The Annunciation Church in Focus

Due to its religious  significance and tourist  importance,  the Annunciation Lady Church (Al-Shahara Church), is considered one of the important churches in Wadi Al Nadara area and the destination of believers not only from Syria but from the different  Arab countries and the world . 

The Syria times e-newspaper visited the church and met Mr. Suhail Makhoul, who works as an Agent for the church .

 Mr. Makhoul  explained that : “the Annunciation Lady Church is also known as Al-Shahara  Church and that is due to the name of the village where the church was built as it is confirmed by the inscription on the sacred silver Tray dating back to 1814.  Al-Shahara village has gone , this church, the mill and the ruins of some houses in addition to the cemetery are what remain from the old village”.

He added that in the 1970s, the church grew architecturally and spiritually . A  new church was built  adjacent to the old one in addition to a side building containing  a Christian education room, a scout room, a reception hall and an office of the parish priest. A foundation stone has been recently laid to build a complex affiliated  to the Church, which contains salons , halls and a place to accommodate university students and serve the parish in all fields ,pointing out that the church attracts many activities of young people from all over Syria, where they come to camp near the church and contribute to cleaning  the church and taking care of it.

Talking about the history of the church and its contents, Azzam Youssef, the church Sacristan said :”The accurate date of building the church has not yet been known. It is said that the church existed in time of the king al-Zaher Bibars but no one knows whether it is older than this date or not.

The tube-shape ancient  church which was built of black basalt stones contains a collection of  sacred vessels dating back to 1861 and the remains of the ancient wooden iconostas that are dated to1889, an ancient  baptized stoup, the holy table and the old paintings of Mar Mikael , Jacob the Apostle and the Virgin Mary”.

Mr. Youssef went on to say: “In 2003, the church was restored from inside and outside where cement and paint were removed from the walls  and stones were cleaned .Thus, the ancient Church has regained its old shape, with its beautiful arches and knots, which clearly show the greatness of the ancestors who built it and the depth of their faith.

The church is 15 meters length  and 5,5 meters wide”.

“We are now preparing for a project with a high priority,  which is  moving the cemetery to the outskirts of the village and building a cathedral in its place. This will enable us to receive the large numbers of visitors and believers and to provide all the necessary services for them during their stay”.

To clarify what has been said about the miraculous things that were attributed to the church, Mr. Youssef stressed: “ It is worth noting that the Church has an important religious significance to the villagers. Our ancestors were talking about the miracles and the miraculous documented events that were taking place in the church during the 1920s. Some people talked about the emergence of light from the church during the attack of a group of thieves against  the people of the village. This light helped the villagers to detect the place of their enemies and get rid of them.

Others stressed that the Church defended the villagers in the 1967 war, when the people heard angelic prayers from the Church asking God to save them.   All these events are written in the Bulletin of the Patriarchate in 1956”,Mr. Youssef concluded.

By Amal Farhat – Homs