Islamic Militants Break Into St. Thecla Convent In Ma'loula (syria

[4588686]

Can we maybe keep just THIS civil, please?

Don't want to desanctify a bunch of people who don't know what they're talking about sniping at each other.  

[Gabriela]

Don't want to desanctify a bunch of people who don't know what they're talking about sniping at each other.  

 

Arguing isn't going to help those women, or anyone in Syria. Try praying for them instead. It's a lot less important to prove yourself right and others wrong than it is to actually help.

[4588686]

Arguing isn't going to help those women, or anyone in Syria. Try praying for them instead. It's a lot less important to prove yourself right and others wrong than it is to actually help.

 

 

I don't see how praying about the situation is any more helpful than discussing it.  If God wanted to end this carnage he could do so easily enough.  It hasn't happened yet.  

[Aloysius]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/world/middleeast/assault-on-christian-town-complicates-crisis-in-syria.html?src=recg

 

Some of the rebels, apparently aware of their public relations problem, said in interviews that they meant Christians no harm. They filmed themselves talking politely with nuns, instructing fighters not to harm civilians or churches and touring a monastery that appeared mostly intact. They said they had withdrawn from most of the town, posted videos of shelling there by Mr. Assad’s forces and argued that the government had given the fight a sectarian cast by sending Christian militiamen from Damascus to join in.

there is some hopeful news in that article, illustrating of course that there are some good people among the rebels who recognized that this incursion shouldn't have been done in the first place, but the forces are so mixed and intermingled that we can't really know for certain... I think the bulk of the bad people are the foreign insurgents, as the Syrian people do have a long history of peaceful coexistence with Christians.  but of course we should always be aware that in recent times political Islamists have become pretty good at media relations (here in Egypt I've personally seen what the media accepted as "peaceful protest" groups with automatic weapons, for instance, they know how to put positive faces on things for what the media sees, so of course any youtube videos specifically made for that purpose are being produced in that kind of dynamic) so statements from the rebels should be taken with the same kinds of grains of salt with which we take statements from the Assad regime, or statements from the Obama administration for that matter.  

 

grains of salt all around, I say.

[Apotheoun]

I am seeing reports on Youtube that the Islamic terrorists who captured Ma'loula have been forced out by the Syrian army:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eCIh7R0HSE

[Didacus]

there is some hopeful news in that article, illustrating of course that there are some good people among the rebels who recognized that this incursion shouldn't have been done in the first place, but the forces are so mixed and intermingled that we can't really know for certain... I think the bulk of the bad people are the foreign insurgents, as the Syrian people do have a long history of peaceful coexistence with Christians.  but of course we should always be aware that in recent times political Islamists have become pretty good at media relations (here in Egypt I've personally seen what the media accepted as "peaceful protest" groups with automatic weapons, for instance, they know how to put positive faces on things for what the media sees, so of course any youtube videos specifically made for that purpose are being produced in that kind of dynamic) so statements from the rebels should be taken with the same kinds of grains of salt with which we take statements from the Assad regime, or statements from the Obama administration for that matter.  

 

grains of salt all around, I say.

 

I entirely agree, and that is precisely what I read into these 'poor' terrorists producing a 'peaceful' video of how their cause is 'good' and not entirely their fault (shifting the blame to others, per previous posts quoting them).

[4588686]

I entirely agree, and that is precisely what I read into these 'poor' terrorists producing a 'peaceful' video of how their cause is 'good' and not entirely their fault (shifting the blame to others, per previous posts quoting them).

 

 

I didn't see anything in the video indicating that the men there were terrorists.  They seemed to go out of their way to demonstrate that they weren't targeting civilians.  Which would actually make them the antithesis of terrorists.  

[Didacus]

I didn't see anything in the video indicating that the men there were terrorists.  They seemed to go out of their way to demonstrate that they weren't targeting civilians.  Which would actually make them the antithesis of terrorists.  

 

If you have an army of 10 groups, and 9 of them inflict attrocties but one stand in front of the media and says "we're all nice guys, those other 9 groups aren't representing us 1 group" what conclusion would you draw?

 

One group acting as benevolant 'freedom fighters' does not vindicate the entire lot containing groups of people committing acts of unwarranted violence.

[Apotheoun]

I am just thankful that the al Nursa terrorists were forced out of the town of Ma'loula by the Syrian army. My Orthodox friends have told me that they have heard reports that the Church of St. Elias was ransacked by the Muslim terrorists when they were in control of the town, but that none of the nuns (as far as they have been able to confirm) were killed at the St. Thecla Convent. Although one report on Youtube indicated that the nuns had been held hostage in the convent, but were freed peacefully when the Syrian army came in a couple days ago.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Apotheoun

[Didacus]

I am just thankful that the al Nursa terrorists were forced out of the town of Ma'loula by the Syrian army. My Orthodox friends have told me that they have heard reports that the Church of St. Elias was ransacked by the Muslim terrorists when they were in control of the town, but that none of the nuns (as far as they have been able to confirm) were killed at the St. Thecla Convent. Although one report on Youtube indicated that the nuns had been held hostage in the convent, but were freed peacefully when the Syrian army came in a couple days ago.

 

How nice of them to refrain from murder, and only steel.

I guess they must be good people afterall, and it is entirely unjust to call them terrorists.

[Gabriela]

I am just thankful that the al Nursa terrorists were forced out of the town of Ma'loula by the Syrian army. My Orthodox friends have told me that they have heard reports that the Church of St. Elias was ransacked by the Muslim terrorists when they were in control of the town, but that none of the nuns (as far as they have been able to confirm) were killed at the St. Thecla Convent. Although one report on Youtube indicated that the nuns had been held hostage in the convent, but were freed peacefully when the Syrian army came in a couple days ago.

 

Thank you! Is there any report on whether any of the nuns were harmed?

[MithLuin]

 

grains of salt all around, I say.

 

Yep.....

 

Unfortunately, figuring out the truth of the matter tends to be quite difficult.

[4588686]

Thank you! Is there any report on whether any of the nuns were harmed?

It's definitely a good idea to base your judgement of an incredible complex conflict on what somebody's friends have heard reports of.

Are these Orthodox friends resident of the town in question?

[KnightofChrist]

Jihadists seize Ma’loula

Translated Wednesday 11 September 2013, by Isabelle Métral

A religious and historic symbol, this small town is caught up in the mad logic of a conflict that undermines the already precarious status of Eastern Christians. Its 10,000 inhabitants have fled towards Damascus.

From our correspondent.

Until now the little Christian town of Ma’loula that lies some thirty miles to the North of Damascus was apparently not threatened by the devastating conflict in Syria. But last September 4th at dawn, a Jordanian Kamikaze on board a car bomb blew up a Syrian army road block near the entry of the town and killed eight soldiers. Groups of Al-Nusra Front jihadists, connected with Al Qaeda, took hold of Ma’loula without meeting with any resistance outside a few sporadic shots from its inhabitants. On the next day the army sent troops that forced the assailants back to the hills that overlook the town. The rebels sent fresh troops that regained control of the town on the Sunday. But on the Monday morning the army again reversed the situation to its own benefit.

In the meantime the inhabitants fled the town and took refuge in Damascus or in the neighboring town of Ein-el-Tineh. “We decided to put our families away from the danger in Damascus after the jihadists arrived,” Hanna, a Ma’loula inhabitant explained, when contacted by telephone. “We remained without any water, electricity and bread for three days because the fighters closed down the town’s bakery.” Out of Ma’loula’s 10,000 inhabitants (or thereabout), only 54 are left in the famous monastery of Saint Thecla, says Pelagia Sayah. “On leaving we saw the corpses that covered the ground on the central square,” Hanna added.

Maalula, a town perched on the foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountains is one of the last spots on the earth where Christ’s language, Aramaic, is still spoken – together with the neighbouring villages of Sabkhine, Bakhaa and Jubaadine. The city, which is over two thousand years old, hosts churches and convents that date back to the first centuries A.D.

Maalula means “entry” in Aramaic. An allusion to the legend according to which the Ma’loula rocks opened at Saint Thecla’s arrival when she was chased by soldiers. The daughter of a Seleucid prince and an alumna of Saint Paul’s, her feast is on September 24th. A monastery is dedicated to her, which was built in the fourth century around Saint Thecla’s grotto and tomb and on the ruins of a pagan temple. The town also boasts the monastery of Saint Serge and Bacchus, two Roman officers and martyrs whose feast is celebrated on October 7th. Muslims and Christians regularly visit it to be granted grace and to make wishes. Below the monastery are a few grottoes cut in the stone by the region’s early Christians who fled there when persecuted. Today jihadists are suspected of taking shelter there, thus making it even more difficult for the Syrian army to drive them away.

The number of visitors to Maalula peak every 14th of September for the celebration of the Cross. But most probably, the event, which has taken place every year for 17 centuries, will not take place next Thursday. For as a jihadist quoted by the large-circulation Lebanese paper As-Safir said, “the Mujahideen have declared war for the conquest of the crusaders’ capital,” meaning Ma’loula.