Hellenistic Judaism - Cultural Legacy

Cultural Legacy

Some typically Grecian "Ancient Synagogal" priestly rites and hymns have survived partially to the present, notably in the distinct church services of the followers of the Melkite Greek Catholic church and its sister-church the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch in the Hatay Province of Southern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Northern Israel, and in the Greek-Levantine Christian diasporas of Brazil, Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Members of theses communities still call themselves (al-)Rûm, which literally means "Eastern Roman" (Byzantine) or "Asian-Greek" in Turkish, Persian and Levantine Arabic. In that context, the term "Rûm" is used in preference to Yāvāni or Ionani which means "European-Greek" or "Ionian" in Ancient Hebrew and Classical Arabic.