My thoughts about Syria

When back from Syria I could not stop talking about everything I had seen and done. It took me several days to feel at home in Sweden again. My spontaneus feeling for this country was WOW! So much was new to me - I had not been outside Europe for ten years. When going to Scotland I always feel overwhelmed by the big differences, and Syria is of course ten times more unfamiliar. I could now see everything in Sweden with fresh eyes, all the things I had taken for granted. I was also chocked by the Swedish people - they felt sour as vinegar in comparition to the extreme generosity and hospitality in Syria. The warm welcome I got in Syria would meet no Syrian person coming to my country, and that is a fact I feel ashamed about.

In Sweden we have everything but still we are not happy - this was something I came to think a lot about. I also thought more than usual about religions; about my position as a believer in none of the world religions, and the fact that I am still welcome as a Quaker. I now feel even more grateful about this. At this moment I am waiting for a reply from my univeristy on a course in the history of the Middle East that I really hope to be taking this summer. I want to know more. I feel a bit bad about not getting closer to you all, as I spent a big part of the trip talking to my Swedish friends, but I do not regret it. We got to know each other better in those few days in Syria then we had managed to do for a couple of years in Sweden.

I was struck by the people I met and listened to, people that saw Syria as a land to be proud about, an equal country, a tolerant country, and at the same time I could not forget that there must be persons with totally different stories. I did not feel anything special about being a woman in Syria, but I felt strongly about being lesbian and not dare to express myself as I am used to, not dare to act and talk and joke in my everyday way. Even stronger were my feelings about Qunaitra and the lecture on Iraqi refugees and their situation - especially the picture from a flooded tent camp at the Syrian border. But I will also for a long time remember smaller things: Travelling six people in a usual four-seat car, seeing jars full of crawling snakes, walking in a food market with no tourists but a lot of sheep heads, all delicious vegan food, the whole feeling that time was not that important and that stress was not needed.

To be honest, I longed for Sweden most of the time in Syria, but afterwards I missed the warmth of people and climate. I miss the cries calling people to Friday prayer, I want to be back in the sun with all of you! I hope that years will pass before this trip fades in my memory and that I will never forget the few Arabic words I learnt. I don't think I will go back to Syria, but I feel more eager than ever before about travelling and seeing this world that I live in.

Reflections

For me, EMEYF spring gathering was magic. It was so for many reasons. It enabled me to be a part of a spiritual community; it was a chance for me to be with friends I am seldom able to see; it provided me with the space to share spiritual experiences and perspectives with my peers; it was my first substantial experience of being a clerk; and it took place in a land rich with religious heritage.

Of all the places we visited the Umayyad Mosque left the biggest impression on me. I am always in awe of places that have long served human experience of the divine. People have gathered to worship at the site of the Umayyad Mosque for thousands of years. Wikipedia tells me that the first temple was built during the Aramaean era. It was dedicated to a rain god caled Hadad. Then, during the Roman period, Jupiter the king of gods was worshiped there. Once Christianity replaced the Roman gods a church dedicated to John the Baptist was built. Finally, in 715 it became the Mosque it is today.

What struck me about the Umayyad Mosque was that it felt a lot like an old plaza in southern Europe. The people gathering to talk, children running and sliding around on the smooth marble floor and worshipers sat in contemplation; I felt it had a really inclusive atmosphere. What’s more, despite all the liveliness I found plenty of space for quietness and reflection. As I sat I felt at peace.

I was lead into thinking about The Spirit I believe we all form a part of and how we all find our way to approach it. Although don’t share the ‘outward sacraments’ of Islam, I was overwhelmed by a sense of unity. As I sat, this sense drew me deep within myself, to a place I believe I am always present yet too seldom reside. Once there I saw no distinction between my ‘self’ and that of everyone around me. It was nice.

Since returning from Syria I have thought about my encounter in the Mosque and wondered why it came over me so strongly. I can see now that this experience was in many ways facilitated by the gathering; the thoughts and feelings it lead me into. I was thinking a lot about ‘the other’, about the questions of how I relate with it and how it affects my faith. With these questions swimming around in my head, I found the Mosque to be the perfect place to sit and contemplate them.

Here’s a quote from 1762 by John Woolman that comes very close to expressing my experience:

‘There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in different places and ages hath different names; it is, however, pure and proceeds from God. It is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion nor excluded from any where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever this takes root and grows, of what nation soever, they become brethren.’

BYM Quaker Faith and Practice 26:61

Greek Orthodox Churches

After reading up on the various Catholic Rites, I decided to inform myself more about the Orthodox Churches, since we also visited some while in Syria. The second church we visited in Maalula on Easter, Convent of St. Takla, is part of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (as is the Convent of Our Lady in Sednaya that Marco and I visited Friday morning). This confirmed my thought that the procession which we saw on Sunday was actually celebrating Palm Sunday, as Easter was the following Sunday for the Orthodox Churches.

The Orthodox, then, are the Christians in the East of Europe, in Egypt and Asia, who accept the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon (are therefore neither Nestorians nor Monophysites), but who, as the result of the schisms of Photius (ninth cent.) and Cerularius (eleventh cent.), are not in communion with the Catholic Church. There is no common authority obeyed by all, or rather it is only the authority of "Christ and the seven Ecumenical Synods" (from Nicæa I in 325, to Nicæa II in 787).

These sixteen Churches are: (1) The four Eastern patriarchates — Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem — and the Church of Cyprus, independent since the Council of Ephesus. (2) Since the great schism eleven new Churches have been added, all but one formed at the expense of the one vast Patriarchate of Constantinople. They are the six national churches of Russia, Greece, Servia, Montenegro, Rumania, and Bulgaria, four independent Churches in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, namely Carlovitz, Hermannstadt, Czernovitz, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and lastly the Church of Mount Sinai, consisting of one monastery separated from Jerusalem.

source

Catholic Rites

Besides learning a lot of new things about Islam during the Gathering, Marco and I were surprised how much we learned about the Catholic Church and how many more rites exist within it than we realized previously. When we returned home we did a little research to understand better how the new rites we discovered were related to the one we were already familiar with, which is the Roman/Latin rite (which most catholic churches in the West follow).

A Rite represents an ecclesiastical tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. There are three major groupings of Rites based on this initial transmission of the faith, the Roman, the Antiochian (Syria) and the Alexandrian (Egypt). Later on the Byzantine derived as a major Group of Rites from the Antiochian. From these four derive the over 20 liturgical Rites present in the Church today.

link to source and more detailed description of the various catholic rites

St. Sergius monastery that we visited in Maalula for Easter services is part of the Melkite rite, which is part of the Catholic Church's Byzantine group of rites. The church we visited on Monday in Damascus was part of the Maronite rite, which is part of the Catholic Church's Antioch group of rites.

We listened, learnt and asked questions – may it all continue!

Welcome to EMEYF SG2009 Blogspot

Dear Friends,

I hope you have all had a safe and pleasant journey home. Like me you are probably very tired and still thinking through what happened to you last week. When you feel ready, please share with us any reflections, messages, poems and opinions.

On the side bar here there are links to flicker photos and youtube videos of our Gathering. I hope these resources, together with this blog, will help us stay in touch and slowly work though and share what we have learnt and where last week is taking us.

I also hope they will and act as stimulus for those of us who are contributing to the gathering report (send any finished articles, stories, poems, etc to me or Anya).

Holding you all in the light,

Calum