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At a church in Syria, where a suicide attack killed 25 people in June, hundreds of worshipers gathered ahead of Christmas to remember their lost and reaffirm their faith.
Members of the Mar Elias Church stood guard outside with a small contingent of security forces Mass An image of a Christmas tree made of neon lights lit up on the wall of the courtyard outside on Tuesday evening. Pictures of those killed in the attack were hanging on the tree.
They include three people whom the congregation praised as heroes for tackling the attacker, potentially preventing much more deaths in the June 22 attack.
A man opened fire and then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Dweila, on the outskirts of Damascus, as the church was packed with people praying on Sunday.
Congregants said that before he detonated the vest, brothers Boutros and Gergis Bechara and another congregant, Milad Haddad, confronted the shooter and pushed him out of the center of the church.
“If it weren’t for those three, probably not one person out of 400 people would have survived,” said Imad Haddad, brother of Milad Haddad, who attended Tuesday’s Christmas tree lighting.
He hasn’t decorated for Christmas or put up a tree at home, but gathering at church is “a message of peace and love” and a message that “we are believers and we are strong and we persevere despite everything,” he said.
Boutros Bechara’s widow, Thana al-Masoud, recalled that she desperately searched for her husband after the explosion, but she never found him, dead or alive. His body was torn to pieces by the explosion.
“There is no holiday, not this year, not next year and not the year after,” he said.
She is consoled by the belief that her husband and the two others who faced the attacker are martyrs for their faith.
“Our God They chose them to become saints and spread their message throughout the world,” he said, “but it is hard to be different.”
The attack spread fear among Christians
The attack on the church was the first of its kind in Syria in years and came as a new Sunni Islamist-dominated government in Damascus sought to win the trust of religious minorities following the ouster of the former president. bashar asad,
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has struggled to establish his influence across the country, even among allied groups. There have been many deadly incidents of communal violence in the country in the last year.
While the new government has condemned attacks on minorities, many have accused it of failing to control armed groups it is trying to integrate into the new state army and security forces.
The June attack was blamed on an Islamic State cell, which authorities say had also planned to target a Shia shrine. IS has not claimed responsibility for the attack, while a little-known group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunna said one of its members had carried out the attack. The government said the group was a mask for IS.
Christians A brutal government crackdown ousted about 10% of Syria’s population of 23 million before mass anti-government protests in 2011 turned into a brutal 14-year civil war that saw the rise of IS and other extremist groups.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled during the war, during which there were sectarian attacks on Christians, including the kidnapping of nuns and priests and the destruction of churches. Now many people want to leave from here once again.
Strengthening Faith and Seeking Peace
Juliet Alkashi feels numb after losing her husband in the church attack.
The couple were lovers before leaving Syria for Venezuela with his mother and brother. In 2018, when Emil Bechara asked him to marry her, Alkashi moved back to Syria, even though it was still in the middle of the civil war.
“Whatever is going to happen will happen and I have surrendered to it,” he said. “If someone goes to pray and dies in a church – whatever happens God Whatever is written will happen.”
The only thing that matters now, Alkashi said, is that she and her 3-year-old son stay together.
Some congregants said the attack had only strengthened their faith.
Hadi Kinderji, who described an intense spiritual experience at the moment of the explosion, said, “I saw a column of smoke rising from the ground to the ceiling, and I heard a voice saying, ‘I will not leave you and I will not forsake you.’
He believes today that even the seemingly senseless violence was part of God’s plan.
“Our God exists, and he was present in the church,” he said.
Yohanna Shehadeh, pastor of Mar Elias Church, acknowledged that many in the congregation fear more deadly violence.
Shehadeh said, “Fear is a natural state. I’m not going to tell you there is no fear, and I’m not just talking about Christians but about all Syrians of all sects.”
He said as Christmas approaches, he is praying for peace.