Arameans honor their King Abgar V who wrote with Jesus in Aramaic
- Post 30 March 2022
Today, Arameans honor Abgar V as the first King, and his small Aramean Kingdom as the first state, in the world who adopted Christianity! Fascinating traditions from the 4th and 5th centuries recorded that Abgar had exchanged letters with Jesus “in Aramaic” and this correspondence had been stored in the city archives of Edessa.
Today’s commemoration is because on this day Arameans have reached half of the Great Fast, which occurs on the first Wednesday of the Fourth Sunday of the Great Lent of 40 days. The apostle Addai (Greek: Thaddaeus), one of the 72 disciples from Luke 10:1, was sent by Apostle Thomas from Jerusalem to Edessa to heal King Abgar from his disease, and thus he and a substantial part of the Aramean population in and beyond his kingdom embraced Christianity.
King Abgar V “the Dark-skinned” Hmishoyo Ukomoܐܒܓܪ ܚܡܝܫܝܐ ܐܘܟܡܐ. was the most famous member of the dynasty that ruled from 132 BC - 242 AD the kingdom of Osrhoene from its capital Edessa (today's Şanlıurfa). Its realm encompassed parts of Southeast Türkiye and Northeast Syria. To a certain extent, it remained a sovereign buffer state between the Roman and Parthian empires who were frequently in conflict with each from 54 BC until 217 AD.
From the fifth century onward until today, our church fathers hailed Abgar. For example, the West Aramean Jacob of Serugh (451-521) lauded Edessa as “the daughter of the Arameans” (Bath-Oromoye) and her King Abgar as “the son of the Arameans” (Bar-Oromoye). This was true until the 13th century and later, as shown from this excerpted text written by an East Aramean Metropolitan of South Iraq, Shlemon, who praised him as “Abgar the Aramean king of Mesopotamia” (malko Oromoyo d-Beth-Nahrin).
