The Plight of Syria’s Christians
One of the world’s oldest Christian communities faces destruction
Islamist rebels have taken Damascus, and the regime of Bashar al-Assad has fallen. The world rejoices and there are street celebrations by exiled Syrians in the major cities of the West. Politicians including Sir Keir Starmer welcome the fall of Assad’s ‘barbaric regime’ as a ‘very good thing for the Syrian people’.
And the Christians of Syria flee.
End of an era
Since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, 90 per cent of Christians have abandoned Aleppo, the country’s second largest city. Will the remaining 10 per cent remain to welcome their jihadi ‘liberators’? What centuries of Islamic oppression was unable to do, the civil war managed and the overthrow of the Assad regime will probably complete – the destruction of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.
It was on the road to Damascus that Saul, the persecutor of Christians, met the risen Christ and became Paul, the greatest of missionaries and theologians who wrote much of the New Testament. It was in the then Syrian city of Antioch (present day Antakya, in Turkey) that followers of The Way were first called Christians. Syria produced many of the saints and fathers of the early Church, such as Ephrem the Syrian and Eusebius of Caesarea. Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria may soon be coming to an end.
Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria may soon be coming to an end.
The Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo has described this as the end of Christianity’s presence in the city. ‘We are really tired,’ he said. ‘We are really exhausted, and we are also finished, in every sense.’ Speaking of the armed groups who have taken over, he said, ‘The Christians of Aleppo will be convinced that they cannot stay. That it is over for them. In Aleppo they are trying to bring about the end of the rich, magnificent and unique history of the Christians of Aleppo.’
Christians suffered just as much under Assad’s rule as the other citizens of Syria and had no affection for the president. They aligned themselves with the regime not through choice but out of necessity, to save themselves from being slaughtered by the radical Muslim jihadis. Now that the jihadis are in control of the country the Christians of Syria are in a perilous situation.
Speaking of the ‘rebels’ who have overthrown Assad, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II said, ‘So, let there be no doubt: they are anti-Christian. They call us infidels. Many believe that it’s their duty to slaughter us in order to offer a sacrifice to their god.’
As the jihadis advanced through the country, many Christians fled the villages and cities in their path. They sought refuge in the formerly government-controlled ‘Valley of Christians’ or Wadi al-Nasara. The community in the Valley responded by opening their homes, churches and community halls to offer shelter and support to the displaced. Now that the Valley has fallen under jihadi control following the collapse of the Assad government, the lives of the Christians there are at stake.
History speaks
The mainstream media refers to the jihadis as ‘moderate rebels’ when they are neither moderate nor rebels. These militants want a theocratic country ruled by sharia law. When the terrorist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant; HTS) launched their attack on the Aleppo Governorate in north-western Syria, they captured and killed dozens of Syrian Army soldiers, and promised mass executions and beheadings in front of TV cameras. Videos of jihadists abducting Kurdish women have surfaced on social media.
We should be under no illusion that everything in Syria is going to be transformed for the good, that freedom of speech and action will be established.
Whilst we can be glad that Assad has fallen, we should not forget that HTS is a jihadist group with origins in Al Qaeda and ISIS, including the remnants of the group led by the late Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Palestinian Jordanian known as the ‘sheikh of the slaughterers’. These are no democracy-loving liberals: wherever they have had authority, they have inflicted abuse.
We should be under no illusion that everything in Syria is going to be transformed for the good, that freedom of speech and action will be established. HTS aim to establish a theocracy. The situation, if anything, is going to be worse for all of Syria’s citizens and especially for the minorities: Alawites, Kurds and Christians.
Since the violent Muslim conquest of Syria in AD 634-638, generation after generation of Syria’s Christians have been oppressed and despised by the Muslim majority. When Muslims treat Jews and Christians as equals, they are being unfaithful to the teachings of their holy book. The Koran clearly teaches that Jews and Christians should have second-class status. A look across to Islamic North Africa and the Middle East would bear this out. It is difficult to find any instances in the Arab Islamic world of Christians living in harmony and peace under Islamic rule. Egypt has a large Christian population which existed long before the creation of Islam, yet the Coptic Christians live as second-class citizens in their own country.
How will the UK respond?
Still those who govern us continue to welcome into our countries the kind of people who have destroyed the Christian minorities in their own lands. Islamists can persecute, murder and drive out ancient Christian communities, and you won’t hear a word from our tolerant Western governments. We should try to be respectful and compassionate, but not at the cost of naively closing our eyes to the realities faced by Christians in Muslim-dominated countries.
... those who govern us continue to welcome into our countries the kind of people who have destroyed the Christian minorities in their own lands.
It is possible for governments to show concern about the situation facing Christians in Muslim-dominated lands. Hungary has its own state secretary to assist persecuted Christians. The much-maligned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently met Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II and pledged continued support for Christians in need.
How will the UK government react to the plight of Syria’s Christians? Will there be speeches from the front bench in their defence, will they be welcomed here and given accommodation and support as they try to rebuild their lives: or will they be ignored and left to the mercies of the jihadis?
Given the Labour Party’s reliance on the Muslim vote, there is little doubt in my mind which stance the Starmer government is likely to take.
The Rev. Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack is a retired Church of Scotland minister; now a member of the Free Church of Scotland. Check out his many incisive articles on his blog, A Grain of Sand.
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Rev Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack