On June 22, 2025, a suicide bomber entered Saint Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus during a packed evening worship service and unleashed unimaginable carnage. After opening fire on the congregation, the attacker detonated an explosive vest, killing nearly 30 people and injuring more than 60. It was the deadliest attack on Syria’s Christian community since the 1860 Damascus Massacre, and a stark reminder of Christianity’s increasingly perilous existence in its ancient homeland.
The Jihadist group Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, a splinter of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has claimed responsibility. The attack illustrates a sobering reality: Syrian Christians, who have endured centuries of political repression and sectarian violence, now face an existential crisis. With every suicide bombing, every desecrated church, every community exodus, Syria edges closer to losing a two-millennia-old spiritual and cultural pillar.
Syria is home to the world’s oldest existing Christian communities, which trace their lineage back to Apostolic times. According to Syriac Christian tradition, the Syriac Kingdom of Osroene (in modern northern Syria) was the world’s first political entity to declare Christianity as its state religion. King Abgar V — known as Abgar the Black — adopted the Christian faith after being healed from a devastating illness by the disciple Thaddeus in 33 AD. On the road to Damascus, the former persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus, was transformed into the Apostle Paul, further rooting Christianity in Syrian soil.
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Comment by Glenn Wheeler on July 12, 2025 at 12:13 am
The only solution is to go in there with overwhelming military force and make the entire Middle East a sub-sector of Israel. Put Israel in control of the entire Middle East.