The Modern Syriac Renaissance (20th Century)

The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed a revival of Syriac literature, both secular and religious. The end of World War I, and as a result the turbulent history that ensued, a spirit of ethnic identity swept across some of the Syriac-speaking communities of the Middle East which played a role in shaping Modern Literary Syriac.

Toma Audo, Chaldean metropolitan of Urmia (1853-1917), composed a valuable large-size Syriac-Syriac dictionary. The Syriac Catholic Patriarch Afram Rahmani (1848-1929) and his namesake and Orthodox counterpart Patriarch Afram Barsoum (1887-1969) were among the most distinguished Syriac scholars of the 20th century, each producing a large number of scholarly studies.

Journalism was a new genre of this century. Naoum Faiq (1868-1930) founded the earliest Syriac periodical, Star of the East in 1908. Two years earlier, the Neo-Aramaic periodical Kokhwa 'Star' appeared in Urmia. Today, a few dozen periodicals publish in Syriac and Neo-Aramaic.

A few translations from western books into Syriac also appeared, most notably Bernardin de Saint Pierre's romantic novel Paul et Virginie, translated by Paulos Gabriel (d. 1971) and Ghattas Maqdasi Elyas; and Racine's play Athalie, translated by Abrohom Isu.

During this century, most of the liturgical Syriac works, of the various denominations, were translated from Syriac into Malayalam, the language of the St. Thomas Christians, for purposes of worship. Among the most celebrated translators is Matta Konat.

Along the revival of Syriac literature, the 20th century witnessed an increased interest in the study of the Syriac heritage by western scholars. Today, there is an international conference on Syriac studies almost every year. Beth Mardutho sees itself as part of this Renaissance, bringing Syriac scholarship of western scholars and the Syriac-speaking communities together in order to preserve the Syriac heritage and maintain the Syriac language.

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