Syria Trails › Places

Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Maaloula

دير مار سركيس وباخوس

One of Syria's oldest monasteries above Maaloula, with an ancient semicircular altar and historic icons, in a village that still speaks Aramaic.

On a plateau above Maaloula in the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus stands the Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, among the oldest surviving churches in Syria. It honours two Roman soldiers martyred, according to tradition, in the early 4th century and deeply venerated in Eastern Christianity.

The oldest parts of the church date from the early Byzantine period, possibly over an earlier pagan shrine. Its semicircular stone altar with a raised rim, resembling ancient offering tables, is a rare witness to the transition from older cults to Christianity.

Sergius and Bacchus were officers in the Roman imperial guard who, it is told, refused to take part in pagan rites and were tortured: Bacchus died under flogging and Sergius was beheaded at Resafa, where his tomb became a pilgrimage centre and the city became Sergiopolis. Tradition places their martyrdom in the early 4th century; they became among the best-known martyrs of the East, with churches named for them across the Levant and the Byzantine Empire. The monastery's stone altar, close in form to the offering tables of ancient temples, is a rare witness to the transition from the old cults to Christianity at Maaloula.

Historic icons and an old wooden ceiling fill the simple stone interior; the monastery belongs to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Maaloula itself, clinging to the cliffs, is known for Western Neo-Aramaic.

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

For the visitor

Photos

Photos: Effi Schweizer — via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Frank Kidner — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)