The study deals with the term “Nasara” in the Arabic Christian heritage, and with refuting the modern sensitivity that accompanies it on the part of some Christians, affirming the authenticity and continuity of the use of the word across manuscript, liturgical, and historical history.
The ideas of the research revolve around the following main points:
The motives of modern linguistic distinction: the attempt of some Christians to distance themselves from the common Arabic terms in flight from sectarian anxieties, as opposed to the method of the Apostle Paul, which is based on adapting and winning everyone for the Gospel.
The linguistic root of the term “Nasara”: showing that the word carries two main meanings: the first, affiliation to the city of “Nazareth” (like the Nazarenes), and the second, derived from “al-Ansar” (the supporters), meaning the followers and supporters of Christ.
The historical and manuscript testimonies: tracing the use of the term in:
Manuscripts of the New Testament: such as the manuscript of the Monastery of Mount Sinai (no. 151), dated to 867 AD.
The historical Islamic discourse: such as the Pact of Umar and the books of history and biographies.
The Arabic Christian heritage: the presence of the word in the Synaxarion, the spiritual hymns (such as the hymn of Saint Lazarus), the Maronite supplication to the Virgin, and the poetry of Nasif al-Yaziji.
The conclusion and the theological call: emphasis on the fact that the supreme goal is proclaiming Christ and transcending verbal chauvinisms and sectarian closure in order to extend bridges of communication with the other.
Keywords: the term Nasara, the Arabic Christian heritage, the Mount Sinai manuscript 151, the titles of the believers, the theology of dialogue, the Antiochian history.
Some Christians are averse to using Arabic terms, trying to distinguish themselves through terms and expressions and everything else, and this goes back to many historical reasons that are not the place to mention here. But as the Apostle Paul says: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews; to those under the law, as under the law.. to those without law, as without law… to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:20-22).” If our concern is Christ and His Gospel, then we must return and understand our work and our role in order to win everyone for Christ.
Some refuse to use the term Nasara to refer to us as Christians; at one time some say: we are Christians (Masihiyyin) and not Nasara, and at another they trace Nasara back to a heresy that spread in the Arabian Peninsula in order to try to avoid the term. But the word Nasrani carries two meanings: the first, affiliation to Nazareth, and the second, affiliation to the Ansar, that is, the followers.
The Titles of the Believers in Christ
The believers in Christ were known by the title “the people of the Way”: “any of the Way” (Acts 9:2), and by the name “the Nazarenes/Nasara,” the title that the Jews gave to the followers of Jesus before it became the title “Christians” in the year 42 AD, and this title first spread in Antioch: “and the disciples were called ‘Christians’ first in Antioch.” (Acts 11:26).
Strong’s Dictionary explains the word Ναζωραι̂ος: Nazarene, an inhabitant of Nazareth; hence Christian: – Nazarene, of Nazareth[1]. Some hold that the word “Nazarenes” (al-Nasiriyyin) is more precise, but there is no difference, for Nasiri and Nasrani have the same meaning. Al-Nasrani: he who adheres to the religion of Nasraniyya (Christianity), and it is Nasraniyya; the plural is Nasara. It occurs in the Mu’jam al-Ghani with the same meaning: Nasiri / Nasrani: plural: -un, -at, Nasara. [n s r], and it is the Christian (al-Masihi), he who professes the religion of the Lord Christ, and one affiliated to the city of Nazareth. See Nasiri[2]. And it occurs in the book A Summary of Contemporary Religions and Sects: (the Nasara) in affiliation to the town of Nazareth in Palestine, which is where Christ was born[3]. And it occurs in the Mu’jam al-Ghani: Nasiri: the adherent of the views and ideas of the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, and this explains Gamal Abdel Nasser’s changing the name of Wadi al-Nasara (the Valley of the Christians) to Wadi al-Nadara during the unity between Syria and Egypt; for him Nasiri and Nasrani carried the same meaning.
And Nasrani occurs with the meaning of Ansar (supporters): Asad Rustum says: the Ansar in the Qur’an are the supporters of the Prophet: “And the first to lead the way, of the Emigrants and the Ansar, and those who followed them” (Surat al-Tawba: 99), and the Ansar in the Qur’an are the apostles, the companions of Jesus, whose support He sought against the Jews: ”But when Jesus perceived their disbelief, he said: Who are my supporters for God? The disciples said: We are the supporters of God; we have believed in God, and bear witness that we are Muslims” (Surat Al Imran: 51). And the Nasara among the Arabs are the supporters of Jesus and the supporters of His supporters, and one of them is a Nasrani; and from this came the Qur’anic verse saying: “You will surely find the closest of them in affection to those who believe are those who say: We are Nasara,” and Nasraniyya is therefore the religion of the Nasara[4].
The Occurrence of the Word Nasara
The word Nasara occurs, for example, in every phrase by which the Muslim caliphs addressed all the Christians, saying to them “Nasara”: “This is a writing of the servant of God, Umar, Commander of the Faithful, to the Nasara of such-and-such a city,”[5] and it occurs in the Pact of Umar addressed by the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab to those dwelling in the Monastery of Mar Girgis al-Humayra, in which he says: “No bishop shall be expelled from his bishopric, and no Nasrani from his Nasraniyya”[6]. And in describing the Pascha (Easter) in Jerusalem it is said: “when it is the Pascha of the Nasara”[7], and in speaking of the Christians of different denominations it is said: Nasara — the Nasara of the Levant, of Armenia, of Najran, and so on.
Returning to the Holy Bible, we will see the use of this word in two places. The first is in describing Jesus: Jesus the Nazarene: “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets: He shall be called a Nazarene (nazoraios)” (Matt. 2:23). The second place is in describing the followers of the crucified Nazarene: “We have found this man a plague, a stirrer of sedition among all the Jews throughout the whole world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes (nazoraion)” (Acts 24:5). It occurs in the Catholic translation and the Common translation of the Bible as “Nasara,” and in the Pauline (Bustani) translation and Van Dyck as “the Nazarenes”[8] .
| Translations of the Verse Acts 24:5 | ||||
| Book of Life | Pauline | Catholic | Van Dyck | Common (Bible Society) |
| We have found this accused man a corrupter, stirring up sedition among all the Jews throughout the country, and he is the leader of the sect of the Nasara. | It has become clear to us that this man is a plague: he stirs up sedition among the Jews of the whole world, and he is a leader of the sect of the Nazarenes. | We have found this man a plague, a stirrer of sedition among all the Jews throughout the whole world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nasara. | For we have found this man a corrupter and a stirrer of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes | We have found this man a corrupter, stirring up sedition among the Jews in the whole world, and a leader of the sect of the Nasara. |
The Synaxarion
In the book The Forgotten Antiochian Saints, the word Nasrani always occurs in the lives of the saints; for example: when the Patriarch (of Antioch) petitioned Harun al-Rashid, he said to him: I ask you, my lord, that the tribute not be taken from the Nasara (p. 207). And in the testament of Saint Timothy al-Kakhishti (Orthodox), he says at its end: “May the mercy and compassion of God be upon this land and the rest of its inhabitants and all the people of the Nasara” (p. 208). And the martyr Asad al-Hayek (Orthodox) said: I am nothing but a Nasrani, and upon my Nasraniyya I will die (p. 224). And it is written in describing the holy martyr Abd al-Masih, head of the Monastery of Tur Sinai (Orthodox): “..of the best of the Christian (Nasara) Arabs.” And of the holy righteous Stephen: “his parents were Nasranis” (p. 311). And Asad Rustum uses the term Nasara instead of Christians in the book History of the Church of Antioch.
The Life of Saint Joseph of Damascus
In the life of Saint Joseph of Damascus, who was martyred in the year 1860 and whose sainthood was proclaimed by the Antiochian Synod on 8 October 1993, and whose memory is commemorated on 10 July, the following occurs: “..there one of the attackers, who was one of the learned men and whom Joseph had previously silenced in a dispute, recognized him and harbored evil against him. When his gaze fell upon him, he cried out to those with him: “This is the leader of the Nasara. If we kill him, we will have killed with him all the Nasara!”. And when the man cried out these words, the priest Joseph realized that his hour had drawn near.”
Manuscripts of the Bible
The manuscript of the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Sinai, known as the manuscript of the Monastery of Mount Sinai Mt. Sinai Arabic codex 151), contains the oldest translation into Arabic and dates back to the year 867 AD, and it appears to be the oldest Arabic translation of the Bible in existence. And certainly, this manuscript is the oldest Arabic translation with explanatory notes placed by the translator. It includes the text of the Bible, with comments written in the margin, notes on each chapter, and footnotes in the manuscript. It was discovered in the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai shortly after the year 1800[9].
,
And it translates the verse Acts 24:5 ”the disciples were called Nasara”(([10]χριστιανους in Antioch” [11]
What is striking in this translation is the translator’s use of the phrase: In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (we will undertake a study of the use of this phrase in a later research).
In the spiritual hymns
In a hymn of Saint Lazarus widespread in Lebanon and Palestine, said on the Saturday of Saint Lazarus preceding Palm Sunday:
| O Lord, have mercy on us and have mercy on our community, and have mercy on our priests, O most merciful of the merciful And have mercy also on its reader and its hearer, and make our patriarch victorious over the enemies How sweet are the children of the Nasara in their churches, while the grieving Jews have no religion |
In the Maronite liturgy
And we also find in the famous supplication to the Virgin (the supplication of the glorious Virgin in the Maronite liturgy), in its last verses, a mention of the Christians under the phrase “the Nasara”: “O consoler of the grieving, O help of the Nasara, O queen of the angels, intercede for us”[12]
In literature and poetry
The poet Nasif al-Yaziji uses the word Nasara and Isa (Jesus) in his poem[13]
We are the Nasara, the house of Isa, belonging, by the incarnation, to the Virgin Mary
And He is God, the Son of God, and His Spirit; three in one, undivided
To the Father belongs the divinity of His Son, and so too His Son; and so too both of them, with the Spirit, in one essence
Conclusion
What must be understood and realized is precisely that we walk according to the Apostle Paul, that we find bonds with others so that we may speak with them about Jesus. For Paul, when he entered Athens, sought an open door through which to begin his discussion with the pagans; and when he entered the temple of the gods he found ” an altar with this inscription: ‘to an unknown God’” (Acts 17:23), and he said: I have come to proclaim to you this unknown God. And Paul used a phrase of a Greek pagan poet to clarify his teaching to the pagan Greeks: ” as also some of your own poets have said: For we are also His offspring.” (Acts 17:28). We must always seek common doors through which to enter to meet the other; our concern is not to distinguish ourselves from others, but to save them — this is our apostolate, to which we are called, to proclaim as the Apostle Paul proclaimed. Has the time not come for us to awaken and strip away our sectarianism, our fanaticism, and our insularity, in order to become apostles of Christ.
References
[1] Al-Bishara website, Strong’s Dictionary, no. 3480, link https://albishara.net/strong/word/New/3480/
[2] Al-Ma’ani website, explanation of the word Nasara, link: https://2u.pw/2gZ92yY9
[3] Al-Durar al-Saniyya website, article in the Encyclopedia of Religions, Christianity and its offshoots, Christianity: definition, origin and history, definition, link: https://dorar.net/adyan/337l
[4] Asad Rustum, History of Antioch, the Great City of God, Part Two 634-1453 AD, The Dr. Asad Rustum Collection 21, Publications of the Pauline Library, p. 10
[5] Asad Rustum, same reference, p. 43
[6] Noursat website, article: What does the manuscript known as the document of the Covenant of Umar ibn al-Khattab, found in the Patriarchal Monastery of Saint George al-Humayra, enjoin?: https://2u.pw/LH0vdGlI
[7] In Dala’il al-Qibla, by Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abi Ahmad al-Tabari, known as Ibn al-Qass, study and editing by Ahmad Muhbis al-Hasnawi, Publications of the Iraqi Scientific Academy, Baghdad, p. 271
[8] Al-Bishara website, comparison of the translations: https://2u.pw/KBPBVzTt
[9] The Arabic service for the preaching of the Gospel website, https://www.arabicbible.com/arabic/codex-151.html
[10] Strong’s Dictionary no.: 5546, https://albishara.net/strong/word/New/5546
[11] Library of Congress website, link: https://2u.pw/5Mvt24A9
[12] Nasif al-Yaziji, poem “We are the Nasara, the house of Isa, belonging,” Diwan website: https://www.aldiwan.net/poem52748.html; Father (the monk) John Jiha, article: The Nasara, the followers of Christ, a name since the inception of the Church(1)