Russian Military Helps Rebuild Ancient Church in Syria

Global Orthodox ^ | 12/17/21

[marshmallow]

The ancient church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Syrian province of Daraa, almost totally destroyed by terrorists, will be rebuilt with support from the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense. “Some parts of the church are 1500 years old, and some of its most ancient stones date back to 1700 years ago,” said Mashur el Emkhann, the rector of the church. “We also know that before our Lord Jesus Christ was born, this was already a place of worship. People came here to pray. That means that this has been a sacred place for several millennia. The Divine services were held in this church till the beginning of this war, but in 2013 we had to stop.”

The priest recalled that the church was first shelled, and then plundered by terrorists. After the province was liberated, some of the well-off local people gave money for its restoration. And now, the Russian military joined in.

“When we got here in October, we saw the church and decided we could help to restore it, as part of the second stage in post-conflict settlement. We brought 8 cubic meters of pine wood from Karelia and five tons of cement, and now we are supervising the restoration work,” said officer Andrey Kotenok."

The church was also examined by experts in early Christian architecture, from the Russian Academy of Science. They confirmed that the church, built of basalt blocks, is absolutely unique and needs to be restored.

[BobL]

More than we’ve ever done for churches in that part of the world.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Most of what Putin does has pluses and minuses, with one exception: every time he supports the Orthodox churches, he hits a home run, even though the west has no clue as to its import or impact. Honestly, there have been times where the Eastern Orthodox churches have seriously considered naming him a Saint.

For all the bad stuff he has done, they just shrug it off as secular, political stuff that doesn’t really matter. But the religious stuff hits them deep and hard.

[JoanSmith]

I know some vets who became Orthodox after they realized they were fighting Orthodox Christians in Syria. They did their research and realized they were killing Apostolic Christians. Struck them to the core, and as a result became Orthodox.

[GaryCrow]

Pablo Escobar built schools and houses for poor families. He didn't do it because he was a good guy, he did it because it got him loyalty from the masses which allowed him to run his criminal empire relatively unmolested. Putin is no different, rebuild a few Orthodox churches and the people reward him by making him dictator for life. At it's essence it's the same thing the Democratic party does in the U.S., reward the underclass with ever increasing welfare benefits in return for their votes.

It's the M.O. of thugs throughout time.

[tlozo]

And Putin is responsible for the destruction of Orthodox Churches in Donbas, Ukraine.

Devastation from the Russian invasion in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Troitske)

[PIF]

Meanwhile here at home, Brandon cut the cost of living stipend for troops living in expensive areas (like DC) and then gave all troops a whopping 2.7% pay increase.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

In Putin’s case, it is a LOT more than that. One of his biggest hits was to hold an eastern orthodox conclave in Moscow, bringing together e.o. churches that hadn’t spoken with each other in hundreds of years. The Roman church was definitely *not* invited. The conclave was a huge hit.

And not just “a few churches”, but recommissioning all kinds of churches and cathedrals first in Moscow, taking them away from the government, then expanding outward through Russia. Then reintroducing religion to public schools and putting money into parochial schools and seminaries.

Only then has he expanded to orthodox churches outside of Russia, and not just Russian orthodox churches.

Doing all this digs way back into Russian history.

When the Roman church was split into the western and eastern churches, with the fall of Rome to the barbarians; Constantinople became the new center of Christendom. The “second center” became Moscow. So when the Muslims finally captured Constantinople in 1453, Moscow assumed it would become the new center of the faith.

But by then, Rome had been rebuilt, so the center shifted back west, and the Russians never got over it, and the Russian Orthodox church silently fumed about it for 550+ years.

In total, Putin has done far more for the orthodox churches than either Byzantine Emperor Justinian I or his wife Theodora, both of which are orthodox saints, so I would not be surprised if at some point Putin is made a saint as well.