When
you enter this town, you feel that you are in a world of
wonders, a world of miracles. You would be taking by the
beauty of its mountains surrounding the whole village. Its
houses grouped and collected on those rocks as in birds
nets hang on rocks and huge old trees. Houses built one on
top of the other's). Each level is not more than a house
in height. Their roofs has transferred to roads and paths
for the houses above.. As
the spoken language in the Semitic cultures of Babylonia,
Palestine and Persia,
Maaloula has striven for centuries to retain her cultural and religious integrity.
Her people have wrestled with schism and internal differences as well as standing
out alone as a tiny minority in a Muslim nation.
Such circumstances created a people who tenaciously adhere to their roots
With the introduction of television and other modern conveniences, many of Maaloula's youngsters leave for the cities in search
for jobs and a better life. There, they speak Aramaic less frequently and grow accustomed to Arabic,
the national language. Inevitably those who remain in Maaloula must strain to maintain their identity. Arabic,
not Aramaic, is taught in schools.
Because the Aramaic dialect spoken in Maaloula is never written, it is less open to change,
adapt and expand as languages must in order to express modern ideas and vocabulary. Hence,
Aramaic has eroded as a vernacular language and is now exclusively a language for scripture scholars.
Western
Aramaic (Jesus's language)
Saint
Sergius and Bacchus (Mar Sarkis)
Built in the fourth century, the church commemorates two Syrian soldiers,
Serguis and Bacchus. It is one of the oldest continuously active churches in the world.
The architecture of the church reveals a strong influence from the Byzantine
East. Like The Haghia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul), though on a much smaller scale.
Saint Serguis has a similar basilican plan crowned by a dome which floods the interior with light.
The altar in this ancient church still resemble pagan altars with one differece;
absent is the hole which allowed the blood of the sacrificed animals to freely
flow. Capped with semicircular marble slabs, the freestanding altars, unlike any
other in the Christian world, testify to the survival of an ancient culture and
the living church's roots.
The people of Maaloula now cater mostly to tourists and scholars. The Basilian
Salvatorian Order of the Greek Catholic Community, which serves the people
of Saint Serguis, has published a brochure in several languages that explains
the history of Maaloula and the convent of Saint Serguis.
The Ministry of Tourism of the Syrian Arabic Republic, eager to promote tourism from the
West, boasts in colorful brochures of Maaloula's unique role in the history of the church.
