Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II, gives a sermon during mass at the heavily damaged Syriac Orthodox church of St Mary in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor. Ayham Al Mohammad/ AFP Photo
ishtartv.com - thenational.ae
February
4, 2018
A
solemn group of Christians held their first prayer service in years on Saturday
in the ravaged church of St Mary in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor city.
Stones,
strips of wire, papers and remnants of rockets were strewn across the church
floor, and bright sunlight streamed in from the blown-out windows.
Holding
thin white candles under pockmarked archways, the congregation of less than two
dozen worshippers relished their first service in nearly six years.
Fighting
has gripped Deir Ezzor since rebels captured part of the city in 2012, and grew
worse when the ISIL jihadist group shot to prominence there in 2014.
Syrian
troops recaptured the entire city in November and residents have slowly begun
to trickle back.
Saturday's
service - which was also attended by Muslim clerics - was led by the
silver-haired Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II.
He
presided over the service from behind a small table draped in a white cloth, as
the church's altar had been badly damaged.
"It's
an indescribable feeling for us to pray in a nearly-destroyed church, which
serves as a consolation for our hearts and a message of hope to the people of
the city to come back and take part in building it anew," the patriarch
said.
And
Maurice Amseeh, a local bishop, called on Christians to return to their city.
"The
important thing now is for life to come back - for Deir Ezzor's residents and
Christians to come back to it," he told worshippers.
An
estimated 3,000 Christians lived in Deir Ezzor before Syria's uprising broke
out in 2011.
Shadi
Tuma, 31, decided to stay in his hometown despite years of clashes.
"The
hard times that Deir Ezzor went through pushed the families to leave, but there
was a determination inside of me to stay in this city," he said.
"Deir
Ezzor will always have coexistence. Christians will always have a presence
here."
Much
of the city remains practically unlivable, with buildings destroyed, irregular
electricity service and no drinking water.
Still,
40-year-old Sally Qassar said Saturday's service had soothed her.
"Prayer
for me is like a new life," she said.
"It
gave me the determination to come back to Deir Ezzor and put up with the poor
provision of services, and participate in rebuilding it."
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