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===Origin and Early Mission to the East===

===Origin and Early Mission to the East===

As [[Paul]] and the other [[Apostles]] and missionaries took the message of [[Jesus Christ]] to the West, to the synagogues first, and then to [[Greek]] culture and language peoples of the [[Roman]] Empire, The Apostle Thomas and his followers took the message to the East, to the Aramaic language and varied cultured peoples of the Parthian (Persian) Empire. These two Empires were at war with each other which tended to cause the two Christian communities to develop independently of each other - the Western Church to eventually be alligned with the Roman Empire, the Eastern to remain always subservient to the Persian Empire. The major Western border Kingdom was Osrhoene with its capital city Edessa. 400 miles to the east of Edessa was the  small Persian  Kingdom of Adiabene with its capital city of Arbela (modern Irbil on the Tigris river in Iraq). Adiabene was the last existing province of the hostile-to-Israel  Assyrian empire.

As [[Paul]] and the other [[Apostles]] and missionaries took the message of [[Jesus Christ]] to the West, to the synagogues first, and then to [[Greek]] culture and language peoples of the [[Roman]] Empire, The Apostle Thomas and his followers took the message to the East, to the Aramaic language and varied cultured peoples of the Parthian (Persian) Empire. These two Empires were at war with each other which tended to cause the two Christian communities to develop independently of each other - the Western Church to eventually be aligned with the Roman Empire, the Eastern to remain always subservient to the Persian Empire. The major Western border Kingdom was Osrhoene with its capital city Edessa. 400 miles to the east of Edessa was the  small Persian  Kingdom of Adiabene with its capital city of Arbela (modern Irbil on the Tigris river in Iraq). Adiabene was the last existing province of the hostile-to-Israel  Assyrian empire.

====The Peshitta====

====The Peshitta====

translation came to be known as the Peshitta - meaning simple or common speech, in much the same way as the Hebrew Bible would be translated into Latin by Jerome, with extensive help form a Rabbi,and the resultant translation would be called the Vulgate - meaning simple or common speech. The Peshitta, retaining elements of the then Jewish "targumic" (interpretive) and other Jewish understandings of the Hebrew Bible, is primarily based on the Pre-Masoretic Hebrew Scriptures - though certain books, such as the Prophet Isaiah,are translations primarily from the Septuagint (The Peshitta Book of Proverbs, however, and the Targum of Proverbs are almost identical). (A History of Christianity in Asia, Volume l, Samuel Hugh Moffett,orbis, 1998, pg. 70). See [[Targum]] for the early centuries Rabbinic interpretive literature and its application to both Old and New Testament studies. (The development of the Old Testament Peshitta translation is held by some to have taken place alternatively in Adiabene's nearby neighbor Edessa).

translation came to be known as the Peshitta - meaning simple or common speech, in much the same way as the Hebrew Bible would be translated into Latin by Jerome, with extensive help form a Rabbi,and the resultant translation would be called the Vulgate - meaning simple or common speech. The Peshitta, retaining elements of the then Jewish "targumic" (interpretive) and other Jewish understandings of the Hebrew Bible, is primarily based on the Pre-Masoretic Hebrew Scriptures - though certain books, such as the Prophet Isaiah,are translations primarily from the Septuagint (The Peshitta Book of Proverbs, however, and the Targum of Proverbs are almost identical). (A History of Christianity in Asia, Volume l, Samuel Hugh Moffett,orbis, 1998, pg. 70). See [[Targum]] for the early centuries Rabbinic interpretive literature and its application to both Old and New Testament studies. (The development of the Old Testament Peshitta translation is held by some to have taken place alternatively in Adiabene's nearby neighbor Edessa).

As Thomas and his  followers went to India, others (possibly Adai (Thaddeus), the Galilean from Caesarea Phillipi among them) arrived in Adiabene, and having gone (probaly to the synagogues first, as did the Apostle Paul), they found already, if not a populous, then an elite governmental element, conversant with the biblical message in Aramaic. From these people, hearing the preaching of the messengers from Israel ,came believers in Jesus Christ, and soon after, came the translation of the Greek New Testament Scriptures into Aramaic, and so the Peshitta was added to by inclusion of the New Testament in Aramaic. Unlike the Greek canon of the New Testament Scriptures, the Peshitta originally did not include the following books: the Second Epistle of Peter, the Second Epistle of John, the Third Epistle of John, the Epistle of Jude and the Book of Revelation. But these books translated into the Syriac (as Christian Aramaic is known) are part of the Peshitta now and used by the Aramaic based churches, primarily in India and the Middle East - the Syrian Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East (Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East), the Indian [[Orthodox]] Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, the Syro-Malabar Church and the Syro-Malankara [[Catholic]] Church.

As Thomas and his  followers went to India, others (possibly Adai (Thaddeus), the Galilean from Caesarea Phillipi among them) arrived in Adiabene, and having gone (probably to the synagogues first, as did the Apostle Paul), they found already, if not a populous, then an elite governmental element, conversant with the biblical message in Aramaic. From these people, hearing the preaching of the messengers from Israel, came believers in Jesus Christ, and soon after, came the translation of the Greek New Testament Scriptures into Aramaic, and so the Peshitta was added to by inclusion of the New Testament in Aramaic. Unlike the Greek canon of the New Testament Scriptures, the Peshitta originally did not include the following books: the Second Epistle of Peter, the Second Epistle of John, the Third Epistle of John, the Epistle of Jude and the Book of Revelation. But these books translated into the Syriac (as Christian Aramaic is known) are part of the Peshitta now and used by the Aramaic-based churches, primarily in India and the Middle East - the Syrian Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East (Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East), the Indian [[Orthodox]] Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, the Syro-Malabar Church and the Syro-Malankara [[Catholic]] Church.

Adiabene and its surroundings then became the sending center for a mission to the East that would eventually, taking advantage of the newly rediscovered monsoon winds blowing for months across the Arabian sea, making it possible for ships to no longer hug the coasts, and taking advantage of the "Silk Road" all the way from Antioch in Syria to China, take the message of Jesus Christ to India (bringing about the Aramaic (Syriac) language churches of Kerala) and even to [[China]] itself.

Adiabene and its surroundings then became the sending center for a mission to the East that would eventually, taking advantage of the newly rediscovered monsoon winds blowing for months across the Arabian sea, making it possible for ships to no longer hug the coasts, and taking advantage of the "Silk Road" all the way from Antioch in Syria to China, take the message of Jesus Christ to India (bringing about the Aramaic (Syriac) language churches of Kerala) and even to [[China]] itself.