Tur Levnon is based in Brooklyn (USA) and Zalka (Lebanon). It was founded in 1999 but registered much later in 2005 under the name “Knushto d’Marduto Suryoyto”. In 2017, it merged with other groups and associations to form the Syriac Maronite Union under the name of TUR LEVNON. Its active members are mainly in America (USA), Sweden and Lebanon.

While several religious and secular organizations in Lebanon provide Syriac language teaching courses, the candidates for learning remain very few. The Union’s aim is therefore to reach people and potential students and show them why it is necessary to learn Syriac.

Syriac is the language and hence the identity of the Christians of the Levant and Mesopotamia (from Lebanon, to Northern Syria, Southern Turkey and Northern Iraq). This region was a Syriac land before the creation of these modern states.

Tur Levnon meaning:
Turo means Mountain, and Tur means Mount. Tur Abdin is therefore the Mount of the Adorers (of Christ). We re-used this form which was also the name of our Lebanese mountain (Turo) in the time of our ancestors. Tur Levnon is therefore Mont-Liban which means Mont-Blanc (White Mountain) or also Mountain of Incense. It is written Tur Lebnon, but the “b” after a vowel, is pronounced “v” according to the grammatical rules of the Phoenician alphabet which is used to write Syriac.