The Maronites of Cyprus

THE MARONITES OF CYPRUS 18 Cypriot Maronite Arabic Greek is the mother tongue of the Maronites of Cyprus. In Kormakitis, however, the inhabitants have been speaking Cypriot Maronite Arabic (CMA) since the 12th century – this distinct dialect was the predominant language in the village prior to the 1974 Turkish invasion. It is noteworthy that before 1974, Maronite children only began learning Greek in the first grade of Elementary School. CMA, or simply “Sanna” (our language), as the inhabitants of Kormakitis call it, was an inextricable part of the daily life of the village and was directly identified with the village’s mores and customs. CMA contains mainly Arabic words, the majority of which, however, are not easily understood by speakers of modern Arabic. This is a result of the geographic and linguistic isolation of CMA from the broader region where Arabic was spoken; these words were either partially altered or retained their antique form. CMA attracts the interest of distinguished linguists, as it contains Arabic terms of Aramaic origin, the language of Christ. It is an important reference source for linguistic and ethnographic research in the broader Mediterranean region. The 1974 invasion of Cyprus displaced the Maronites from their villages and dispersed them to various locations throughout the government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus. As a consequence, CMA is now understood by an estimated 1.200 people – it survives to this day through oral transmission, as it lacked a written format. In 1993 UNESCO included CMA in the Red Book of Endangered Languages; in 2002 the Council of Europe classified it as a seriously endangered language. In December 2007, Maltese linguist Alexander Borg presented CMA’s alphabet, with the ultimate goal of codifying and preserving it. On 17 October 2008, CMA was recognised by the Republic of Cyprus as a minority language of Cyprus, based on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe. The Ministry of Education and Culture has appointed a committee of experts for the development and implementation of a structured policy to revive and preserve CMA, while the Maronite community continues to strain to preserve their language and everything that is embodied in its words and idioms. The Maronite Archbishopric of Cyprus The Maronite Archbishopric of Cyprus was established in 1316. Because of the harsh oppression of the Maronite community under Ottoman rule, the Archbishopric was relocated to Lebanon in 1673; beginning in 1768, the Vicar General represented the Archbishop in Cyprus. In 1988 the seat of the Archbishopric returned to Nicosia. The head of the Archbishopric is Youssef Soueif (since 2008) and the Chorepiscopus is Monsignor John Orphanou (since 1989). The Maronite Archbishopric of Cyprus is housed in its own building in Nicosia, which was expanded in 1990, after the Archbishopric’s return to Cyprus in 1988. The Archbishopric receives an annual grant from the government of Cyprus.