Crossroads -- What links the Damascus bomb to Acts 11?

Journalists need to understand basic facts of history in the Middle East

It was just another bombing in a complicated corner of the Middle East, but this one was important — the Associated Press noted — because it had major political implications.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The sleeper cell behind a deadly church bombing near Damascus belonged to the Islamic State group, which had plans to target a Shiite shrine in a similar attack, Syria ‘s Interior Ministry spokesperson said. …

Sunday’s attack on the Mar Elias church killed at least 25 people. The attack was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of the country’s minorities.

The AP story never got around to mentioning that this was an Orthodox parish, one located near the Street Called Straight where the Apostle Paul learned the Christian faith after his conversion (ninth chapter of the Book of Acts).

Details, details, details.

Facts like that matter, when new martyrs are added to the long, powerful story of an ancient city at the heart of Christian history.

During this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, I noted that it was essential to cover the political angle in this event. Yes, the New York Times also understood that part of this tragic event.

A suicide bomber attacked a Greek Orthodox Church service in Syria’s capital on Sunday, killing at least 20 people and underscoring the new government’s challenge to maintain stability after more than a decade of civil war.

The Syrian authorities said the assailant had opened fire on congregants at the Mar Elias Church in Dweila, a neighborhood of Damascus, before detonating an explosive vest. More than 50 people were wounded.

The attacker appeared to have ties to the Islamic State, the extremist group that once controlled large areas of Syria, the authorities said. It was the first known suicide bombing in the capital since December, when a rebel coalition ousted Syria’s iron-fisted president, Bashar al-Assad, and took power.

Actually, this parish was full of faithful, Arab-speaking Christians in the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch, formed soon after the church of Jerusalem. Historically, “Greek” is often applied to the Antiochians (I am an Antiochian Orthodox convert), to separate them from the church of Rome in the West. Another important fact: Antioch’s first bishop was St. Peter, before he led the Church of Rome.

Does church history matter in this case?

Only if readers need to understand the centuries of martyrs of who have lived, prayed and died in Syria and the rest of the ancient biblical lands in that region.

At the funeral for the new martyrs — trust me, they will be honored as martyrs — the Antiochian Patriarch John X, whose office remains on the Street Called Straight, talked about the past, the present and salvation in the life to come. Did mainstream journalists note that this sermon was posted online? As best I can tell, only Reuters covered the sermon, focusing on the political hook. Hold that thought.

This passage was especially powerful, coming soon after Pentecost and the holy season of Pascha (known as Easter in the West). This is long, but essential:

You, beloved martyrs, have left us and were translated to heaven, to eternal life, in the presence of the Lord Who rose from the dead.

You were martyred last Sunday, which is the Second Sunday after Pentecost, a Sunday designated by the Holy Synod of Antioch as the feast of All Antiochian Saints. You were martyred and entered into eternal life on this day, joining the company of all Righteous and Holy Antiochian Saints, and all the saints. Today, we turn to you. We ask you to pray for us, now that you rest in the Lord’s embrace.

I address my beloved ones, my brothers and sisters, the families of the martyrs, the wounded, the sick, and the injured. I extend to you my heartfelt condolences and ask the Lord Jesus to keep you with His divine Right Hand, to bless you, to comfort you, and to grant you patience and consolation. I address the faithful of our parish of St. Elias, where this tragedy took place. I address all our Christian children throughout Syria and across the world.

I address every Syrian, whether Muslim or Christian, in this country, because what happened is not an isolated incident, nor a personal act, nor an attack on one individual or one family. It is an attack on every Syrian and on all of Syria. It is an attack specifically on the Christian entity. Therefore, I turn to everyone, asking the Lord God to comfort hearts, to strengthen us, and to keep us steadfast in our faith, in our Church, and in our homeland.

The word “homeland” is literally true, since the Antiochian Christians are trying to survive in the land where they have lived, worshipped and died since the birth of Christianity. Consider this famous passage in Acts:11:

²⁵ So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians.

The great city of Antioch is all but gone, today. What remains, near the border of Turkey and Syria, is called Antakya. That is just to the west of the modern city of Aleppo.

For context, it helps to know that the blood brother of the Antiochian patriarch — Metropolitan Paul Yazigi — was the bishop of Aleppo until he was kidnapped in 2013. He simply disappeared, with another bishop, while trying to negotiate the release of kidnapped priests. Metropolitan Paul’s fate is unknown and a body has never been recovered.

In a sermon just before he was kidnapped, Yazigi reminded his people:

"If we want to be good children to God, then we don't thank Him only when He gives us [blessings]. … Also, when we are hurting, we say to Him: 'Your hand must be taking care of us, and we thank You.' … A Christian is a creature that gives thanks to God for all things one knows and doesn't know, for both the good and the hardships one faces in his life."

Does any of this matter? During the podcast, host Todd Wilken asked me if readers should expect mainstream journalists to be familiar with any of this material — as in the role that Antiochian believers play in the history of Christianity.

That depends. Are elite journalists based in Jerusalem expected to know, or to be able to access research materials, about the history of that great city? Are journalists based in, let’s say, Saudi Arabia expected to understand the role of Mecca and other crucial sites in the history of Islam?

Obviously, I am biased on this topic.

I am a religion-beat specialist who studied church history as an undergraduate and in graduate school (while also taking courses covering faiths in America and around the world). I know enough about the great world religions to know — this is crucial — how little I know. Thus, I grasp that I need to do background work in an attempt to understand the details of many of the subjects that I cover.

As I stated earlier, I am also a convert to Eastern Orthodoxy and have spent most of my time in Antiochian parishes. Thus, this subject is personal, for me.

But Syria and Turkey are important countries. It’s impossible to cover events there without understanding the role of the endangered, often crushed, Christian minorities in this region. Reporters can cite ongoing reports on this topic from the U.S State Department.

In the end, coverage of this Damascus bombing can be seen as a textbook example of what the late novelist Michael Crichton called the “Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect” in contemporary journalism. He created this term in a 2002 talk — “Why Speculate?” — after a conversation with a friend, the famous physicist Murray Gell-Mann.

Crichton noted:

… The Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward — reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

Yes, this is harsh material and it certainly does not accurately describe the work of many, many trained, experienced specialty reporters.

The question, of course, is whether the elite reporters based in the important, and dangerous, city of Damascus knew essential facts about the context of the bombing at the Mar Elias Orthodox church — a sanctuary so close to the Street Called Straight. Maybe they have heard of St. Peter and St. Paul?

I will end with another quote from the funeral sermon by Patriarch John X, a passage that he addressed directly to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa:

With all love, respect, and appreciation, Mr. President, you spoke yesterday by
phone with the Patriarchal Vicar to convey your condolences to us.

This is not enough. We appreciate the phone call, but the crime that took place
is greater and deserves more than just a call. We hope the government succeeds in achieving the goals of the revolution, which, as you and everyone have said, are democracy, freedom, equality, and the rule of law. This is what we expect, what we want, and what we are working for.

I will say it plainly: we were informed that the government intends to declare an official day of mourning for the nation. Mr. President, do not announce this day as a day of mourning. As Christians, we do not desire anyone to mourn for us. Rather, I would find it beautiful that you declare this day a day of mourning for the government itself.

That’s the political context. Yes, that is important. But so is the blood of the new martyrs of Antioch.

Enjoy the podcast and, please, share it with others. Also, I suggest that readers visit this Facebook page and listen to the voices of believers gathered inside Mar Elias, singing about the resurrection in their damaged, blood-stained sanctuary.