Latin Franciscans in Syria, with Turkish support, seize Orthodox properties.
The Latin Bishop in Syria—a friend of the Al-Qaeda leader—is completing the plot to seize Orthodox holy sites in Syria, with the backing of Turkey’s ruling Islamist party. The Latin Bishop in Syria is moving to formalize ownership of the Byzantine-Orthodox Shrine of Ananias, which was seized by the Custody of the Holy Land (the Franciscans).
The underground shrine—the Shrine of Ananias—and the Greek Orthodox parish church are two separate structures; the Latins acquired the shrine from the Orthodox.
The site commonly referred to as the “historic Church of Ananias” is the underground chapel located at the end of “Straight Street,” near Bab Sharqi (the Eastern Gate). It is the house where Ananias baptized Saul (Paul the Apostle). This chapel sits atop the remains of a Byzantine church dating back to the 5th or 6th century AD—the Church of the Holy Cross—which was uncovered during excavations by Eustache de Lorey in 1921.
Latin collusion with the Ottomans—and the Neo-Ottomans…
Arab writers link this church to the compensation reportedly offered by Caliph Al-Walid bin Abd al-Malik to the Christians in exchange for the Church of St. John the Baptist, after the latter was incorporated into the Umayyad Mosque.
According to Franciscan records documenting the site’s status in later periods, Niccolò da Poggibonsi found it converted into a mosque in 1347. Additionally, in his writings from 1363, Ibn Shakir recounted the story of the exchange made by Al-Walid. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Franciscan visitors—such as Boniface of Ragusa, Quaresmio, and Antonio del Castillo—described an underground chamber accessible via a narrow staircase; Christians revered the site, and its Muslim guardians kept its lamps lit. Writing around 1630, Del Castillo noted that the Turks responsible for the site kept numerous lamps burning.
In 1820, through an agreement, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land acquired the site, rebuilt it, and consecrated it for worship. The Custody describes the event as having “recovered” the site, whereas Arabic documents recounting the same story state that the monks “took possession” of it and dedicated it to worship.
The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land proceeded to remove any mention of the Greek Orthodox; fabricated records were created to portray the transition as occurring directly from Islamic use—dating back to the late 12th century—to the Franciscan Custody. The building was destroyed during the violence of 1860, rebuilt in 1867, and subsequently renovated in 1973.
As for the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Ananias, it is a separate building located in the Bab Touma neighborhood (specifically, the Al-Quraishi quarter). A marble plaque above one of the doorways indicates that the Orthodox church was established in 1815. This date corresponds to the period when the Upper Church was rebuilt; the parish was subsequently renovated again after 1860.
Thus, Latin control over the famous underground shrine stems from the Franciscans’ acquisition of the site in 1820—a location described by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land itself as having previously been a mosque—followed by the site’s reconstruction after 1860.
As for the Greek Orthodox Parish of Saint Ananias, which dates back to 1815, it remains under Greek Orthodox jurisdiction.
Edit by Fr. Spyridon Tanous
