04-14-2010, 05:53 PM
Akhooni Mark,
First, you might want to point them over to this forum! Yes, I know it might entail a lot of digging on their end, but I feel confident in saying that they would find some very convincing evidence to counter their assumptions before they decide to post again.
Next, make it clear to them that they should stop grouping all Aramaic speaking church traditions together, and to rule out "studies" from others who do this as well. For all intensive purposes today we have 7 apostolic churches that all come from the areas in which Aramaic was spoke (not including the Indian churches).
1. (Assyrian) Church of the East
2. (Ancient) Church of the East *an offshout of #1
3. Chaldean Catholic Church *an offshout of #1
4. Syriac Orthodox Church
5. Syriac Catholic Church *an offshout of #4
6. Maronite Catholic Church (now mostly Arabic speaking)
7. Melkite Catholic Church (now only Arabic speaking)
As you probably already know, it is pretty much only members from the Church of the East that hold to the tradition of Aramaic Primacy. A few others from different churches do as well, but that is not the majority opinion. Moreover, the Church of the East was the ONLY branch of Christianity outside of the Roman empire, and so our logic is based upon our own history. I do not mean that to be offensive, but it is annoying when outsiders continually muddle up the facts. I know this is not normally on purpose, but it is like mainland China telling someone from Taiwan that they are Chinese (for lack of a better analogy).
It has also been spelled out numerous times that the Peshitta is NOT the Old Syriac (Curetonian / Sinaitic) or a derivation thereof. Numerous historic and linguistic facts have been presented, yet a few "educated" people in the past orchistrated some pretty complicated "reasoning" (full of assumptions) to explain something that does not follow basic logic.
In short, I would suggest that you tell them to check their facts, and THEN come back with a more organized discussion.
God Bless,
-Nimrod Warda-
First, you might want to point them over to this forum! Yes, I know it might entail a lot of digging on their end, but I feel confident in saying that they would find some very convincing evidence to counter their assumptions before they decide to post again.
Next, make it clear to them that they should stop grouping all Aramaic speaking church traditions together, and to rule out "studies" from others who do this as well. For all intensive purposes today we have 7 apostolic churches that all come from the areas in which Aramaic was spoke (not including the Indian churches).
1. (Assyrian) Church of the East
2. (Ancient) Church of the East *an offshout of #1
3. Chaldean Catholic Church *an offshout of #1
4. Syriac Orthodox Church
5. Syriac Catholic Church *an offshout of #4
6. Maronite Catholic Church (now mostly Arabic speaking)
7. Melkite Catholic Church (now only Arabic speaking)
As you probably already know, it is pretty much only members from the Church of the East that hold to the tradition of Aramaic Primacy. A few others from different churches do as well, but that is not the majority opinion. Moreover, the Church of the East was the ONLY branch of Christianity outside of the Roman empire, and so our logic is based upon our own history. I do not mean that to be offensive, but it is annoying when outsiders continually muddle up the facts. I know this is not normally on purpose, but it is like mainland China telling someone from Taiwan that they are Chinese (for lack of a better analogy).
It has also been spelled out numerous times that the Peshitta is NOT the Old Syriac (Curetonian / Sinaitic) or a derivation thereof. Numerous historic and linguistic facts have been presented, yet a few "educated" people in the past orchistrated some pretty complicated "reasoning" (full of assumptions) to explain something that does not follow basic logic.
In short, I would suggest that you tell them to check their facts, and THEN come back with a more organized discussion.
God Bless,
-Nimrod Warda-