Deir Mar Musa: Camaraderie (Syria)

Although Deir Mar Musa had been able to survive the ebbs and flows of Christianity in the region, it witnessed a gradual decline through the 15th century, eventually being abandoned in the 1830s with the departure of the last monk. While the church continued to receive visits from Nebek villagers in the ensuing years, its chapel and other buildings were left in perpetual decay, with no promising future in sight.

It wasn't until the 1980s, a century and a half later, that the church was rediscovered. This time, it was an Italian Jesuit priest who spearheaded the reconstruction of the site and the monastic community. Through painstaking effort on the part of Italian and Syrian experts, the chapel's impressive 900-year-old frescoes have been restored to their former glory. Today, the St Moses community is made up of an eclectic bunch, like Syria itself: the half a dozen Italian, Syrian, and French priests and monks receive daily visits from Muslims, Christians, youths volunteers, students and backpackers from nearly all walks of life.

The hustle and bustle of Deir Mar Musa never seemed to stop. During the first night, I attended a special concert by French and Syrian Muslim artists. The musical theme was interfaith; it was a part of the many Christian-Muslim dialogues that the tolerant community actively pursued.

In this musical interaction, visiting French Catholics performed a series of mellow hymns and songs in an impressive array of European tongues (English, French and Latin), from solos to duets and choirs, while their Muslim counterparts played the exotic tunes of traditional and contemporary Arabic music. Amid the resounding applause and cheering, the back and forth exchanges between the various music genres reached the apex when the Europeans and Arabs joined together in an ensemble of singing, Middle Eastern flute and drum beats.

The Italian priest and an imam concluded the evening with words of encouragement, amplifying the camaraderie that had bonded followers of different faiths and nationalities, both on the stage and below. It was a joyous and uplifting experience, one that I had never expected to see in the Middle East, let alone in a country that the U.S. has labeled "Axis of Evil."

Deir Mar Musa: Mountainous Hideout (Syria)

Damascus' Arab Christian and Armenian quarters are impressive and dynamic, especially considering the fact that Syria is a Muslim majority country in the heart of the Arab world. And while the Arab-Israeli conflicts and the subsequent Jewish exodus have all but obliterated the Judaic presence in the city, Damascus' history as host to the three world religions--Islam, Christianity and Judaism--is special in the Middle East. The biblical references to Damascus, as well as the eclectic blend of Roman-Byzantine and Arab architectural styles in the grand Ummayad Mosque, attest to the city's historic nexus between the East and the West; wall reliefs carved with the Star of David in parts of the old town are further symbolic of the Syrian capital's multicultural lineage.

All this fascination with the multifarious aspects of Damascene culture led me to learn more about Syrian Christian life. And thanks to a Danish student I met in a hostel, I was introduced to the St Moses Monastery where I ended up staying for two nights.

Deir Mar Musa el-Habashi, located 90 km north of Damascus, is nestled in mountains around 1,400 metres above sea level and boasts a long, undulating rock staircase that is accessible only by foot. In the past, it would have required tremendous effort to carry loads of food and goods to the tip of the mountains while climbing the steep pathway. But now, a small gondola made from an iron box does the job, permitting visitors to unload their luggage on the cable mechanism before they set out on a hike.

Following a strenuous half-hour walk uphill, two heavy dogs drooping on a flat stone surface greet the visitors with a bark that reverberates through the valley. A large, 10-metre tall rock formation comes into view, at its base a 1-metre gap that serves as the entry to the church compound. It isn't obvious at first sight that a spacious grotto lies within the solid rock, until one stoops to get in and rises up again after a few footsteps to appreciate its height. The secluded cave nested in an already isolated mountainous desert demonstrates the peculiarity of this Syriac Catholic church. But its unusual stories do not end here; Deir Mar Musa was born of unique circumstances, its very prosperity today attributable to a panoply of exceptional factors.

The Monastery of St Moses the Abyssinian traces its origins to the founder St Moses, the son of an Abyssinian king in modern-day Ethiopia. Similar to the Buddha, St Moses forsook the crown and a comfortable royal lifestyle for a spiritual journey that carried him through Egypt, the Holy Land and Syria, where he eventually settled for a life as an ascetic in grottoes across the desert hinterland. Sadly, however, his quest came to an abrupt end when he suffered a violent death at the hands of an invading Byzantine army, his right thumb miraculously preserved in the Church of Nebek not far from Mar Musa.

Despite the tragic fate that befell its progenitor, the monastery withstood the worst of times by blending in with the surrounding Muslim neighbourhoods. In fact, as if to allay Muslim fears, a church wall is inscribed with Arabic letters dating to the Muslim year 450 (1058 AD) that echo the Koranic verse, "In the name of Allah (God) the Merciful, the Compassionate." Today, Syrian Muslims continue to pay visits to the church, intermingling with the friendly resident European and Syrian Catholic priests and nuns for interfaith dialogue.

(More to continue...)

Axis of Evil (Syria)

I had long wanted to visit Syria, as friends and travelers had told me that not only is the country steeped in history, it is also home to some of the most hospitable people in the world. Bush's "Axis of Evil" remarks made Syria even more enticing to me, as by then I had formed a theory about the negative correlation between a country's reputation and the kindness of its people. Iran and Pakistan are supporting cases; they show how a people can be so incredibly warm-hearted despite the notoriety of their government. And after my positive Libyan episode, I was ready to test my thesis further in the Syrian Arab Republic.

Although Syria is a predominantly Muslim country whose majority belong to the Sunni sect, it is one of the most diverse and tolerant societies in the Arab world. Apart from Syria's status as a secular state that permits religious freedom on the scale rarely seen elsewhere in the Middle East, religion in the Levantine republic is fairly variegated with 90% Sunni Muslim and 10% Christian (Syriac Orthodox, Armenian, Greek Orthodox)---the highest proportion of indigenous Christians in the Middle East after Lebanon and Egypt. Syria is, moreover, multicultural; the Phoenicians, Assyrians, Bedouins, Armenians, Kurds and Jews have all left their imprint on Syria, creating a fascinating melting pot of tongues and traditions. The latest influx of displaced Iraqis further portrays Syria as the millennium-old refuge to peoples from the Byzantines to the Arabs, from the Crusaders to the Mongols, and from the Ottoman Turks to the French.