Pre-war Syria: Peaceful Life and Holy Places. A photo gallery
Photographer Vasily Nesterenko visited Syria in 2010, shortly before the beginning of the warfare that has literally devastated and destroyed this wonderful country. According to those who have visited that country before 2011, the Christian and Muslim communities in pre-war Syria coexisted peacefully, and the Christian community mostly consisted of Orthodox Christians. Vasily visited the cities of Damascus, Holms, Bosra, the famous Krak des Chevaliers Castle of the Knights Templar, venerated holy shrines of the Orthodox monastic communities on Cherubim Mountain, the “Saidnaya” icon of the Mother of God, and the much-suffering St. Thecla’s Convent in Ma'loula. He photographed the site believed to be where Jesus Christ appeared to the Apostle Paul in Kaukab, took pictures of the interior of the St. George’s Basilica in the town of Izra, and of other wonderful places.
We believe that the following photo gallery will show the long-suffering Syrian land from a different side little known to majority of our readers—as a Christian land in which our brothers and sisters in faith have prayed for past 2000 years.
Photos by Vasily Nesterenko / Pravoslavie.ru
Translation by Dmitry Lapa
Sketches of Damascus
The Krak des Chevaliers Castle of the Knights Templar
Bosra, amphitheater in the old city
Damascus, the Chapel of St. John the Baptist within the Umayyad Mosque
Kaukab, the site where the Savior first appeared to Saul, future Apostle Paul
Izra, the Church of Greatmartyr George the Victory-Bearer
Homs, the Church of the Girdle of the Mother of God
The Monastery of the Holy Prophet Elias near Saidnaya
Saidnaya, the Convent in honor of the “Our Lady of Saidnaya” Icon
The monastery on the Cherubim Mountain
Ma’loula, the Convent of St. Thecla, Equal-to-the-Apostles
