Abstract
This publication presents a Modern Western Aramaic (MWA) account titled The Church Militant, documenting a conversation between two native speakers from Maaloula, Syria, collected in 2021. MWA is a critically endangered Western Aramaic language with fewer than 3,000 speakers remaining, primarily in Maaloula and Jubb’adin. The text provides insights into spontaneous MWA discourse, focusing on historical and personal narratives, including the imprisonment of Bishop Hilarion Capucci and the role of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The study highlights the need for linguistic documentation, as MWA faces extinction due to the Syrian civil war and diaspora. The authors employ a detailed transcription system and interlinear glossing to analyze the text, contributing new lexical and syntactic data to the limited MWA corpus. This work underscores the importance of preserving MWA as a linguistic and cultural heritage, offering a rare glimpse into its contemporary usage and historical context.