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The present paper introduces, inventories and interrogates prevailing narratives about the complex trajectories through which a putative Syrian Christian dynasty named Villarvattom has taken root in communal genealogies and the popular imagination of Kerala. The paper, by examining historical evidence, argues that the existing historical documents compel us to consider it as a retrospectively invented and imagined tradition necessitated and facilitated by the unique socio-political structures of Kerala viz. the ideational complexes wrought by caste and allied practices, the dislocation caused by successive colonial regimes and the overall crisis experienced by the indigenous Christian community. The paper surveys the present state of literature, discusses explanatory models, points to the possibility of cultural introjection and seeks ways in which the study can be taken forward more comprehensively and productively so that we gain perceptive insights into both the ecclesiastical and secular histories of Kerala. The paper argues that it is an invented tradition, a defence mechanism collectively, and perhaps unconsciously, evolved by the beleaguered Syrian Christians under the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial rule, which had inflicted debilitating blows to the power and glory enjoyed by this community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether for his political choices or his philanthropic activities, Gregorios IV Haddad, the Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole East 1906–1924, is still remembered as a strong supporter of Arabism. Arab nationalist historiography overwhelmingly locates Gregorios's story within the ideological framework of Arabism nationalism. This ideological interpretation, however, simplifies the intricate political reality in the final decade of Ottoman rule in Syria, a period characterized by a multiplicity of identities including Ottomanism, Arabism and Islamism. More importantly, it downplays Gregorios's political brilliance and pragmatic approach in running the affairs of the Greater Syrian Christians, a minority community that was subject to suspicion and censorship during critical historical junctures. This article examines some of the ways in which a leader of a religious minority navigated the political upheavals that characterized the Ottoman Empire's last decade of power in Greater Syria. It will show that Gregorois's sense of responsibility for his community obliged him to prioritize pragmatism over nationalist ideology in order to best respond to the political circumstances of the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Select research has indicated that widespread migration is catalysing the novel reimagining of eldercare and transformative changes in the local eldercare economy in the Global South. Yet research on ageing and migration from the South has largely focused on transnational care practices of providing emotional support and economic remittances. Drawing on ethnographic research among the privileged and affluent community of Syrian Christians of Kerala, India, I argue for a diverse and complex Southern reconfiguration of eldercare at the intersection of migration, which also includes 'market transfer' of proximate care services as reciprocal filial care. Further, the paper illuminates how specificities of migration, ageing and care are locally nuanced and shape diverse transnational care practices. In turn, transnational care strategies employed by the migrants to overcome distances transform the local eldercare economy and (re)produce class-stratified eldercare spaces. Through the study of a privileged community, the paper highlights the increasing marketisation of the eldercare landscape in the sending countries of the South and contributes to furthering diversified understandings of the ageing-migration nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "Variant Readings of Luke 22:15-20 and the Relationship of Codex Bezae to Curetonian Syriac" which appeared in the November 08, 2024 issue.

For centuries, the legal rate of interest in the Roman Empire was "one-hundredth": 1 percent of the principal of the loan was added to it each month. Although Christian leaders and writers in the Greek and Latin west did not approve of this practice, Syriac-speaking Christian communities in the eastern Roman Empire incorporated the rate of "one-hundredth" into canon law, and some grounded it in a novel interpretation of the Syriac Bible. In this paper, I describe the incorporation of Roman lending norms into the framework of the Syriac church and discuss an early document that both reflects and modifies these norms: a "circular letter" of Symeon Stylites (d. 459), in which he commands that interest rates be lowered by 50 percent as a temporary act of piety. That letter is preserved in a manuscript of Symeon's Syriac Life, found today in the British Library (Add. 14,484, fols. 130b–133b). I situate the letter within that Syriac tradition, and I offer the possibility that Justinian's law of 528, which also lowered interest rates by 50 percent (CJ 4.32.26), might have been the result of contacts with this Syriac tradition, and specifically with Symeon's regulation. I also examine the reception of the Roman rate of "one-hundredth" in early Christian normative sources ("lawbooks" and "canons") from the Church of the East, in the Sasanian Empire. These Christians received the Roman norm of "one-hundredth" differently and did not incorporate Symeon's pious reduction of the interest rate, or Justinian's imperial legislation to the same effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines casteism and the food practices of dominant-caste Syrian Christians during Holy Week in Kerala, India. Kerala is often deemed to be educated, progressive and secular. However, education and secular practices have not eradicated casteism. Looking at three specific breads made by Syrian Christians during Holy Week, I trace the difference between Syrian Christian food-giving to Dalit Bahujan workers, and food-sharing between Syrian Christians and dominant-caste Hindus. Food, I argue, gives us a lens to understand how casteism continues to function despite narratives of Kerala's secular and progressive exceptionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The figure of Mary, Lazarus’s sister, receives an enhanced role in the Old Syriac Sinaiticus translation of the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1–46). Four readings in the Syriac translation focus on Mary and consist of additions or reelaborations of the Greek text that are not errors or misunderstandings of the original but rather the result of reading the figure of Mary in the context of the Fourth Gospel as a whole. The result is a portrait of Mary of Bethany in the Sinaiticus translation that should properly be titled “portrait of a disciple.” This analysis results in a deeper appreciation of the Old Syriac translator’s overall interpretation of John 11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on the analysis of two manuscripts in the Arabic language produced by the West Syrian scribe Yūsuf ibn Sbāṭ of Amida/Diyarbakır, in 1352 in Cairo and in 1358 in Famagusta, respectively. The former is one of the earliest complete and dated manuscripts written in Garshuni (Arabic in Syriac characters), whereas the latter is written in a fine, Arabic hand. By following Yūsuf across the eastern Mediterranean, this article seeks to explain his journey and scribal practices in light of contemporary cultural and socio-economic trends. Retrospectively, it also aims to demonstrate how Yūsuf's case can shed light on the history of Syriac Christians living outside their historical homeland. It thus investigates the various ways they dealt with a challenging multi-cultural context, and how the latter influenced several aspects of their habits and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes narratives of emigration among Syriac Christians who migrated from Turkey to Vienna, Austria. It sets out from a starting point of exploring the different ways that migration affects family life and reproduction. By using “linked biographies,” the discussion focuses upon intergenerational aspects in order to explore the ways in which history is understood and reproduced by individuals with their own narrative but interconnected with the biographies of family members. Through the analysis of the narrative strategies of three men and their sons, it is shown how the individuals draw on cultural idioms of Syriac family and masculinity when telling their stories and simultaneously negotiating their moral agency. The paper argues that the analysis of biographical material reveals that postmigration intergenerational loyalties are not only about negotiating collective identity but also about pressures for social mobility.

This paper brings together two different communities, Kabyles (Amazighs) and Syrian Christians, who are nevertheless marked by some commonalities: a strong diasporic dispersal as a historical experience, political, cultural and linguistic marginalization in their countries of origin, the deep association of collective identity with an "endangered" heritage language, a lived experience of multilingualism, and a post-emigration struggle of language maintenance and transmission. The Kabyles have roots in northern Algeria, and associate their language, Kabyle, with a pre-Arabized history of northern Africa, with claims to cultural authenticity and indigeneity. This paper focuses on research conducted in the UK, a relatively new immigrant setting for this community. The Syrian Christians originate from Turkey and have dispersed across different European countries since the 1960s. They make strong identity claims to Aramaic, "the language of Jesus", yet have also found its preservation and intergenerational transmission challenging. This paper focuses on research conducted in the German speaking context. Drawing on ethnographic research with these communities, we bring their post-migration language preservation activisms into a dialogue. This shows the enduring significance of the heritage language for social, cultural and historical identity, despite considerable language decline. It also demonstrates that the current survival of the "mother tongue" hinges on multilingual and multi-sited language activisms which bear the hallmarks of both new creativities and diminishing fluencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]