A Syrian Father Remembers His Wife, Killed in a Church Bombing

"Dad, there's been an explosion. My sisters and mom are at the church."

Last year, a suicide bomber entered Mar Elias Church in Damascus, Syria, as the evening prayer services began. First, he began shooting the worshippers. Then, when churchgoers rushed over to stop him, he detonated his suicide bomb.

“The whole thing took 55 seconds,” recalls Musa, who arrived on the scene shortly after the massacre.

More than 50 people were injured and at least 30 were killed in the Syrian church bombing – including Musa’s wife of 25 years, Antoinette.

“She was special, Antoinette. But what I loved the most about her was her dignity,” says Musa. “Of course, we are believers in Christ. As a husband, to be honest, I have absolute faith because she truly was remarkable in her life.”

Musa and his daughters were preparing to go to church that evening. They were running late and Antoinette and Nagham, one of Musa and Antoinette’s daughters, had already left. His daughter Mary and son-in-law Sari left soon after while Musa remained with his daughter Nour.

Musa was waiting outside when the sound of the explosion echoed through the sky. When Nour ran out, frightened, he tried to reassure her, but he feared the worst.

Musa jumped on his motorcycle and arrived at the church three minutes later. There, he learned that Sari and Mary had stopped to let a taxi pass outside of the church. The 15 seconds they waited may have saved their lives.

They watched from across the street as the gunman entered and began firing before setting off the bomb. A piece of shrapnel hit Mary’s sunglasses, narrowly missing her eye.

But Nagham and Antoinette were inside the church.

“I was like a madman,” Musa says. Left unable to walk after he lost a leg in an accident, Musa nonetheless dragged himself into the church. “Despite my pain and even though I can't walk, I went up to the church. Instead of sitting and wailing or crying, I just sat there screaming from the shock. Crawling on the glass and the blood, I fell next to a body that was covered by a blanket. I lifted the blanket. It was Antoinette.”

Antoinette was still alive, but badly injured. She and Nagham were taken to the hospital. Nagham recovered, but Antoinette stayed in the intensive care unit before she ultimately succumbed to her injuries.

“A week before she passed away, I wrote to her on a piece of paper because she couldn't speak,” Musa says, “I wrote, ‘Antoinette, I love you.’ She took the pen and wrote back, ‘And I love you.’” He adds that, although the two did not marry for love, they fell in love nevertheless over their years together.

During one of his visits with Antoinette in the hospital, she shared something with him that he will never forget.

“I got a feeling,” Musa says. “I said to her, ‘Did you see the Lord Christ?’”

Antoinette responded, “He came and visited me. He said, ‘Don't be afraid. I am with you.’”

Musa encourages his daughters to not let their mother’s death shake their faith.

“This thing that happened, it gave us even more faith in the Lord Jesus,” Musa says. “Because the Lord Jesus suffered for us.”

Musa says that, although he and his fellow Syrian Christians love their homeland, life has become increasingly difficult there. 

“As Christians, there is persecution, even if it's not visible,” he says.

Yet despite his suffering following the Syrian church bombing, the inevitable persecution he continues to endure, and the grief he feels at his wife’s martyrdom, Musa has chosen to follow Jesus’ instructions and forgive.

“When Jesus Christ said, ‘Love your enemies,’ He didn't just say love your enemies,” Musa says. “Take them in your arms and pray for them that God guides them. Because for us believers in the Lord Christ, across the decades, we keep increasing. If His words weren't true, if people weren't uncovering the truth, they wouldn't increase, they'd decrease. Forgive your persecutors. We forgive you.”