Christian Villages   Maalula Homs Crac Chevaliers Aphamea Mudiq Castle Hama Maalula This village with a name meaning «The Entrance" in Syriac, is one of the high points of tourism in Syria. For sure, the existence of a Christian community speaking a language which is dead almost everywhere else is a rarity, especially if we consider that this language, Aramaic, the idiom adopted by the Persians 2500 years ago, was spoken by Christ as it was the vernacular of the majority of the population of Syria before the Islamic conquest. But there is also a circus of high ochre-coloured hills, a huge wall ground by the wind and rain. The village houses seem to hang on to the rock in a chaotic order giving the impression of an improbable Garden of Delight. White, ochre, violet or blue walls and patches of pastel, soften this architectural confusion, and some campaniles, add a religious touch alleviating the sulphurous austerity of the landscape. Behind the monastery, «Mar Takla» (St. Thecla), of Greek Orthodox confession, and the Parish church, both located in the village, are worth a visit. A luxury hotel dominates the village and it would be good to have a stop there, not only for the hospitality, but also for the beauty of the scenery. At a natural ravine on the left is the "Mar Sarkis» (St. Sergious convent, a Greek Catholic church, perched on top of the cliff with a small Byzantine chapel with a cupola on penditives. This church claims to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in Christendom. Magnificent icons adorn the entrance to the alter. Seydnaya About 35 km further, still at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon buttresses, you will reach Seydnaya. A town where houses are built around a rock with a very old monastery on top. This rock, the outline of which is evened by a belt of high convent buildings, glowing with age, is an acropolis bearing a church as a queen bears her crown. A steep climb up takes you to this monastery which is said to date back to the Emperor Justinian. According to the legend, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Justinian asking him to found the monastery. A maze of yards, stairways, dwellings and covered passages, a strange architectural arrangement of many levels, takes you to the heart of this building complex. It is a modest, tiny chapel, low, narrow and dark. But the walls, covered with golden-background icons, betray the veneration of which it has been the object for centuries, due to the presence of a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, said to have been painted by St. Luke. Throughout the Crusades, the convent, named "Our Lady of Seydnaya", was a place of veneration for the Latins as it was and still is by the Christians of Syria and Lebanon. You are requested to remove you shoes out of respect to this holy place, on entering the chapel.
© UR Travel 2006