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Church of Saint Mary of the Holy Belt (Umm al-Zinnar)

كنيسة أم الزنار

Historic Syriac Orthodox church in old Homs keeping a belt attributed to the Virgin Mary, traditionally dated to the 1st century.

In the Hamidiyya district of old Homs stands the Church of Umm al-Zinnar, among the oldest and most venerated churches in Syria. It belongs to the Syriac Orthodox Church, and tradition traces it to the 1st century, when early believers met underground.

Its name means "Our Lady of the Belt": it keeps a girdle attributed to the Virgin Mary, uncovered in the church's altar in the mid-20th century, which made it a pilgrimage site.

Its official name is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Belt. In the middle of the 20th century it was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, and after the patriarchate moved to Damascus it became the seat of the Syriac Orthodox diocese of Homs and Hama. Tradition holds that beneath the present church lies a far older one, from the 1st century, a cellar where worship was held in secret, and that after the Edict of Milan in AD 313 Homs's Christians built a large church above it of black basalt, its belfry dating to the 6th or 7th century. According to Christian tradition the belt passed to St Thomas, then to India and Edessa, and reached Homs in AD 476. The church was restored in 1852 and again in 1953, and the present building rests on sixteen massive columns under a decorated half-cylindrical dome.

Rebuilt many times, the present building is largely recent but keeps older elements in the black basalt typical of old Homs. It is a spiritual and historical landmark of Homs' resilience.

Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.

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Photos

Photos: Shaza Askar — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA) · Dosseman — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)