The Church of the Olive: Melkite Cathedral of Damascus

In the old city of Damascus, about 150 metres south-west of Bab Sharqi, there is a church courtyard. People in Damascus call it the Church of the Olive; the olive trees in the courtyard pushed past the building’s formal name. That name is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition, and this is the seat of the Melkite Greek Catholic archeparchy of Damascus.

Getting there

Enter at Bab Sharqi, walk a few steps west along Straight Street and turn south. The Zaytoun quarter begins right there. The door is not on the main street but on a lane inside the quarter; look for a small façade with two pointed arches.

What to see

You enter the courtyard through a pointed portal banded in black and white stone. Damascus calls this two-colour coursing ablaq, and the mosques of the same quarter use it too; the building took its stone language from its neighbours. Above the door sits a bell gable with a cross, and a clock tower rises behind it. The olive trees in the courtyard carry the church’s name.

Which church this is

Melkite Greek Catholics keep the Byzantine rite in Arabic and have been in union with Rome since the 18th century. The distinction has a practical result here: two Greek cathedrals stand a few hundred metres apart in the old city, the Mariamite Cathedral to the west Orthodox and this one Catholic. Both serve in Arabic. The allegiance is what differs.

What not to miss

The courtyard behind the door is not only a place of prayer. The patriarchal offices and a minor seminary share the same block, so the cathedral also works as an administrative centre. Youssef Absi, archbishop here from 2006, was elected Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch in 2017. To go in outside service hours, ask at the gate.