Opening of the Museum of Agia Sofia Church in Sednaya

His Holiness Patriarch  Yusuf Al-Absi, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Melkite Greek Catholics opened yesterday  the Agia Sophia Church Museum in the city of Sednaya in Damascus countryside. The museum includes hundreds of manuscripts, gospels, holy icons and dozens of archaeological church tools.

The museum also contains a number of archaeological manuscripts, the oldest one dating back to 1602,it  includes religious rituals.

Rami Zahr, the official of the media center in the museum, talked about the efforts exerted in documenting and restoring of the museum’s collections in cooperation with the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.

 Father Elias Agia, the head of the Monastery of Saint Germanus in Jaramana, provided a detailed definition of  the icons, mentioning their religious and historical importance.

In his turn, the parish priest in the church, Father Andraos Eskandavi, pointed out the archaeological importance of Saydnaya ‘s museum and church and their role in promoting religious tourism.

The opening ceremony of the museum included two documentary films, the first explains the stages of equipping the museum ,and the second describes  the most important monasteries and churches in Sednaya.

Patriarch Abssi stressed  the importance of opening the museum in conjunction with the celebration of Saint Agia Sofia and her three daughters “Iman”,”al-Raja’a” and “al-Mahabba”.

At the end of his speech, Patriarch Abssi asked  God that peace and security prevail in Syria and the whole world.

M. Wassouf