In historic Orontes Valley, Christian families return to Ghassaniyah 14 years after expulsion. Ecumenical ceremony marks hope, forgiveness, rebirth.
Newsroom (11/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) While global headlines focused on transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s diplomatic visit to Washington, a quieter but profoundly symbolic event unfolded in northern Syria’s Orontes Valley last Saturday: the official return of displaced Christian families to the village of Ghassaniyah, 14 years after they were driven out by armed Islamist groups.
On 8 November 2025, several families formally repossessed homes and lands seized during the height of the Syrian civil war, in a ceremony that local Christians described as nothing short of miraculous.
Ghassaniyah, a small hamlet in the historic Jacob’s Valley (Wadi al-Nasara) west of Hama, is one of the ancient Christian strongholds along the Orontes River. Residents proudly trace their lineage to the first-century Church, claiming direct descent from the communities evangelized by Saint Paul on his journey from Jerusalem to Antioch.
Since 2011, these villages suffered systematic persecution under successive jihadist occupations—first by factions linked to al-Nusra Front and later by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Homes were confiscated, churches desecrated, and residents given ultimatums to convert, pay jizya, or flee.
The Franciscan convent in Ghassaniyah itself became a place of martyrdom. On 23 June 2013, Syrian priest Father François Mourad was executed by Islamist militants while remaining with his flock and assisting refugees alongside friars of the Custody of the Holy Land.
Against this backdrop of violence and loss, Saturday’s ceremony carried an almost resurrectional weight.
The event bore a striking ecumenical character. Present were the Latin-rite Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo, Bishop Hanna Jallouf—a native son of the Orontes Valley—the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Lattakia, Athanasius Fahed, and Rev. Ibrahim Nuseir, president of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. Together they embodied the full spectrum of Christianity still rooted in Al-Ghassaniyah.
In an emotional high point, Father Bahjat Karakash, parish priest of the Latin-rite community, read a message sent by the Custos of the Holy Land, Friar Francesco Ielpo:
“On this day of grace, we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah resonate: ‘Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away’ (Is 51:11).
“This return is a sign of community rebirth, of the strength of faith, and of the power of forgiveness, upon which every true reconstruction is founded. May the light of the risen Christ, our true Peace, continue to illuminate Syria and all the lands entrusted to our care, and make our ministry of peace and reconciliation fruitful.”
Local residents wept openly as keys were handed over and families crossed the thresholds of houses many had not seen since childhood.
One returning homeowner, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, told reporters: “We never thought we would see this day. We forgive, because without forgiveness there is no future. But we will never forget what faith cost us.”
The return was made possible by security guarantees provided under the transitional government and by months of quiet negotiations between local Church leaders and authorities in the northwest.
For Syria’s battered Christian minority—whose numbers have fallen from 1.5 million in 2011 to fewer than 300,000 today—the images of families praying again in Ghassaniyah offer a rare glimmer of hope that the country’s ancient Christian presence may yet endure.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Asianews.it
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