Although some people know the story of Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, kidnapped by ISIS in Syria in 2013 and not seen again since, fewer know that the community he started in 1991 continues to exist at the Syrian desert monastery of Deir Mar Musa.
Father Jihad Youssef, abbot of Deir Mar Musa, says the monastic community aims to promote harmony between Christians and Muslims. The monastery’s library has stacks of books on Islamic studies as well as Islamic Christian-dialogue, says Sister Carol Cooke-Eid.
“During the war, we had to remove the library and take it to Nabk, to ensure that [the books wouldn’t] be burned — as they were in Qaryatayn, in our other monastery, when ISIS occupied it,” she says.
Lay woman Wareena Qassis says she loves coming to the monastery, where she feels close to people. She describes days organized around spirituality, manual labor, occasional gatherings with the abbot, monks and nuns, and simple recreational activities.
“What’s beautiful and wonderful about Deir Mar Musa is that many tourists come here, and through that, you get to know many different cultures and personalities,” she says.
Get a sense of the desert monastery in this video by Ahmad Fallaha. You can read more about the monastery’s community in “A Light in the Desert” in the December issue of ONE.