Underground chapel in Syria (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
On this Christmas Day, I’m thinking alot about Syria — the historic churches and
shrines I visited while
studying Sufism there, and the
millions of Syrian refugees who have been forced to flee (especially my
young Syrian refugee friends in Beirut). I hope that one day soon they may know
peace outside of the refugee camps, and the war may finally come to an end — so that the
healing of minds, bodies, and hearts can begin…
Christian shrine in Syria (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
I took the photo above in the
Chapel of Saint Ananias in the old Christian quarter of
Bab Touma in Damascus — now a site of
violence. I was first introduced to this chapel while studying Syrian Orthodox Christianity at Brown University with
Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey. This subterranean chapel is where
St. Ananias restored the sight of Saul, the former persecutor of Christians, and baptized him after his
blinding conversion on the road to Damascus
(Acts 9). Afterwards, Saul became the
Apostle Paul. Both St. Paul and St. Ananias were later martyred.
On this Christmas Day, though my feet are planted in the sands of Oman, my spirit is hovering in that historic, underground chapel in Syria — contemplating the global need for healing, the possibility for grace, and the transformative power of redemption. Can the suffering hearts of humanity ever be cured of blindness and violence — and restored through the blessings of peace, the nourishment of love, and the radical action of compassion? I’m thinking most of all of the Syrian refugees, whose terrible plight has mirrored back to the world its current incarnation. In the words of W.H. Auden, “There is no such thing as the State/And no one exists alone;/Hunger allows no choice/To the citizen or the police;/We must love one another or die.” So Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good life…
Visiting churches in Syria (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
