Pilgrimage to Syria
Syria was unquestionably full of surprises. When the plane touched down at Damascus airport it was raining heavily! The political and religious atmosphere (as far as we could tell) seemed much more relaxed than it is in neighbouring countries. We were able to visit and take whatever photos we wanted in two grand/central mosques including one in Aleppo on a Friday. In contrast to Turkey , where we had been last year, it seemed quite easy to get permission to say some prayers or celebrate mass in appropriate places. The policemen were mainly unarmed and we saw very few troops or military activity - in sharp contrast to other countries in the area like Jordan , Turkey and Egypt.
Syria is a bigger country than I had expected, but has a population of only about 20 million. During our visit we were driven nearly 1,000km. We had a very full programme and were escorted by a personable and well-informed guide called Mann Al Sabbagh with whom we got along very well. I came back much fitter because many of the places we visited were quite challenging because of the distances, surfaces and steps. I imagine 'access' wasn't much thought about in biblical or crusader times.
In Damascus we walked down the 'Street called Straight' (Acts 9) and celebrated mass in the Chapel of Ananias. This provided a lovely setting for some powerful prayers and a poem by Susan Peatfield.
It was great to capture some sense of the raw emotions involved in Paul's conversion and subsequent acceptance by the Christian community.
We visited the Grand Mosque in Damascus , which holds the shrine that is said to contain the head of John the Baptist honoured as a prophet by both Muslims and Christians. The women in our group had to wear fetching grey hooded gowns to cover themselves up, head to toe!
We went on to visit Christian holy places at Maaloula (Greek Catholic) and Mar Tekla (Greek Orthodox).
After leaving Damascus we travelled to Palmyra where there were magnificent Phoenician/Roman remains of an ancient city in the middle of the desert.
( Temple of Bel (Baal), Palmyra )
We then moved on to the impressive crusader castle, Crac des Chevaliers, stopping on the way at Hama to see (and hear) the ancient waterwheels.
(Giant waterwheel at Hama )
We ended our journey in Aleppo and celebrated mass just south of the city amid the ruins of St Simeon's church (built around his celebrated pillar). Simeon lived and taught for more than 30 years on the top of this pillar during the fifth century. The setting and content of our prayers were very atmospheric.
Aleppo has a significant Armenian Christian population. We perused their shops on Friday (because the souk was closed being the Islamic holy day). We explored the massive Citadel, along with hundreds of locals who were enjoying their 'day out.'
(Celebrating mass inside the ruins of St Simeon's church)
During the trip, several people suffered from the local ' Delhi belly', which put them temporarily out of action. However, my overriding impressions were of a very friendly, caring country where Christians and Muslims seem to co-exist happily and the memories of the other people in the group and of our common pilgrimage experience will last for a very long time. I feel very privileged to have been invited to join the St Peter's group for the visit.
Gordon Couch
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