Perspectief 2019-44

Perspectief 6 The Dispersion of the Syriac-Orthodox Throughout the World in the Diaspora centers and beyond forming the second place after the Bible in many monastic circles on Mount Athos and elsewhere. Having talked about the Syriac Orient and its wider significance, now I would like to move to the contemporary situation of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Western Diaspora. But first, allow me to say a word or two about the catholicity, that is to say, the universality of the Church since the Christian faith transcends geographical borders, and every national, ethnic and language group. In the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed we profess the Church to be one, holy, catholic (that is to say universal), and apostolic. These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. Here, I shall focus on the universality aspect of the Church. As human beings, it is often desirable to have con- versations across borders, to be in dialogue with those who are different from us. Christians have engaged in this from the Church’s earliest days, both in missionary activity and in the defense of Christianity against its critics, from which the long and distinguished tradition of apologetics developed. One of the earliest Christian apologies is an anony- mous second-century work known as the Epistle to Diognetus . In the Epistle , the author describes for Diognetus the relationship between Christians and the larger, non-Christian world: Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life…. Yet, although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike…and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and ad- mittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure eve- rything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry, like everyone else, and they beget children, but they do not cast out their offspring. They share their board with each other, but not their marriage bed. It is true that they are “in the flesh,” but they do not live “according to the flesh.” They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the