On the feast of Saint George, the city of Aleppo (Syria), reopens its doors of St George Church after being restored following the damage suffered by the February 2023 earthquake. In addition, Bishop George Masri, Greek-Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo and its surroundings, will celebrate his golden anniversary.
The celebrations took place on the occasion of the visit of the Greek-Mequite Patriarch of Antioch (Syria) and Patriarchal Administrator of Iraq, who presided over the Divine Liturgy on the afternoon of April 23 in the already restored church of Saint George.
The day before, a procession took place on Holy Bible Street and then Vespers was prayed.
“The first step was to remove the loose stones from above to protect the people, especially since the church hall had housed the displaced for more than a month, who also received food,” said the priest.
“Then the restoration began, which lasted approximately a year, under the direct supervision of Archbishop Masri. The cracks were sealed, the exterior façade was restored, the interior was repainted, the stone was polished and new stairs were built,” explained Father Najjar.
As for the Providence school, the priest explained that the walls of the classrooms had also cracked and that the sanitary systems were damaged.
“We don’t just restore the school. Rather, we started a complete renovation, taking advantage of the summer holidays. In five months, the building rose wonderfully from its ashes,” he said.