Caritas Syria: after the violence of war, the Easter of peace and resurrection is celebrated in Damascus
In a letter to AsiaNews, the director of Communications for Caritas describes the days of celebration, a source of "hope". The eyes of people “were full of joy.” Perhaps, war and death “showed us the real meaning of resurrection”. For Christians, “Syria is more than a house”; it is "our identity. Syria is us, and we are Syria."
Damascus (AsiaNews) – Sandra Awad, 38, is the director of Communications of Caritas Syria. Married with two children, she describes what it was like to celebrate Easter this year in a letter to AsiaNews.
Currently, a ceasefire is in place, a development that “gave all of us in Damascus hope,” she writes. This gave people an opportunity “to go out into the streets and celebrate Easter like they were used to do before the war.” Indeed, “the eyes of people attending the Masses and celebrations were full of joy.”
“I think our Easter was more beautiful than anywhere else in the world. Maybe the war and death showed us the real meaning of resurrection”. This year, “The number of people who took part in these Masses and celebrations was much bigger than the previous years, and the feeling of safety was everywhere and in every heart.”
“Syria is more than a house for us” Christians; “it is even more than a homeland. Syria is our identity. Syria is us, and we are Syria.
Here is Ms Awad’s letter:
On the night of the Good Friday, and after coming back home from the mass in the church, I was lying down beside my son waiting for him to sleep, when he suddenly said: Mom, do you remember when my sister asked Jesus to stop the war in Syria to be able to go to the far amusement park she used to go to before the war?
I said: I don’t remember that she asked Jesus for that . . .
He: She is naïve; she doesn’t know that Jesus can’t stop war
I was shocked by this idea and said: Really he can’t?
He said: No, he can’t because he is crucified. . . . Mom who did the war in Syria?
I said: Some people did it
He said: then some people can stop it and not Jesus . . .
Again I was shocked, I hold him tight between my arms and said: Yes some people can do it, let us pray for Jesus to give these people love to stop fighting between each other. Can he do that?
He said: Yes he can do that; he is love and he can give love to all people . . .
During Easter celebration this year, my family and I and all the Christians in Damascus were praying with big hope in our hearts: God give us love, and give our Syria love, to be able to rise with you from death . . .
The ceasefire and the calmness we are living during these days gave all of us in Damascus hope. It pushed people to go out into the streets and celebrate Easter like they were used to do before war.
After Masses on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter and Whit Monday, usually young scouts of the Churches in Damascus organize tours in the neighbourhood of their church, holding torches, candles, and statues regarding the occasion. They play music in the streets. These celebrations stopped in the first two years of war, and started again modestly in the last two years because of the dangerous security situation, for example last year, a mortar shell fell near the group of scouts of Kirillus Church who were celebrating Whit Monday near their church in Damascus. Hopefully, material damages occurred only and no one was injured.
What was different this year is that the eyes of people attending the Masses and celebrations were full of joy. I think our Easter was more beautiful than anywhere else in the world. Maybe the war and death showed us the real meaning of resurrection . . . maybe the sadness all around gave the happiness moments more value . . . much more value . . .
The number of people who took part in these Masses and celebrations was much bigger than the previous years, and the feeling of safety was everywhere and in every heart.
One kilometre away from Jobar, a very hot area in Damascus, Caritas Syria cooperated with the scout of the Lady of Damascus Church "Foursan Al-Mahabeh", to fly 1,000 balloons holding 1000 messages of peace written by the young scout volunteers. These balloons were intended to reach the hundreds of people and children gathered near the church, but the strong wind held most of them far away toward Jobar. We felt like we are sending the people who are fighting there messages of love and peace . . . (pictured)
What touched me the most during these celebrations was the young Christian Scouts playing the Syrian National Hymn at the end of each celebration. It was like a reminder to all of us the Christian of Syria how much we are important for our country and how much Syria is important for us. The Christians presence in the Syrian textile creates a kind of balance, if they all leave, Syria will lose its balance.
And we, as the Christians of Syria, grew up with the sounds of minarets hugging the church bells; we took a part of our values and traditions from the mosque, and the other part from the church, to create our special identity, the identity of the Christians in the east. If we leave Syria, we might have a better life, and find better opportunities, but we will lose a big part of our identity. Syria is more than a house for us, it is more than a society we belong to, more than some geographic borders; it is even more than a homeland. Syria is our identity. Syria is us and we are Syria.
Unfortunately, from the beginning of the war, more than two thirds of the Christians in Syria left, but I try to be optimistic and dream of the day that some of them will come back one day, some of my sisters, my brothers in law, my friends, and my neighbours, to participate with us in rebuilding our Syria.
The Patriarch of the Greek Catholic, Gregorious Al-Lahham, said at the end of his sermon of the Easter Mass this prayer that I would like to share with you:
We raise our prayer to our Saviour who has risen from death, who is the God of peace, to enter every home, every city, every aching heart, every battlefront, every war tunnel, and says what he said to his disciples after his resurrection: peace is with you. I am the way to peace. I am the way to the right. I am the way to life. Do not be afraid I am with you to the end of life.
Christ is risen. . . Truly risen . . .
* Director of Communications at Caritas Syria
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