The language Jesus spoke, lives-on !
When Msgr. Saad consecrates the Holy Euchrist during Liturgy(Mass) at St. Elias Maronite Ch. (Birmingham, AL), father recites a 'Gospel account' of the Last Supper in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic.
via: RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
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BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA -- To many, it may seem as dead as Latin, but Aramaic -- the language Jesus spoke -- is alive every weekend at St. Elias Maronite Church here and in communities across the nation from San Diego, Calif., to Yonkers, N.Y.
"It's a holy language, it's a liturgical language, it's the language Jesus spoke."
And because Jesus taught and told his oft-puzzling parables in Aramaic, the language also holds the key to interpreting passages that have long been misunderstood by westerners, said Aramaic scholar Rocco Erricco, author of "Treasures from the Language of Jesus."
"In biblical scholarship and translation, it's becoming more important." said Erricco president of the Noohra Foundation in Santa Fe. N.M. It helps clarify passages that are obscure."
Especially since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s, the importance of Aramaic --a general term that includes a group of closely related Semitic dialects-- has grown in offering clues to biblical scholars.
"When three lanuages that are crucial for biblical scholarship are Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic," he added. "When the New Testament went west, it was in Greek and Aramaic." he added. "When it went eastward, it was in Aramaic."
The current interest in Aramaic crosses denominational boundaries and puts Aramaic speakers and translators like Erricco in great demand.
"I can hardly keep us with it," he said. "People are really interested in it. What I'm doing is showing the Bible through the eyes of the Middle East, The semitic languages of Aramaic and Hebrew, the ancient culture, psychology, idioms and symbolism of the ancient Near East."
At the same time, Aramaic is not just a "dead" scholarly language like Latin. Many people from the Middle East who have migrated to other parts of the world have kept Aramaic as their primary language, Erricco said.
Indeed, there are communities of Aramaic speakers as large as 3,000 in San Diego, Calif., Chicago and Yonders, N.Y. Other Middle Eastern Christians who migrated to Australia and Russia also speak it, he said.
The language is still spoken today," Erricco said, adding however, that it is in danger because "the younger generation is no longer speaking Aramaic."
At the 3,000-member St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic Church in El Cajon, Calif., "they still speak Aramaic in the community" and continue to use it in the Liturgy, Erricco said. "the people preserved it and kept it."
"Today the aramaic language is still alive. The liturgy is still alive in the services. In Iraq and Kurdistan, thousands still speak Aramaic."
At St. Elias, a church of Lebanese immigrants, "it's definitely part of our spiritual culture," Father Saad said. Throughout the Mass, prayers and scripture are recited in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic...
"Mal-ko syma-yo-no ha-so lan khool dah-ty-nan lokh," they say at the start of the service.
"I have entered your house, O' Lord, and have worshipped before your throne. O' King of heaven, forgive all my sins."
When Msgr. Saad holds up a Holy Communion (wafer) during the consecration of the Eucharist, he recites a Gospel-account of the Last Supper in Syriac.
The Liturgy dates back to a time before Muslims conquered most of the Middle East, beginning in the 7th. century, when Arabic became the dominant language of the region. "It put Aramaic on the back shelf," Saad said.
Aramaic is a Semitic language, closely related to both Hebrew and Arabic. It is written right to left and uses the same alphabet, syntax and grammar.
"The common tongue of first-century Palestine (Jesus' time) was Aramaic." he said.
In the Old Testament, several verses in Ezra, Daniel and a verse in Jeremiah (Jer. 10:11) were written in Aramaic. The New Testament contains several Aramaic expressions including "Talitha cumi" in Mark 5:41, "Ephphatha" in Mark 7:34 and "Maranatha," in 1Cor. 16:22.
The earliest existing copies of the Gospels were written in Greek but maintained 46 words of Aramaic, which some scholars feel point back to an Aramaic original before Greek.
In conclusion: Aramaic, the language that Jesus taught and spoke, lives-on !
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