The Convent of Saydnaya - Syria's Living Monument to Christianity

posted on: Apr 4, 2018

By Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer

The fast-expanding city of Damascus, with its 5 million inhabitants, was behind us on our way to the holy Christian town of Saydnaya, known in Greek and Roman times as Danaba.  Our route took us through a narrow green gorge crowded with villages hanging on the hillsides, spilling onto the orchards below. Dotted through these towns were many coffee houses and eating places enhanced by cool water springs – refreshing meccas for Damascenes, especially during the hot summer months.

On both sides, the arid overhanging cliffs contrasted vividly with the canyon’s lush fruit-trees and gardens, beautified by newly sprouting villas. The division between the desert and the sown kept us company until we came to an intensely cultivated wide valley dominated to the left by the Convent of Saydnaya – to the Eastern Orthodox Christians, second to Jerusalem in holiness.  Perched like an eagle’s nest on a lofty rock overlooking the landscape below, it appeared to be a man-made sentinel guarding the countryside against atop a barren hill.

We surveyed from afar this historic Convent, but turned to the right.  Our plans were to leave one of Christianity’s most celebrated sacred spots as the last stop before we returned to Syria’s capital.

In a few minutes we were driving through Maaret Saydnaya – a town of luxurious villas set amid olive, almond and cherry orchards intermixed with vineyards.  Like the majority of Syrian towns in the last few decades, it has been, in the main, newly constructed.

A five minutes drive past Maaret Saydnaya, we parked our auto on a bare mountain-top.  Before us was a winding staircase leading to the small Catholic Church of Mar Elias, built on a ledge and going into the mountain.  In a few minutes, we were inside this small house of worship erected on the site of an ancient secret Christian church.

The guardian took us for a tour and pointed to a passageway where he said Mar Elias escaped from the Romans through a tunnel, which he claimed once led to Damascus, 40 km (25 mi) away – in Syria, legends such as these seem to be conjured for every religious site.  Our traveling companions who were devout Catholics prayed before the altar in a fervent manner before we left to labor back down the exhausting 196 step stairway.

Back on the road, the cool highland air revived us as we crossed the valley and made our way up a narrow winding mountain road past Saydnaya to the Convent of Cherubim – situated 2,011 m (6,596 ft) above sea level on one of the highest peaks of the Qalamoun mountains.

Built after Christianity became the religion of the Eastern Roman Empire, it flourished for a while, then became a pile of ruins and was only rebuilt in the last decade.  It is today the object of tourists and pilgrims who come to enjoy the fantastic view from its walls and feel the aura of this ancient sanctuary whose name is an Aramaic word meaning angels, from which we get our word, cherub.

Retracing our steps, we were soon looking up at Saydnaya’s imposing Byzantine type domes, gleaming in the sunlight.  Turning off the main road, we drove up a rocky hill crowded with homes, many newly constructed. Like giant steps, they rose to the top of the height crowned with the impressive fortress-like convent, situated on an elevated rock.

The road ended in a square edging this famed and revered nunnery.  As we stepped out of our auto, the breathtaking view of the valley below captivated us.  The thousands of newly built homes, green fields, and the endless orchards, bordered by dozens of large chicken farms, spread as far as the eye could see.  It was as if nature and man had combined to cuddle this holy pilgrimage site in a cloak of appealing colours.

Famous among the Christians of the East, Saydnaya, 30 km (19 mi) north of Damascus, gets its name from the Syriac Sayda Naya (Our Lady) and is labeled by some as the ‘Icon of the Orient’.  In the 6th century A.D., after the Byzantine Emperor Justinian had a vision he ordered a convent be erected on this spot and dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin. With the passing years, a village grew around the nunnery and took on its name.  Today, besides the convent, the town and the surrounding area is full of small churches and monasteries, mostly named after Orthodox saints.

We made our way through a long narrow entrance into the hallowed structure.  Inside, we found a maze of passages and stairways making their way into the rocks.  Most were eroded by the feet of the never-ending processions of pilgrims. It was truly a strange architectural world, carrying the air of the bygone centuries.

A sister, one of the 50 or so Saydnaya nuns belonging to the Orthodox rite, led us to a tiny chapel.  The most important of the holy spots in the nunnery, it is called ‘The Shagoura’ in Syriac and ‘The Shahira’ in Arabic – in both languages meaning (the Illustrious).  In respect to this sacred room, before entering, like the other visitors, we removed our shoes.

Over the entrance was inscribed a forgotten verse from the book of Exodus.  It recalls a commandment, lost to western churches but still current in Islam, which reads: “Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

The heart of the building complex, this chapel is a modest sanctuary, low, narrow and dark, lit by only candles and oil lanterns.  Its walls are covered with old icons of the Virgin and other saints – a number painted between the 5th and 7th centuries. Hidden away among these sacred paintings is the most priceless treasure of the Convent the icon of the Virgin attributed to Saint Luke. It is said that he painted it from memory – a tale never challenged by the faithful.

During the Crusades, the Templars, a crusading guild, like the oriental Christians, believed in the power of this sacred image.  It was venerated by these Latin invaders and many would send back to their churches in Europe oil from the Convent which they were firmly convinced oozed from the icon’s face.

Not only Christians but also Muslims have always held this sanctuary in great reverence.  A 11th-century European historian wrote that Sultan Seif-Eddin, Saladin’s brother, was hospitalized and eventually recovered from his illness at the Shaghoura Chapel and thereafter he, along with his sister, used to send gifts and oil every year to the convent.

The centuries have not diminished the holy lure of Saydnaya.  Among the sacred sanctuaries of the Orient, for Orthodox Christians, it follows Jerusalem in importance as a place of pilgrimage. Its popularity is augmented by the miracles, which the Holy Virgin is reputed to bestow on people irrespective of their religion.

Thousands from all parts of the world travel to this nunnery seeking the blessing of Saint Luke’s icon.  This is especially true among the eastern Christians. For them to visit this Convent is almost equal to making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The aura and legendary tales of Saydnaya remain today as vivid as they were in the distant past.  Many eastern Christians living as far away as North America and Australia often make a pilgrimage to this sacrosanct spot, feeling their life will not be complete without a visit to the Convent of the Blessed Virgin.