Orthodox monastery being repaired, expanded in Syrian city of Saidnaya

Situated about 17 miles north of Damascus, the small city of Saidnaya remains one of Syria’s largest centers of Christian pilgrimage. It is home to the Cherubim Monastery and the Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God, both belonging to the Antiochian Orthodox Patriarchate under His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East. Not long ago, the city was surrounded by militants, but having regained