Syria (region)Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 Sura/i; Συρία) or Sham (ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other synonyms are Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine. The region boundaries have changed throughout history. In modern times, the term "Syria" alone is used to refer to the Syrian Arab Republic. The term is originally derived from Assyria, an ancient civilization centered in northern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq.
Church FathersThe Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical period in which they worked became known as the Patristic Era and spans approximately from the late 1st to mid-8th centuries, flourishing in particular during the 4th and 5th centuries, when Christianity was in the process of establishing itself as the state church of the Roman Empire.
IraqIraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in the Middle East. It is a federal parliamentary republic that consists of 19 governorates. The country is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. The Iraqi people are diverse; mostly Arabs, as well as Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidis, Mandaeans, Persians and Shabakis with similarly diverse geography and wildlife.
Bar HebraeusGregory Bar Hebraeus (ܓܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ ܒܪ ܥܒܪܝܐ, b. 1226 - d. 30 July 1286), known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Bar Ebraya or Bar Ebroyo, in Arabic sources by his kunya Abu'l-Faraj, and his Latinized name Abulpharagius in the Latin West, was a Maphrian (regional primate) of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1264 to 1286. He was a prominent writer, who created various works in the fields of Christian theology, philosophy, history, linguistics, and poetry.
Ephrem the SyrianEphrem the Syrian (Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, mɑr ʔafˈrem surˈjɑjɑ; Efrém o Sýros; Ephraem Syrus; ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; 306 – 373), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint Ephraim, Ephrem of Edessa or Aprem of Nisibis, was a prominent Christian theologian and writer, who is revered as one of the most notable hymnographers of Eastern Christianity. He was born in Nisibis, served as a deacon and later lived in Edessa. Ephrem is venerated as a saint by all traditional Churches.
Syriac languageThe Syriac language (ˈsɪriæk; / Leššānā Sūryāyā, Leshono Suryoyo), also known as Syriac Aramaic (Syrian Aramaic, Syro-Aramaic) and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ (in its literary and liturgical form), is an Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East.
EusebiusInfobox saint | honorific_prefix= Saint | name = Eusebius of Caesarea | image = St. Eusebius T'oros Roslin Gospels.png | caption = Icon portrait of the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea as a saint from T'oros Roslin Gospel manuscript in Armenia dated 1262 | titles = The Father of Church History | venerated_in = Syriac Orthodox Church"The Church Historian and Metropolitan of Caesarea for twenty five years is included, on the list, among the Syrian martyrs and those who vouched for true faith (Wace & Piercy, 1999).
