folklore intertwine. Remarkably, Aramaic can still be heard here today, 2,000 years later. The language, shaped by the area's complex history and geography, sounds similar to Arabic with a Hebrew accent (listen to the voice in the video below). Though Aramaic was once one of the world's most influential languages, it now survives with very few native speakers.
While some Maalula residents take pride in speaking Christ's language, others view it simply as their everyday tongue. In the Syrian Orthodox Church, services are conducted in Syriac, a modern form of Aramaic. Historical evidence indicates that Aramaic was Jesus's mother tongue—the language in which he taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer.
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During our visits to Mar Sarkis Monastery, we listened to sermons in Aramaic. On our second visit, we heard a young laywoman deliver the sermon.
A prayer in Aramaic at Mar Sarkis Monastery, Maalula, Syria
During our first visit, we had the opportunity to speak with a priest who had recently returned to the monastery after spending much of the Syrian civil war in Lebanon.
The oldest surviving Syriac-Aramaic gospels are known as the Vetus Syra or Old Syriac texts. Only two manuscripts remain: the Curetonian text from the Library of the Convent of St. Mary Deipara in Egypt's Natron Valley, and the Sinaitic Syriac text, discovered by Agnes Smith Lewis at Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, in 1892.
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The village of Maalula and its monastery bore the heavy toll of war. During our visit, while extensive reconstruction work was in progress, many private homes and buildings still lay in ruins.
Mar Sarkis Monastery, built in the fifth century, stands on the foundation of an ancient pagan temple. Its pre-Constantinian origins are evidenced by a rare horseshoe-shaped altar table. The monastery is home to two of the world's oldest icons, including one depicting the Last Supper.
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