St. Mary's Cathedral
Om al-Zenar - Homs
The Cathedral of St. Mary, Om al-Zenar
Patriarch Ephrem Barsoum Street
Boustan al-Diwaan
Homs
Tel: 0963-31-487 346
Fax: 0963-31-487 006
Visiting Hours at the Cathedral
Summer: 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Winter: 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Biography of the Saint Mary
The Virgin Mary was born an only child to her righteous parents, Joachim and Hannah, in the year 14 B.C. At the age of three, her parents took her to study the Holy Scriptures and to memorize the law at the temple, where she stayed until she was fourteen. She became engaged to a relative, a righteous man named Joseph. At that time the angel Gabriel announced the divine conception of Christ, to whom she gave birth as a virgin. She brought him up and lived with him in the house of Joseph. She witnessed Jesus' first miracles and heard his preaching of the gospel. She witnessed his crucifixion and death and believed in his resurrection, and she saw his ascension into heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost. She observed a life of worship and prayer until her death at the age of seventy in the year 56 A.D. The apostles buried her, and after three days the angels carried her body to heaven, a sight seen by St. Thomas who at the time was preaching in India and could not take part in her funeral. St. Thomas asked her for a sign to show to the other disciples that she had truly ascended to heaven, so the Virgin Mary gave him her holy belt (zenar).
Movement of the Holy Belt
St. Thomas took the belt with him later when we went again to India and kept it with him wherever he preached until his death. For centuries after St. Thomas' death, the belt was kept in India with his relics. At the end of the 4th century in 394 A.D., the belt traveled from India to Urfa with the relics of St. Thomas. In 476 A.D. the belt was moved to St. Mary's Church in Homs when a monk named Father Daoud al-Tur Abdyni came to St. Mary's Church bringing with him the belt and the relics of the martyr St. Bassus, which he left in the church. This was evidenced upon discovery of the belt, when bones that were the relics of St. Bassus were found. Since then the church has been known as al-Zenar Church or Om al-Zenar Church.
Renovation of the Church and Discovery of the Belt
In the course of time due to the unsettled security situation, the people of Homs buried the holy belt inside the church altar in a metal pot. The belt remained thus buried until the year 1852 when the Syrianis undertook renovation of their church during the time of Bishop Julius Butros, who later became Patriarch Butros IV (1872 - 1884). When the church was torn down they found the belt of the Virgin Mary placed in a metal pot in the middle of the altar. The people were overjoyed to receive the belt's blessing again. Then they returned the belt in the same condition they had found it in and placed a large stone over it. Engraved on the stone in Gershuni [Arabic written in the Syriac script] was the date of the church's renovation - 1853, during the time of Bishop Julius Butros - as well as the names of donors to the church. Also engraved on the stone was the fact that the church dates from 59 A.D, and that for many reasons, principally persecution, the church fathers hid the belt in the altar.
The belt was then forgotten for about one hundred years until God again willed that this valuable treasure be available for believers to receive its blessing. God revealed it to the Patriarch Mor Ignatius Ephrem I Barsoum, who said in his patriarchal declaration: "At the end of April, 1953, when we were checking through a book of stories and sermons written in Gershuni, we found a volume bound with many sheets of paper on top of each other. [Three hundred years ago because of a lack of paperboard, Middle Easterners used to bind their manuscripts in this way, or with a piece of wood wrapped in leather or heavy cloth.] When we opened the book's leather cover, we found forty-six bound letters in Gershuni and Arabic regarding the diocese of Homs written more than one hundred years ago. One of the letters was written in Gershuni in the year 1852 and measured 28 by 20 cm. It was written by leaders of the diocese of Syria, namely Homs, Hama, Damascus, Sadad, Fairuzé and Meskené to the leaders of the neighboring city of Mardin and the patriarchal seat in Zafaran Monastery about the conditions of their diocese. They mentioned that when they tore down their church called Our Lady Om al-Zenar in Homs to enlarge and renovate it and to put a wooden ceiling it at the command of the bishop of the diocese, Butros Musally, they found the belt of the Virgin Mary placed in a pot in the middle of altar. They were filled with great joy."
Based on this information, Patriarch Ephrem Barsoum examined the altar on the morning of July 20th, 1953. He found a stone tablet and underneath it an old basin covered with a brass lid. Inside was the pot, which was broken due to its old age, and the venerable belt, folded up. In the corner at the top of the pot he also found a thin metal tube containing a hollow bone that seemed to have inside it a piece of leather or thick paper that had been left untouched. The pieces of the pot were collected and preserved. The news of this discovery spread throughout the city of Homs, and people from all the Christian denominations flocked to the church to receive the blessing of the holy belt.
The Holy Belt
The holy belt was placed inside a cylindrical box (74 cm long, 5 cm wide and 3 cm thick). It is light beige and made of wool, and possibly flax and silk. On the outer edge it is embroidered with gold threads.
The Cylindrical Box
The metal has oxidized to the extent that nothing remains of the metal. The process of oxidation has preserved the original shape of the box, which was mostly made of silver mixed with another metal.
The Basin
The basin is made of volcanic rock in the shape of a pillar capital 12 cm high. The top side is 24 cm across and the underside side is 29cm across. The hole is 16 cm in diameter. The basin dates back to the Byzantine era.
The Brass Cover
The brass cover was on the basin and is 15 cm in diameter and is decorated with many circles united in the center.
The Stone Tablet
The tablet is 46 cm long, 44 cm wide and 2 cm thick. The following is written on it in Gershuni: This church was built in the year 59 in the time of the preacher Meela, also known as Elia. It mentions that the church was renovated in 1852 in the time of Bishop Julius Butros and notes as well that the names of the cities and villages whose residents contributed to the building costs. It is worth mentioning that there is no connection between the belt and the tablet, since the only reason for placing the tablet in the altar was to date the church's renovation.
The Baptismal Fount
The fount is made from a single piece of rock and is believed to date back to the fifteenth century A.D.
The Water Well
In the old church the believers used to drink from the well inside the church. After the construction of the current building, the well was lined with a casing of black stone. It is currently on the left side of the church beside the altar and the believers regularly receive its blessing by drinking from it.
The Archdiocese of Homs and Hama
The archdiocese is centered in Homs and includes the provinces of Homs, Hama, and Tartous. Mor Salwanos Butros al-Nameh has been archbishop since 1999.
Christianity came to Homs in the first century A.D. The evangelist Meelya or Elia is thought to have been one of the seventy evangelists, and he preached the gospel in Homs, Restin and Hama in the year 59 A.D. The Syriani in Homs built St. Mary's Church, and when the belt of Our Lady was housed in, it was later renamed Om al-Zenar Church. Saint Salwanos the Martyr, who was martyred in the year 312 A.D., was the first in the series of bishops of this archdiocese. When Bishop Severius Ephrem Barsoum became patriarch in 1933, the patriarchate was moved to Homs where it stayed until it was moved to Damascus in 1959.
Churches in the Archdiocese
There are currently 27 churches in the archdiocese, the best known of which are listed below:
1. Om al-Zenar Cathedral Homs
2. St. Mary's Church Hama
3. St. Elian's Church Qariatain
4. St. Mary's Church Fairuzé
5. St. Barsoum's Church al-Hafar
6. St. George's Church Zaidal
7. St. Sergius and St. Bacchus' Church Sadad
8. St. Elian's Church al-Fahalé
9. St. Mary's Church Meskené
10. St. Theodore's Church Sadad
11. St. George's Church Sadad
12. St. Ephrem's Church Homs - Bab Sabaa'
Visitors are welcome to contract the bishopric to coordinate a visit to any of these religious sites, which feature ancient churches with unique architecture, famous icons and precious manuscripts.
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