{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Villagers in Syria still speak the same language as Jesus Christ' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bcdad8eafeecae12fb80' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bcdad8eafeecae12fb80' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nVillagers in Syria still speak the same language as Jesus Christ\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eMaaloula, Syria - November 20071. Wide shot Maaloula sign 2. Houses 3. Graveyard with houses in background4. Apartment blocks seen through olive trees5. Zoom on Virgin Mary at top of hill6. Mosque7. Muslim women walking down road8. Pan...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eMaaloula, Syria - November 2007\u003cbr/\u003e1. Wide shot Maaloula sign \u003cbr/\u003e2. Houses \u003cbr/\u003e3. Graveyard with houses in background\u003cbr/\u003e4. Apartment blocks seen through olive trees\u003cbr/\u003e5. Zoom on Virgin Mary at top of hill\u003cbr/\u003e6. Mosque\u003cbr/\u003e7. Muslim women walking down road\u003cbr/\u003e8. Pan olive trees to men sitting drinking coffee by roadside\u003cbr/\u003e9. SOUNDBITE (English) Hussain Mohamed, village elder: \u003cbr/\u003e\"All together, not 'this is Muslim, this is Christian', no. Everybody in this villageďż˝ like my brother. Muslim or Christian. No difference, here, in this village.\"\u003cbr/\u003e10. Pan coffee pot to man speaking (Arabic)\u003cbr/\u003e11. Men and young boy speaking together in Aramaic\u003cbr/\u003e12. Old man\u003cbr/\u003e13. Pan young man to older man\u003cbr/\u003e14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mohammed Hussain, 70, village elder, talking about a teenage boy sitting with him: \u003cbr/\u003e\"From when he was born, his mother talked to him in Syrianic Aramaic, and he knew what she said to him. All his life, (he has) talked Aramaic.\"\u003cbr/\u003e15. Wide shot houses and churches \u003cbr/\u003e16. Girls laughing in street\u003cbr/\u003e17. Little boys walking up steps\u003cbr/\u003e18. Little boys reciting poem in Aramaic\u003cbr/\u003e19. Wide shot mountains with caves\u003cbr/\u003e20. Close-up caves\u003cbr/\u003e21. Father Toufic on balcony of monastery overlooking village\u003cbr/\u003e22. Inside chapel through hole in wall\u003cbr/\u003e23. Pan altar to window\u003cbr/\u003e24. SOUNDBITE (French) Father Toufic, Saint Sergius chapel: \u003cbr/\u003e\"In 325 A.D., at the First Council of Nicaea - the first ecumenical council - in order to differentiate themselves from the pagans, Christians decided that altars would be flat, not shaped like this (curved). And that is why we know this shape probably goes back to that time of transition in Christian architecture, and we can date this altar back to that time.\"\u003cbr/\u003e25. Father Toufic \u003cbr/\u003e26. Woman praying in front of icon\u003cbr/\u003e27. UPSOUND: (Aramaic)Father Toufic saying the Lord's Prayer \u003cbr/\u003e28. Pan ceiling to altar\u003cbr/\u003e29. SOUNDBITE (French) Father Toufic, \u003cbr/\u003e\"You can say it is pre-Christian, because the other types of Aramaic that exit today are what you call Christian Aramaic - be it Syriac, Chaldean or Assyrian - those are Aramaic dialects too, but they date back to Christian times, the Christians brought the language with them.\" \u003cbr/\u003eQUESTION: \"So that Aramaic (the dialect spoken in Maaloula) isďż˝?\"\u003cbr/\u003eTOUFIC: \"Pre-Christian.\"\u003cbr/\u003eQUESTION: \"So when would it date back to?\"\u003cbr/\u003eTOUFIC: \"The 9th or 8th century B.C., if it truly is the Aramaic spoken by Jesus Christ.\"\u003cbr/\u003e30. Mosque at night\u003cbr/\u003e31. Saint Tekla convent\u003cbr/\u003e32. Close-up Saint Tekla convent\u003cbr/\u003e33. Pan chapel dome to window into chapel\u003cbr/\u003e34. Mass in Aramaic inside St Tekla chapel \u003cbr/\u003e35. Pan ceiling to altar inside St Tekla chapel\u003cbr/\u003e36. Young girl \u003cbr/\u003e37. Priest with incense\u003cbr/\u003e38. Pan to bread \u003cbr/\u003e39. Candles\u003cbr/\u003eThere are very few places left in the world where Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is still spoken. \u003cbr/\u003eThe people of the village of Maaloula in northern Syria speak the ancient language in everyday life. \u003cbr/\u003eIt feels like history has stopped in the small Syrian village of Maaloula, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of the capital Damascus. \u003cbr/\u003eAlong with the neighbouring villages of Jabadin and Bakha, it is one of the last places in the world where Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, is still spoken. \u003cbr/\u003eMaaloula means \"the entrance\" in Aramaic, referring to its dramatic location at the entrance to a rocky gorge. \u003cbr/\u003ePerched on the slopes of the Qalamoun Mountains at an altitude of 1,500 meters, Maaloula overlooks a vast green carpet of fig trees, grapevines and poplar trees.\u003cbr/\u003eWith its blue-roofed houses nestled into the rock, Maaloula a picturesque village, is one of Christianity's oldest sites.   \u003cbr/\u003eThe presence of Aramaic as well as inscriptions discovered on the walls of the caves all around have led historians to believe that Maaloula is one of the oldest villages dating back to the start of Christianity. \u003cbr/\u003eIt's believed some of the caves were used by prehistoric men. \u003cbr/\u003eOthers were excavated by the Greeks and the Romans, and later used as shelter by the first Christians fleeing persecution. \u003cbr/\u003eIn contrast to the rest of the country, where Christians make up around ten percent of the population, Maaloula is two thirds Christian. \u003cbr/\u003eThey have been living side by side with the Muslim minority for centuries, united by their mother language ... Aramaic. \u003cbr/\u003eVillage elder Hussain Mohamed says that even the younger generation are still taught Aramaic at home. \u003cbr/\u003eThe Aramaic dialect spoken in Maaloula is believed to date back several hundred years before Christ, according to Father Toufic from the village's Saint Sergius monastery. \u003cbr/\u003eAramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history - a number of dialects are spoken around the world. \u003cbr/\u003eTo those who ask how Aramaic managed to survive in this region, it is commonly told that the villages' isolation preserved them from the spread of Arabic.  \u003cbr/\u003eMost visitors head straight for Maaloula's two chapels. \u003cbr/\u003eThe first is part of the Saint Sergius monastery, a stunning building overlooking the village, built over the ruins of a pagan temple.\u003cbr/\u003eThe church is thought to date back to the fourth century AD. \u003cbr/\u003eThis can be explained by the chapel's altar which was built with a rim to catch blood during the earlier pagan sacrifices. \u003cbr/\u003eFather Toufic explains that  the chapel's altar which was built with a rim to catch blood during the earlier pagan sacrifices, where as later Christian altars were flat, indicating that the building dates to the time before Christiainity was widespread in the region. \u003cbr/\u003eAt the other end of the village, the long-standing tradition of Syrian monastic life continues at the monastery of Saint Tekla. \u003cbr/\u003eA destination for both Christian and Muslim pilgrims, the monastery is named after an early Christian saint who embraced Christianity after hearing of the words and deeds of St. Paul the Apostle. \u003cbr/\u003eIt contains a well-preserved chapel decorated in colourful frescoes, where, to this day, mass is still held in Aramaic.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more 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