About – Tur Levnon

About Tur Levnon

Tur Levnon is based in Brooklyn (USA) and Zalka (Lebanon). It was founded in 1999 but registered much later in 2005 under the name “Knushto d’Marduto Suryoyto”. In 2017, it merged with other groups and associations to form the Syriac Maronite Union under the name of TUR LEVNON. Its active members are mainly in America (USA), Sweden and Lebanon. While several religious and secular organizations in Lebanon provide Syriac language teaching courses, the candidates for learning remain very few. The Union’s aim is therefore to reach people and potential students and show them why it is necessary to learn Syriac. Syriac is the language and hence the identity of the Christians of the Levant and Mesopotamia (from Lebanon, to Northern Syria, Southern Turkey and Northern Iraq). This region was a Syriac land before the creation of these modern states.

Syriac is extremely important for Lebanon because it is its living identity. This Hellenized and Christianized Aramaic was adopted by the Christian Cananeans. It became the Syriac language and culture of modern Lebanon that will be established as an entity in 685 by the first Maronite Patriarch Saint John Morun.

Today, Lebanon contains the largest concentration of Christians in the Middle East. Unfortunately, due to political reasons, Syriac language, culture and history are erased and untaught in schools (even in Christian schools).

To fill the gap, the Syriac Maronite Union takes action on two levels: Society and Authority.

Concerning society:

Teaching history and language in the Christian society.
Spreading awareness through mass media and social media.

Concerning civil authorities:

Inviting MP and government ministers and representatives to all our events to make them continuously involved in our struggle for the revival of our Syriac language and culture.

Concerning ecclesiastical authorities:

Encouraging them in reintroducing Syriac in the Maronite churches and mass.
Showing them the importance of Syriac not only for our identity but also concerning our faith and spirituality.
Using Syriac to reunite Maronites of Lebanon with the Diaspora, but also to reunite all Christian branches in a common culture and on an ecumenical level.

PROJECT AND MISSION

The Union’s main action can be summarized in four points:

To encourage our Syriac Maronite Church to introduce more Syriac in the Maronite mass as it was the case up to the 60’s.
To offer our help and support to all Christian schools that will reintroduce Syriac language teaching in their programs.
To cooperate with Christian political parties and municipalities to introduce the use of Syriac on public buildings and signs.
To lobby with Christian political parties for the recognition of Syriac by the Lebanese government as a National language.

Activities

The Union’s activities take place on several levels and different fields mainly educational and social aid for christian families in need.
Next to numerous meetings we always hold with Lebanese youth, students and Syriac organizations from the Diaspora, we are also very active on social media and on the field.
Below is the list of our main activities since our inception:

Social Media

We post on “Maronites” page (19 000 followers).
Our posts are about the Church, Lebanon and Syriac language.
Languages used in this page: Lebanese, Syriac, English, French.

Social Aid

Tur Levnon has provided in November-December 2020, 30 laptops and 30 Ipads for Children that couldn’t afford to continue their studies online.

Due to the double catastrophe of COVID 19 and the economical collapse in Lebanon, it became impossible for Tur Levnon to continue working only on the cultural and identity fields. It had to provide the maximum help for families in distress.

Therefore, Tur Levnon also distributed envelops with 500,000 LL to 60 families just before Christmas 2020.