MESOPOTAMIA

MESOPOTAMIA. Christianity in Mesopotamia, i.e., from northern Syria (q.v.) through present-day Iraq, has an ancient history that dates to the 2nd c., if not before. Its language was Syriac, a variant of Aramaic, and its literature begins to appear with the Odes of Solomon in the 2nd c., as well as in other apocryphal works. Mesopotamian Christianity flowers with Aphraat of Persia and Ephrem of Syria in the 4th c. Throughout this early period it is almost purely Semitic in character, i.e., little influenced by the currents of Greek philosophy (q.v.) affecting the Mediterranean shoreline, and in consequence has begun to be appreciated as an invaluable witness to a continuity of thought from the era of the New Testament. Orthodox Christianity owes more than is realized to this region: Its liturgical hymnody has its roots here, as does much of its language of mystical experience, including the image of the light of Mt. Tabor so central to later Byzantine hesychasm.