The Art of Antioch and the Antiochian World

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The Art of Antioch and the Antiochian World

Fr.Abdo Badwi, OLM

Antioch the City of God (Theopolis) is known also by Antioch on the Orontes, or Antioch near Daphne, or the Tetrapolis. It was the capital of the Seleucian and Roman Syria, the Crusaders’ Principality, the First See of Peter, the crossroad between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, Syria, Cilicia and Asia Minor. It was also the equivalent of Rome and Alexandria, the shelter of the first Christians escaping from Jerusalem after the martyrdom of Stephen, and the city in which many important events in the history of Christianity took place. Indeed, the name“Christianoi”, Christians was given to the followers of Christ for the first time in Antioch(Acts 11:26).

Antioch is situated in the western part of the Ameq plain on the Orontes, at the foot of MountSilpios and Stavrin, in front of MountAmanos at the northern side of MountCassius. It is connected to SeleuciaPeoriaPort (Samandag) by the Orontes passing by MountAdmirable which on its summit is the Church of Saint Symeon the Younger.
The city was founded on a small island in the middle of the Orontes, and later extended to its eastern side. It was composed of four quarters (Tetrapolis).Its walls were built in turn by Seleucos I, Tiberius, Justinian and Theodosios.

The OldTown with its Greco-Roman and Byzantine plans was completely destroyed by the earthquakes of 485 and 526.

Today, the majority of the actual population is Alawite, with a large number of Turkish Sunnis. The Christian minority now stands at 1500 Greek Orthodox, with 100 Catholics served by the Capuchin Brothers of the Latin rite. This represents 0.3% of the approximately 300,000 people who live in the town.Today they are five Patriarchs occupying the See of Saint Peter:

The Greek Orthodox headed by Kyr[1] Ignatios Hazim
The Greek Catholic (Melkite), Kyr Gregorios III Lahham
The Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite), Mar Ignatios Zakka Iwaz
The Syrian Catholic, Mar Ignatios Boutros Abdel Ahad
The Syro-Maronite, Mar Nesrallah Boutros Sfeir.

The Christian places include the the Saint Peter GrottoChurch, most of which was constructed in the time of theCrusaders, and boasts some mosaics from the 6th century and mural paintings; and the Saints Peter and Paul Church, which has been the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal See since the last century.

A Pilgrimage through the Antiochian Middle East

The photographic reproductions with this book take us on a tour of pilgrimage through Lebanon, Syria, Southern Turkey and the northern part of the Holy Land. In doing so, we will encounter a Middle East with a non-Christian majority, a land soaked with Christian blood from the time of Our Lord to today, kneaded with the most painful souvenirs, surviving in the Christian ruins of successive civilisations. We commemorate the sanctuaries of the cradle of Christianity, rediscovering them as in a pilgrimage to these exalted places. They survive through the living communities in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon, Syria, Mesopotamian and Antiochian Turkey.

This area, in the sphere of Antioch and its geo-ecclesiastic and demographic expansion is the cradle of Christianity. I would like one day to prepare a kind of an illustrated Christian guide book, for the rediscovery of the hidden treasures. Here we will find places which were once revered for holiness, and which stood in testimony to the kingdom of God, which is not from this world.

Our brothers in the faith still live in this region live today. Sometimes they inhabit the ruins of churches and monasteries, or in communities which are disappearing, pressured by privation, and restrictions on individual liberty, and by a lack of full citizenship. They are fascinated by the facilities of life available in the West, particularly in the New World of the USA.Others are living, even now, in flourishing and active communities, in faith and practice. They enjoy freedom of cult, playing an essential role in the socio-political and cultural levels in their countries.

Anyway, the Church of the Lord is present in this sad Orient, coveted by all the world, unfortunately not for its spiritual treasures, but for its material wealth. This land, cradle of religions and civilisations, is also a land of hatred and blood, as some claim a divine mandate to eliminate in God’s own name their fellow-citizens.

In this land Christians are living between two communities, one refusing forever to recognize the Messiah, and the other recognizing Him in a misplaced knowledge. In the hope that the message of Christ’s love will be spread in this land through the remaining minority, and that He will fulfill the misplaced knowledge of some and soften the hardness and refusing of others, I will try to present a large number of those holy places of the Oriental and Antiochian Christianity. If some localities are not mentioned or illustrated, it will be for the lack of documentation and time.

I will follow the highways and byways from south to north, and from west to east. We will make southern Lebanon our point of departure.

[The illustrations to be included will depend upon an editorial decision, cost etc. Fr Badwi has, however, provided both the illustrations and a detailed list.]

[1] “Kyr” comes from the Greek word “kurios” (pronounced “kyrios”) in Greek, which means “Lord”. It bears the same meaning as the Syriac and Aramaic word “mar”. The words “kyrie eleison” mean “O Lord, have mercy”.