WHEN THE ARABS INVADED ROMAN SYRIA IN 634, IT WAS MUCH larger than today and encompassed modern-day Israel, Jordan, and Palestinian territories. It was also profoundly Christian. Two of the original five apostolic sees—Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called “Christian,” and Jerusalem, where Christianity was born—were in Syria. Due, however, to a dispute over the nature of Christ that began at the Council of Chalcedon (451) and which was racked with theological intricacies unintelligible to today’s average Christian—some leading clergy on both sides now say the quarrel revolved
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