Separation and conflict: Syriac Jacobites and Syriac Catholics in Mardin in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Abstract

From the sixteenth century onwards, the Syriac Jacobites living in the Ottoman empire were confronted by the propaganda of Catholic missionaries. As a result of this propaganda, a Syriac Catholic patriarchate was established in the late eighteenth century, and the Syriac community was divided into two. A merciless conflict ensued between Orthodox Syriacs, aligned with the main Church, and the Catholic Syriacs. While this conflict occurred in all places where Syriacs lived, it was most intense in the city of Mardin, the location of the patriarchal centre of Syriac Jacobites. The Jacobites struggled to prevent both the Catholicization of their community, and also the Catholic takeover of their churches, monasteries and cemeteries. At various times and for various reasons, the Ottoman empire and certain European states felt the need to intervene in this conflict. Continuing almost uninterrupted throughout the nineteenth century, this conflict adversely affected the Syriacs, and also precipitated their modernization.