Having some extra days in Syria we were really happy to visit Mar Musa, a restored 6th century monastery out in the desert. In the 1980's an italian priest began his mission of restoring the church into a functioning monastery, with the goal of creating dialogue and understanding between Syria's Christian and Muslim populations. Several years of reconstruction and development are now benefiting large groups of followers, travelers, intellectuals, and the small permanent parish.
Mar Musa monastery in the cliffs (view from the nuns' quarters)
Mar Musa's grounds are split into 3 compounds: the main area consists of the chapel, kitchen and dining patio, dining tent, library, sitting rooms, bathrooms, and some womens dorms (where I stayed). A lower staircase tunnel leads to a bridge connecting the nearby mountain, with a path leading to a secluded nuns' compound and retreat area. The third is the men's dorm, where Chris stayed. In general, we spent all of our time with others inside the main area, helping to cook and clean (and eat) meals and attend the evening meditation hour inside the chapel.
Looking into the central compund, with dining tent above
Chopping veggies for lunch with the team
To get there, Chris and I biked north to Nebek, a sprawling concrete town that serves as the gateway to the monastery. People in the street instantly knew why we were there, pointing to the road and shouting Mar Musa! Welcome! to guide us.
With luck on our side, we stopped to buy toothpaste and chocolate, ducking in to a small market where the owner invited us to join him for lunch. We followed him to the back room and ate falafel wraps, flipping through a hilarious English learning pamphlet and trying to converse in Arabic. Turns out he speaks Turkish! So we switched languages and swapped info about each other. Our new friend, Faoud, told us we shouldn't bike to the monestary because the road is bad and full of wild dogs, that we could leave our bikes and he would drive us out. After some considering we agreed because we had no idea what to expect but perhaps should trust his opinion. Actually the road was paved very well, though the long steep drop into the valley (17km) would have been a major pain to bike out of. As we approached the stairs climbing uphill to the monastery the sun had set behind the mountain and we could hear wolves' echoing howls...
Eating Falafel with Faoud
Almost immediately Chris and I met a fantastic group of travelers, mostly Americans and Aussies (including one RPCV who just finished service in Romania!), with whom we really hit it off. Together we attended (and debriefed after) the nightly meditation hour and mass.
Meditation buddies from USA and Australia
The inner chapel is quite comfortable, blanketed with carpets and lined by thick cushions (a la Turkiye), with colorful walls covered in frescoes from the 11-13th centuries.
What would be cold and stony is sprused up with rugs and pillows
At 7 pm all the residents gather here for an hour of silent meditation, then father Paolo or another monk delivers a service in Arabic while people attempt to follow along in the bible of their tongue. Both nights started out peaceful, very slowly ascending into a cacophony of hungry stomachs and shifting legs. At 9:30 we were freed to go prepare dinner, finally eating in the covered dining tent (for warmth) around 10, dish duty until 11, and then the men were kicked out, sent back to their compound.
Another view of the central compound, above is dining tent
In the morning as people woke (usually foreigners skip the 7 am mass), we sipped from large kettles of tea and watched the fog clear out of the valley below.
Morning fog in the valley below Mar Musa
After a simple breakfast and dish duty, people volunteer for the day's tasks such as garbage collection (Chris), veggie chopping and lunch prep (me), or floors, laundry, etc. Definitely not the hardest day of labor-- by 1 the patio was full of people resting and sipping more tea.
Learning the Aussie Wave from the experts
Father Paolo gave a tour of the church, explaining it's historical construction through modern revival, goals, as well as the stories behind the remaining fresco figures. The back wall is especially interesting because depicted on it are the saints and good parishes and people in heaven, with a dividing line and the bad parishes (those not in line with the Eastern Catholic Church) and sinners in hell. More or less this is just a political statement of the time, which is far more intriguing to me than the icons or doctrine.
Wall of good vs bad inside the chapel
We were sad to leave Mar Musa (but not meditation hour), and recommend it for a longer retreat, perhaps a week or month. If I could easily get another visa to Syria I'd love to come back here someday...
Entrance to the Women's dorm
After a long morning we made our way down the long winding stairs into the valley, piled into a minivan with our group of new friends, and drove back to Nebek. Chris and I jokingly feared a Twilight Zone episode in which we go back for our bikes and the shop has vanished, having been "burnt down 15 years prior", but happily Faoud and our bikes were right where we left them. He tried convincing us to stay a night there, but we declined, insisting that we must get up to Homs that afternoon. Foaud stuffed a few bananas and cakes into out hands before waving us goodbye.
Bikes were still there!
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