When we were in Jordan, we had a friend who frequently went to Damascus, Syria for business reasons. He volunteered to take us with him during one of his trips. Even then, it was not advisable for Americans to tour in Syria, and we did not have much of a reason to go there anyway, so we never crossed over. The closest we got was viewing it from the northern area of Jordan, where we went once a week to give home Bible studies to Arab Christians. In the above picture, the purple mountains beyond the olive trees are Syrian land.
In Syria is a small village named Maaloula. It is one of the few places in the world where you can hear people speaking Aramaic. This is the language Jesus spoke, and it is considered an endangered language since so few people still speak it. Since languages evolve, I don't suppose it would sound exactly like the Aramaic spoken in Jesus' time, but I wanted to hear it anyway.
As I studied about the Middle East, I learned about a lady who works at St. Mark's Church in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter of the Old City. (St. Mark's Syrian Orthodox church is one of two proposed locations of the Upper Room, where the events of Acts 2 occured). This lady, whose name can be spelled either Jostina or Yostina, speaks Aramaic.
During our stay in Jerusalem, we met her at St. Mark's Church. A former 12th grade mathematics teacher, she speaks English and Arabic in addition to Aramaic. She has been living in Jerusalem for 11 years, serving as tour guide and caretaker. She told us that as she cleans the church she prays, "As I clean your church, clean my heart. Please my Lord."
Aram was one of Shem's sons (Genesis 10:21-23). Modern Syria includes what was once called the region of Aram and historians seem to agree that it gleaned that name because it was settled by Aram. Aramiac originated in this area. Syriac is a form of Aramaic.
Jostina sang the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic for us. It was a little blessing from the Lord to hear Aramaic spoken...and we did not have to travel to Syria!
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