The Vanishing: The Twilight of Christianity in the Middle East
JANINE DI GIOVANNI
(BLOOMSBURY, 272 PP, £20)
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Not long before the civil war broke out in Syria, I was taken to visit the Syriac Patriarch of Antioch. The patriarchate is near the Street Called Straight, where St Paul regained his sight on reaching Damascus. Conscious of the honour of meeting such a dignitary, we made sure we arrived a good 10 minutes early. Standing outside the patriarchate, my companion took the opportunity to have a quick smoke. Meanwhile, a gentle old priest – obviously one of the patriarch’s assistants – stood outside the building waiting patiently for us to approach. The cigarette finished, we went to the door. He greeted us. It was the patriarch himself. Inside, he apologised that he could not give us tea: he was completely on his own. While this informality was moving, I could not help having a sense of departed greatness. After all, Antioch was the senior patriarchate. When this patriarch had visited John Paul II in Rome, in 1980, the Pope, with exquisite courtesy, greeted him with the words: “The First of the Second Church welcomes the First of the First Church!” But the contrast between a glorious title and the present straitened circumstances was stark.