Aleppo, Syria, one of the major Syrian cities that was hit, is 5623.409 miles away from this little onion shaped church that holds a personal grief. Their February mass was held for the victims of the Syrian-Turkish earthquake. Most of the congregation is Syrian, much of the mass was celebrated in Arabic.
The St. George Greek Antiochian Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania was a collection of families mourning together. Father Meletios Zafaran spoke about great loss. When all is taken away, a spiritual belief in God is all that we have to face the world and our own personal failures.
We are not so alone yet. The collection bowls were passed around and filled. Parishioners with family back in Syria wept.
A young boy in a blue coat ran to the prayer candles and began to blow them out. I watched from above as his father scooped him up and carried him back to their seats. Siblings pestered each other in quiet moments as if they were in their own private bubbles. The church was filled with a warm heartbeat.
