Miles

Syria--The Land of Prophets and Conquerors

By Sylvia Lyall

Christianity may not be the first thought that comes to mind when Syria is mentioned but for me, a recent visit to the capital city Damascus, one of the oldest cities, revealed a spiritual journey very connected to my Christian heritage. People would perhaps be astonished to know that there are families like us who tick differently and even take their toddler along to Damascus for a two-week holiday. Syria, a country where Christian Arabs live peaceful side by side with their fellow Muslim countrymen is a country of many marvels.

We chose to stay at the old Christian quarters in Damascus in a small hotel, Al Jasmin, whose dilapidated high walls decorated with sweet smelling jasmine flowers lead to a wide spacious inner courtyard. The courtyard’s walls are tastefully decorated with bright coloured carpets that hang on the inner walls, the floors are lined up with mosaic tiles, and there is a water fountain in the middle. We were later to discover that many of the coffee houses and restaurants we visited had similar designs and opened up to similar inner courtyards.

Our courtyard was full of lemon trees with ripe lemons and creeping plants could be seen hanging down while classic music fills the air. To our delight, we felt very welcome and settled in quickly and soon forgot the heat and noise outside.

In the evening when it cooled down, the street got very crowded with veiled Muslims who walked hand in hand alongside attractive Christians wearing make-up, jeans, and low cut blouses, and sporting golden necklaces with crucifix pendants. They shopped together, and spoke Arabic. Inside the coffee houses were men and women regardless of their religion who sat side by side smoking water pipes and discussing loudly the latest gossip. Because the lanes in Damascus are so narrow that a Pickup cannot go through, cars drive by at a painstakingly slow pace avoiding the pedestrians and hawkers on the pavements selling vegetables and electric wares.

Syria, which the Bible refers to as the land of Prophets and conquerors, is today a land containing many historical and religious sites and ruins. We made Damascus our base and spent our holidays exploring the city and making day short trips to historic sites—mostly of Christian heritage. We first visited the famous Omayad Mosque in the heart of Damascus, built in 705 AD, which houses the tomb of John the Baptist.

The mosque, which is also visited by Christians who visit the tomb of St. John the Baptist inside the mosque, has over time changed hands from the Romans to the Christians, and is now a mosque where the Muslim community has for years looked after the shrine. The tomb of John Baptist, also known by the Muslims as Yahya, remains a protected and revered symbol for both Muslims and Christians. Every year, Christian Pilgrim visits the tomb in the Mosque and make the sign of the cross. It was the first for me to enter a mosque and I had to put on a special brown gown that made me look like a Franciscan monk. The mosque is quite large, and has beautiful golden mosaics depicting paradise. Further inside the Mosque is the black tomb of St John the Baptist. When we visited, there were men surrounding the tomb, pressing their foreheads to the tomb. Nearby were old women dressed in black veils who wept openly. Suddenly, seeing the tomb of John the Baptist, the stories in the Bible had a new meaning.

The next day, we located the road that the Bible refers to as “The Straight Street,” in Acts 9:10-19. The Straight Street is the street where Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of Christians, was struck blind by God and three days later converted into a Christian changing his name to Paul and thus became an apostle of Jesus. The Straight Street which is today a narrow and crowded road lined up with shops and even bends a little along the way.

Down a side alley at the end of the street is what is reputed to be the house of Ananias, who—according to the Bible—miraculously restored Paul's sight. Later, Paul became the first Bishop of Damascus before being murdered by the Romans. Today, a simple decorated Chapel, the St Paul Chapel, has been erected downstairs on the spot where Paul is believed to have sought refugee. We visited the shops in the courtyard and I bought a rosary and promised myself to relearn how to recite the rosary when I got home.

We then traveled north of Damascus to a small village with a beautiful name—Malula. The village is one of the only remaining places where Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke, is still spoken. In Malula we visited the St Tecla Convent and took the never ending stairs up to the mountain to the tomb of St Tecla situated in a cave. Inside the dim lit cave were two women dressed in Black and who looked like nuns. Kneeling down inside the ancient Chapel, the women prayed in Aramaic. A woman visitor next to me prayed in Arabic and crossed herself several times. After a while, the old women in black came to her and we all prayed together. They recited the Lords prayer in the same words that Jesus did. Like many other holy sites all over Syria, the cave of St Tecla is also a pilgrimage visited by both Christians and Muslims. The story has it that Tecla was one of the first Christian martyrs. She is said to have been a Seleucid princess and a pupil of St Paul. However, because of her faith, she was persecuted by her father who ordered soldiers to arrest her. When the soldiers came, she ran up the mountain and prayed to God for help and the cliff behind her opened up and she could escape. Today, this spot where the cliff opened up is the tomb of St Tecla where a chapel stands inside the cave. Outside the cave is a well with holy water.

Throughout Syria, there are fascinating religious sites and ruins dating back into history that once belonged to the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine eras. The history of Syria is abundant and can be overwhelming. Sites and ruins to be seen are pagan temples dedicated to Baal and Jupiter—the pagan gods referred to in the Bible, ancient monasteries and synagogues; and mosques, churches, and shrines. Today Archeologists continue discovering historic sites including ancient cities still intact.



* Sylvia Lyall currently lives in Zurich with her husband, Christoph, and son, Philip.