The Greeks of Syria: A 2,500-Year-Long Presence of Triumphs and Struggles

The sudden political developments in Syria have the Greek Orthodox community and Christians on alert, asking for the support of Greece and the international community.

The violent ousting of dictator Bashar al-Assad by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani has generated concern over the safety of the country’s Christian population, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.

Ancient Greeks in Syria

The Greeks first appeared in Syria in the 7th century BC. At the time, it was called Assyria, a kingdom covering a land that stretched from parts of modern-day Iraq and Turkey reaching part of Egypt. The first Greek settlers in the Near East came from maritime regions of the country.

They became more prominent after the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the start of the Hellenistic era (326-30 BC). After his death, the Empire was divided into individual states. The Assyria region came under the control of Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire.

Several centers of Hellenist cultural expansion were established in Syria. Flourishing cities such as  Antioch, Laodicea, Amasya, Seleucia and others. The Seleucid Empire maintained the predominance of Greek customs, building several fortresses, like military colonies throughout Assyria.

Hellenism in the Eastern Roman Empire flourished in cities such as the Decapolis and Antioch. They came under Roman rule with the annexation of Seleucia by Pompey the Great. After the end of the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-135 AD), north and south were merged into the Roman Province of Syria-Palestine. The population of Palestine was made of polytheistic societies (Phoenicians, Jews, Greeks, Arabs).

The mixture of Greek-speakers gave birth to a common Attic-based dialect, known as Koine Greek (common Greek), which became the lingua franca throughout the Hellenistic world.

In the Middle Ages, Byzantine Greeks defined themselves as Romans or Roman-Greeks and spoke medieval Greek. They felt as descendants of Classical Greece. Their dominance in the Near East, known as the Diocese of the East, became one of the most important commercial, agricultural, religious, and spiritual regions.

Under the Persians and Ottomans

Between 609 and 628, Syria fell under the Persian dynasty of the Sassanids. It was recaptured temporarily by Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641). With the fall of Seleucia, it was captured by the Arabs for good.

In the Ottoman period, members of the Greek Orthodox-Catholic Church were considered part of the Roman nation. However, during the Ottoman Empire there were persecutions of Greeks. The number of victims cannot be estimated. Persecutions took place in Asia Minor, Pontus, the rest of Greece, the Islands. The number is estimated at over 2,000,000.

In 1923, there was an exchange of populations after the Smyrna catastrophe.  More than 17,000 impoverished Greeks arrived in Syria for temporary or permanent settlement.

Today, there is a community of 4,500 inhabitants who are Greeks in Syria, most of whom are Syrian citizens. They live in Aleppo, a commercial and financial center, Tarsus and Damascus.

There are also 8,000 Greek-speaking Muslims of Cretan origin who face poverty and hunger. They live in the village of Al-Hamidiyah, near the border with Lebanon, known for their unique community of Greek-speaking Cretans. After 12 years of war in the region, they are waiting for help, taking refuge in Antioch under Patriarch John Yazigi. The Greeks there have a 1,400-year-old culture.

Greece is leading a campaign in the European Union and elsewhere to protect the remaining personnel of the Patriarchate of Antioch, preserve religious and cultural heritage, restore monuments, and return stolen items.

Greek Orthodox: the largest non-Muslim religion in Syria

Estimates of the number of Christians in Syria in 2022 range from less than 2% to around 2.5% of the total Syrian population. Most Syrians are members of either the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch (700,000) or the Syriac Orthodox Church. The vast majority of Catholics belong to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

The Greek Orthodox Church in Syria consists of four patriarchates. Syrian Greek Orthodox Christians are under the episcopal jurisdiction of the See of Antioch. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch has been based in Damascus since the 14th century, though membership is concentrated in Aleppo, Homs and Latakia. Since the majority of Syriac Christians are Arabs, the liturgy is in Arabic. The current Patriarch of the Church is John Yazigi, elected in 2012.

In 1923, the Turkish government was engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Greeks and Syrian Orthodox Christians living in Turkey, which led many of them to flee to Syria. The French and Greek Orthodox Church settled refugees in the Homs-Hama area, deepening the economic strain on the Sunni Muslim community there. Violence between Christians and Muslims erupted in 1924 and exacerbated their already tense relations.

Like other Syrian Christians exposed to western nationalism in the missionary schools, members of the Greek Orthodox Church were inspired by nationalist ideas and actively supported Arab nationalist movements. Syrian Christians were drawn to the idea of secular Arab nationalism in part as a means of ending institutionalized preference for Sunni Islam, and to resist colonialism.

While Catholic Uniate Christians, such as the Maronites, were a majority in some urban areas of Syria and Lebanon, Orthodox Christians were dispersed across the region and represented a small minority in each city. Colonial and post-colonial governments favored the Uniate churches while Orthodox Christians expected to continue to hold minority status, making secular nationalism a more appealing political framework.