Saidnaya

Government

The Syrian city Saidnaya, also sednaya, Seidnaya, Sardeneye, Ma ʿ arrat Saydnaya, Arabic صيدنايا, DMG Saidnaya, is located about 1500 meters above sea level, 20 to 30 kilometers north of Damascus in Qalamun Mountains in the government district in the province Muhafazat Rif Dimaschq.

Buildings and monasteries

In Saidnaya there are numerous monasteries and churches of various Christian denominations. These include ancient Christian shrines like the grotto and the Ephraim Elias Monastery ( Mor - Aphram Monastery ). The latter is one of the oldest monasteries in the world and now the seat of the Patriarch of Antioch, the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Pilgrimage Church of St. Mary

Very well known Saidnaya is for the pilgrimage church of St. Mary. According to legend, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian was I. ( 482-565 ) north of Damascus on the hunt. A gazelle, which he pursued, suddenly turned into an apparition of the Virgin Mary and Justinian ordered to build a monastery at this point. He immediately began the construction; the first predecessors of today standing there the monastery date back to 547 AD. The now standing there, the monastery was constructed mainly in modernity. The 30 nuns who currently inhabit the monastery and manage, describe it as the oldest inhabited without interruption Christian monastery. In the monastery a wrapped into many towels icon is kept with the image of the Virgin Mary is said to have painted the Evangelist Luke. Because of their holiness they will not be revealed. On the feast of the Nativity of Mary (8 September ) is the monastery every year practically overflowing. At this Christian pilgrimage, one of the supposed to be next to Jerusalem and Damascus and Maalula importantly, for many people to have been cured of their ailments. Some of these stories can be read also in the monastery itself.

The cherubim

On the summit of the highest mountain in the area, the 2000-meter high mountain cherubim, named after the Engelart the cherubim, is also a monastery. Here you will find the remains of sacred buildings. There is a church from the Byzantine period and the major construction of a new monastery at the summit. From there you have made ​​an extraordinary view over the country.