Who Are We? The Short and the Long Answers

by Samuran Aykurt

Suryoyo Students

Not too long ago I encountered a gentlemen whose curiousity blossomed when he discovered that Aramaic is my first language. Like most people, he was confused and asked me where I'm from. "Turkey," I said. He then asked whether or not we are Muslims. "No, we're Syrian Orthodox Christians."

"Do you have anything to do with the country Syria? " he inquired, "I thought you were from Turkey." At this point, I could have ended his interest by saying, yeah, pretty much, but I found this to be an opportune time to teach an outsider about our faith. I went on to explain the concept of Greater Syria, our Suryoyo nation, and more importantly, our ancient apostolic Semitic Christian roots.

After finding out that Aramaic speaking Christians still exist, the man said, "No you don't, you're extinct." Not really, I'm right here speaking to you. It is as if these folks are hit by a freight train; the effect is almost as shocking for me to see as it is for them to learn that we still exist. This is a point we should pay attention to. For us to survive and grow as a nation and more importantly, a faith, we need to educate Westerners about our religion, our cultures, and our hardships as well as those that our relatives are facing today. Some may say, "well I don't know enough about my religion to teach others." This may be true, but whenever someone asks a question, it provides us the opportunity to find out the answer if we do not know it already.

Little by little, each one of us can do our part to strengthen the Syriac Orthodox Christian community.
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