Syriac in Beirut…

After discussing Aramaic and contemplating its future in Syria, my students and I plunged into studying Syriac–a dialect of Aramaic. To take our study of Syriac out of the Levant, I invited my colleague, Dr. Mario Kozah, to enlighten us about the Syriac writers of Qatar. When I was an undergraduate at Brown University, I was introduced to Syriac and the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church by Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey–who, in addition to being a phenomenal lecturer and scholar, is also a tonsured reader in the Antiochian Orthodox Church. In her riveting (and award-winning) class on Christianity in Late Antiquity, she introduced us to early female saints like St. Thecla and hermit ascetics like St. Simeon from Syria. It’s been a true joy to see my students in Beirut as excited about learning Syriac as I remember being when learning about Syriac for the first time…