Today, the only full day of our three day tour in Syria, we woke up late because our phones did not accurately update the time difference between Lebanon and Syria, presumably due to sanctions (I have also been unable to run a VPN or access any banking websites). Anyway, despite rising late, we were still able to enjoy an incredible breakfast spread at the dar.
Then, Marie met us and we walked out of the old city to meet a car and driver, this time a former Syrian army general, apparently. We had to queue for gas as we left Damascus, which was an interesting insight into the fuel situation in Syria. Because of our driver's ID as a veteran, we did not have to wait a long time for gas, but other cars must have been waiting half an hour, at least, to receive their fuel rations.
After about an hour of driving, we reached the village of Maaloula.
Maaloula is famous for several reasons. First, it is a majority Christian village, one of few left in Syria now. Second, (western neo-)Aramaic ("the language of Jesus") is still spoken here, and it is only one of three villages where it is spoken (there are something like 20,000 speakers left). Third, in 2013 the terrorist group Al-Nusra took over the village twice and fierce fighting ensued. Almost ten years later, this experience feels like it still looms large over the village.
After passing through checkpoints and stopping for the photo of the "Maaloula" sign, we were let out at the Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus.
This complex has a very old little church which may have the oldest Christian altar in the world. The altar's design predates some early church council (I forget which and when) because it retains the rim to collect blood. At some point, the Church decided altars should not have this since Christians did not actually use the altar to kill animals. Directly behind the altar between the standard icons of Jesus and Mary you can see the icon of Sergius and Bacchus.
The icons are similarly arranged on the wall in front of the nave.
Many of the contents of the church are replicas or replacements of those damaged or destroyed or stolen in the fighting. They have done a particularly impressive job of restoring the ceiling.
As we were about to exit the church, we were met by a nun who prayed the Lord's prayer with us in Aramaic, which was a neat experience.
The community is justifiably proud of their resilience and recovery and restoration work. In this room they are showing many of the damaged but recovered objects.
Further up the cliff from the church are the ruins of a hotel, which was a popular place for Christian pilgrims to stay. The hotel became the headquarters of Al-Nusra and was heavily damaged by shelling from the Syrian Army.
As we walked out to take pictures of the hotel above, we could hear and see children enjoying recess at the school way down in the village below. It was somewhat surreal to see the destruction of the hotel whilst hearing the hopeful and innocent sounds of children (all of whom must have been born after the village was liberated) playing.
I also looked back toward the now-largely-restored monastic complex and took this photo through the fence which has been mangled by shelling.
From the clifftop we walked around the hotel and down the hill past more ruined buildings.
Although children were happily playing on the other side of the valley, they certainly were not playing here.
We were walking into a gorge, which legend has it opened up to save Saint Thecla from persecuters at some point.
You emerge from the gorge beside the St. Thecla monastery and church, which we were also able to tour.
It too, of course, was badly damaged in the conflict, but has been well restored. We were able to visit the Thecla shrine, which is very peaceful and serene.
The church itself has been largely restored . . .
. . . but they have intentionally left some of the ceiling unrestored as a reminder of the destruction.
Outside of St. Thecla's monastery I took some video of Maaloula, including the hotel ruins on the cliff above, and in the first one you can hear some of the beautiful singing that rang through the village at noon. I think the video also better captures the natural beauty around than the photos could.
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