Syria #5: A Day in Aleppo
A Day In Aleppo
For the team, Rev. Ed Hurley
South Highland Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, AL
What a day! Aleppo is one of the most ancient cities, if not the most ancient city, on this planet! Evidence of a civilization here is known 6,000 years before Christ.
As our Outreach team returned from our Monday evening visit to the historic city center, having seen the ruins of shops and homes heavily devastated during the siege of Aleppo from 2011 to 2014 as part of the war in Syria, we saw young artists presenting for the very first time a 20-day special show expressing their feelings of sadness, loss, despair, and yet a distant and sometimes faint sense of hope. In the midst of this swirl of emotions, we stopped by the Presbyterian Church of Aleppo.
In the darkness of the night, the lit cross shone brightly atop the beautiful church, newly built in another part of town after terrorists destroyed their original building in the old city. The new church held its first service on Christmas Eve of 2015. For me, that shining cross expressed a tenacious hope of this small but deeply rooted and deeply committed band of Christ followers. “Light shines in the darkness and the darkness shall not put it out.”
That set the stage for what we experienced on Tuesday, particularly visiting two schools, one of the Synod and one of the church. Guided by the pastor Rev. Ibrahim Nsier, we began to see ways in which that light is truly shining in Aleppo.
First, we visited the Aleppo College for Boys, a secondary school started in 1860 by American Presbyterian missionaries. Historically the school trained many people who have served in Syrian leadership. In 1967 when all the foreign missionaries had to leave the country, the school and its nearby girls’ counterpart, the New Generation School, were left to be recovered from the government by the Presbyterian Church of Aleppo.
After numerous starts and stops, these two Christian schools were finally recovered from the Syrian government, and are growing to have a significant impact on the Aleppo region. Although there are no Christian students in either school, these schools are run according to Christian principles.
In Syria, it is against the law to convert from Islam to Christianity. As Rev. Nsier summarized, there are two types of missionaries: one demands an overt conversion to Jesus Christ, while a second offers a Christian witness within a non-Christian culture. The second is the approach of the Presbyterian Church of Aleppo. Teachers are selected as being those who have a good character and live by the principles of Jesus, and reject the use of violence.
It was especially encouraging to visit with two classrooms of middle school boys. We met with an eighth-grade class studying English, and their English was quite good. Their bright smiles, joyful spirits, and good humor gave me a sense of hope in the midst of a suffering land.
The other class we visited was a tenth-grade Islamic religion class. Students study the Koran and are taught nonviolent principles common to Christians and Muslims. Again it was apparent on the bright faces of these boys that they were experiencing the spirit of Christ in the teachings they were receiving.
Having only 50 to 60 students in the immediate aftermath of the removal of international missionaries in 1967, the college for boys now has about 600 students. The girls’ school has 1315 students. Finding financial resources to send their children to these highly regarded schools is quite difficult for most families. Some scholarships are available. But the parents are willing to make immense sacrifices for the children to have this highly regarded education.
Moving a block down the road we visited the New Generation School. Again, we were moved by the bright smiles, twinkling eyes, and joyful spirit of these children and youth. Here girls are afforded an opportunity for a fine education. We watched as girls played games on the sports field and were told that it had been quite unusual for Syrian girls to play sports like this. Finally, we stopped by the kindergarten and watched about 100 children doing the sort of fun dancing to upbeat music which our own kids enjoy.
When I think of their serious hope for a bright future, the children and youth in the schools give me reason for encouragement. The love of Christ is being demonstrated by these Christian schools, which are infusing Christian principles and the fruit of the spirit into the lives of these young people.
After visiting the schools, we were received by the Islamic leadership of Aleppo and also an officer for the Syrian government. It was a warm and encouraging gathering with these official moderate Islamic leaders who eschew violence and welcome interfaith relationships of goodwill and peace. As the mufti said to us, “Today you are received not merely in our offices. You are received in our hearts.”
Our first day in Aleppo ended with a joyous worship service at the church with our team member and board chair Reverend Jack Baca presenting the sermon out of Romans 8, about living by the spirit, with a number of us participating in the liturgy, and then all sharing in the sacrament of holy communion. It was an incredible service, with the church running out of communion elements so that we had to use the common loaf and cup to feed everyone. Yet everyone was fed!
This morning I began reading Psalm 69. Its opening three verses express some of my own thoughts and what I have experienced so far traveling through Syria. “Save me oh God for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold.” But then the Psalm ends in the final three verses filled with the hope that I see emerging in the lives of these children. “Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion, and rebuild the cities of Judah and his servants to live there and possess it.”