Aramaic Primacy in the East

[Paul Younan]

Is the Peshitta still held as the original New Testament in the East as commonly stated on this board?

Hi Dylan.

The vast majority of the Christians in the Middle East are adherents of traditions other than the Church of the East.

Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, etc.

The Church of the East makes up less than 1% maybe of the population. What was at one time the largest church has become the smallest due to slaughter and persecution, by both others and by Christians of other branches.

The answer to your original question is no, the vast majority of "eastern" Christians do not hold the Peshitta as the original. Even if their church has it as the official version (many do, like the Chaldeans or the Syriac Orthodox), they don't know why.

Even in the CoE, there are Greek primacists. At the levels of bishops and priests and deacons.

However, there are still other bishops, priests, deacons and lay people who are Aramaic primacists.

The above has certainly been true throughout its history.

None of this is dogma, or a central creed. The church has never officially taken up the matter in a synodal decree. It doesn't consider the topic to be a matter of salvation.

Like Akhan Chuck said. It's not about opinions of any western or eastern Christian. It's about the evidence in the text.

I often debate with people in my own church about this topic. There is no universal consensus.

+Shamasha