Rûm: Ethnicity or Spiritual Identity?

By Elias Antonius

For many within the greater Levantine Rûm community the question of, whether or not the Rûm constitute their own ethnicity is a loaded one. Victims of Western Imperialism believe that we are merely a spiritual identity and that each community within the artificially created nation-states of the Levant has separate origins. While others continue to hold on to the ludicrous idea that all rum are ethnically Arabs.

Challenging the myth of Aramean Supremacy in the Levant

By Ilias Michail and Elias Antonius

Aramean supremacists have long perpetuated two enduring myths, which strike at the very heart of any rational understanding of Levantine history. The first is that they are the rightful heirs to the title of ‘indigenous’ throughout the region. The second is their relentless portrayal of the Levant as a purely Semitic land. Both of which have made them as adamantly opposed to the concept of a Rûm ethnic identity as Arabists. 

UPDATE - TRANSLATOR NEEDED

For Immediate Release – August 21, 2015

Dear Friends,

Back on March 28th, Operation Antioch released an update on our project to translate Paul Carolides’ book, “The Origins of the Orthodox Christians of Syria and Palestine”. At the time, it was our hope that the book would be ready for release in April. Unfortunately, we were wrong. After months and months of excuses, we have fired our original translator and are now looking for someone else to translate this priceless book. 

UPDATE – Operation Antioch Fundraisers

Dear Friends,

Back on January 11th, we proudly announced that after just 13 days Operation Antioch had reached its goal of $1,500 in order to translate the book “The Origins of the Orthodox Christians of Syria and Palestina” by Paul Carolides. 

ACTION ALERT – Candlelight Vigil for missing ethnic Rûm and Aramean/Assyrian Archbishops

For Immediate Release 

Operation Antioch is proud to announce that on March 26^th, St. George Antiochian-Greek Orthodox Church will be holding a candlelight vigil for our two beloved Archbishops who were kidnapped on April 22^nd, 2013. Syriac Orthodox Archbishop, Yohanna Ibrahim, and Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Paul Yazigi were abducted by foreign terrorists in the village of Kfar Dael, located in the northern province of Aleppo while carrying out humanitarian work.  

The 189th Anniversary of the attempted liberation of Beirut

For Immediate Release –March 18^th, 2015

Today, exactly 189 years ago, on March 18th, 1826 a small group of brave Romaic Revolutionaries, led by Vasos Mavrovouniotis attempted to spread the Hellenic Revolution to Ottoman-occupied Coele-Syria. Although unsuccessful, their heroic attempt to incite the Rûm of the Levant lives on as a testament that the Rûm of Europe and those of the Levant were and still are one people. 

“Seleukeia” – A Proposed Safe-Haven for the Rûm of Syria

The following is a proposal for the creation of an International Administrated ‘Safe-Haven’ in portions of the Tartus, Homs, and Hama districts of the Syrian Arab Republic. This “Safe-Haven” would be a demilitarized zone that would fall under the authority of the United Nations, and would be monitored by a coalition of nations, specifically Russia, Greece, Cyprus, and Armenia. The Safe-Haven would be centered around Wadi al-Nasara, and divided into three zones of influence. Zone One) Russian – based in Marmarita, Zone Two) Greek/Cypriot – based in Mhardeh, and Zone Three) Armenian – based in Homs.