Time travel in the cradle of civilisation

Two thousand years after St Paul's birth Syria is still home to a thriving Christian centre where Christ's language is spoken, finds Ed West
10 July 2009

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision: "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." - Acts 9:10-12

It was one of the defining moments in history, transforming Christianity from a Jewish cult into the world's foremost religion. Today Straight Street, a mile-long thoroughfare running east to west, laid out by the Greeks, is a thriving commercial hub as it was in Paul's day, although after years of shop and house owners progressively taking liberties it is only a quarter as wide.

The House of St Ananias still lies to the north of the Roman-built Bab Sharqi, one of seven ancient gates to the city. The next gate along, Bab Kisan, is where Paul was lowered down into a basket to escape an angry Jewish community a couple of years after his conversion.

Nearby is the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St Mary's (Mariamie), which for the celebrations played host on the Friday night to the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra. It was a beautiful ceremony, a mixture of east and west, like the Syrian Christians as a whole. Ignatius IV, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, afterwards told the assembled faithful to come back washed in the Holy Spirit (it was translated to us as "we hope you come back washed", but I'm assuming it was not a criticism of our body odour). Outside in the street the Orthodox had put up a banner welcoming all visitors to Damascus for the Year of St Paul. the rest