The Antiochian Orthodox church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus was a landmark of al-Thawrah (also known as al-Tabqah).
According to a story by the Assyrian International News Agency
(AINA), it was an impressive, modern structure with a large yard,
surrounded by a high wall and well-situated on a main street near the
corniche -- a well landscaped area hugging the southern bank of Lake
Assad which was popular with locals going on an evening stroll.
Its elegant dome, surmounted by a cross, could be seen from all parts
of the Third Quarter (also known as Hayy al-Ishtirakiyah), where it was
located.
Spiritually, AINA said, this church was under the jurisdiction of the
Archdiocese of Aleppo, the metropolitan of which, Boulos al-Yazigi, was
kidnapped (and allegedly murdered) on April 22 of this year, along with
the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan of the same city, Mor Gregorios
Youhanna Ibrahim.
It was built between 1985 and 1994, on land offered by the
al-Thawrah's city council, and could accommodate up to 300 worshipers.
Moreover, not only did this church serve more than 250 Orthodox
families, but it was also used by local Christian denominations which
did not have their own places of worship, including the small Syriac
Orthodox congregation.
AINA said this was also one of only two Christian places of worship
in the town, the other being the small church of St. George, which
belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East.
Built around 1973, along
with a community hall, this was located in the older part of al-Thawrah,
known locally as al-Qaryah (the village).
Around 2000, a plot of land in the Third Quarter was purchased by
this community in order to build a new church, closer to the three
quarters that housed those working in the Euphrates dam -- and where the
bulk of the Assyrians lived. Due to lack of funding, however, this
project never materialized.
On Feb. 11, rebel fighters from the Islamist Jih adist "al-Nusra
Front" - designated by the USA, UN, Australia and UK as a terrorist
organization - took control of the city and its strategic hydroelectric
dam, the largest of its kind in the country.
They also seized control of the three quarters that housed dam
workers and in which, of course, stood the Orthodox Church of Sts.
Sergius and Bacchus, and in which most of the Christians were settled.
AINA said Christian eyewitnesses who fled al-Thawrah, now displaced
in other parts of Syria, as well as in Lebanon and Turkey, tell of
religious discrimination by the rebels, as well as forced confiscation
of Christian possessions and properties, with many items being sold on
the black market in order to purchase weapons and ammunition. Even the
churches weren't spared.
"The 'Free Syrian Army' demolished the (Sts. Sergius and Bacchus)
church," one refugee said sadly. "They tore up the sanctuary curtains,
Bibles and other holy books, and broke all the crosses, chairs and icons
of Jesus and the saints. They stole ele ctrical appliances like fans,
chandeliers and lights. They took whatever was in the church, and sold
it all. There is nothing there now."
However, AINA said, there is no hope, for the Christians to return and rebuild even if the conflict subsides.
They were once considered better off than their relatives and friends
who still lived in the villages they had migrated from. But now they're
destitute, having lost everything - their homes, businesses, and even
personal belongings.
"Even though I have left," recounted another Assyrian refugee, "the
terrorists still call and text me from there, on my cell phone, to
bother me. They recently called and told me, 'If you attempt to return
to al-Tabqah we will cut off your head and display it on the mosque so
that all the Muslims there can see it and be proud of it.' They say
other things too, but what they say is so disturbing, that I keep my
phone switched off unless I really need to use it."
Whilst it may be easy to switch off a cell phone, and ignore such
threats , AINA said it is not so easy to shake off the trauma of
dispossession and loss. After spending up to 45 years in a town which
became their home, many of these refugees escaped with nothing but the
clothes on their backs.
"We have lost everything," said the head of an Assyrian household
displaced from al-Thawrah, "There is nothing for us over there now,
nothing to return to. We just need help to get out of here and settle in
a country that's safe."