Syria’s Christians face an uncertain future

When I visited Maaloula in southwest Syria in 2016, the Jabhat Al-Nusra (the predecessor of the Hayat Tahrir Ash Sham jihadis, who have toppled Bashar al-Assad) had systematically destroyed and desecrated the town’s churches and monasteries. Orthodox nuns were kidnapped and held to ransom, only freed after the Syrian government agreed to release extremist prisoners. During my visit, I was told again and again that young men had been singled out and executed when they refused to convert to the extremists’ version of Islam. Some of the most moving moments in my life have been to pray with the townsfolk and help to rededicate an ancient altar that had been desecrated by the militants.

Maaloula isn’t just another small town caught in the crossfire of Syria’s brutal civil war. For Christians, its importance lies in the fact that it is one of the last remaining communities to speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ, the Holy Family and the Apostles.