DAMASCUS, Syria (LifeSiteNews) — A viral video shows several young Christians cleaning the interior of the Greek Orthodox Mar Elias Church, which was attacked by Muslim suicide bombers earlier this week, preparing it to resume the celebration of Divine Liturgy.
The June 25 video, which has over 125,000 views on X as of publication time, shows numerous young Christians cleaning the debris and bloodstains inside the church and preparing it for its first Divine Liturgy since the attack. The Orthodox church had been attacked just three days earlier by Muslim suicide bombers during a Sunday evening Divine Liturgy, taking the lives of over 20 congregants, injuring over 50, and devastating the church’s interior.
Christian youth have gathered to clean and restore the Church, which was bombed. Tonight, they are working tirelessly to remove all blood stains and debris, to prepare their church in time for tomorrow, mass which will be celebrated there for the first time since the attack. pic.twitter.com/K0LNCXCPZn
— Eastern christians ن (@Easternchristns) June 26, 2025
The attack is believed to have been carried out by men linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) and – as attested to by Reuters and by eyewitnesses to the attack – was the work of two attackers. One man is reported as having shot at worshippers inside, while the second is understood to have detonated the suicide vest he was wearing.
READ: 20 Christians killed by suicide bomber at Orthodox church in Syria’s capital
At the time of the attack, approximately 200 people were attending the Divine Liturgy inside the church.
Pope Leo XIV, in a possible nod to the young Christians’ work in restoring the church, thanked in an X post Syrian and all Eastern Christians who responded to “evil with good.” The pontiff also thanked Eastern Christians for staying in their native lands as disciples and witnesses of Christ in the face of persecution.
I would like to thank and symbolically embrace all Eastern Christians who respond to evil with good. Thank you, brothers and sisters, for the witness you offer, especially when you remain in your lands as disciples and witnesses of Christ.
— Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex) June 26, 2025
Pope Leo’s remark about the witness offered by these Christians remaining in their native lands may at least in part reference a viral video that showed a courageous Syrian Christian woman standing outside Mar Elias Church and declaring that she and her family will never flee Syria despite repeated attacks on the country’s Christian communities.
“Now they tell me to take my kids and flee to Europe, it’s impossible for me to leave my town, my country, my Christianity, my culture,” the woman said in the video. “I was raised here, I want to die here.”
Syrian Christian woman at the church bombing site: “If they tell me to take my kids and flee to Europe, I won’t. I raised them here, and here I will die. I will never abandon my land, my faith, or my Christianity. Our religion is peace. We don’t know violence or hatred….” pic.twitter.com/VgXnDq00bk
— Eastern christians ن (@Easternchristns) June 25, 2025
Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV released a telegram expressing his “deep sadness” over the suicide bombing and solidarity with those affected by the attack.
READ: Pope Leo XIV ‘deeply saddened’ over Islamic suicide bombing at Orthodox church in Syria
His Holiness Pope Leo XIV was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and destruction caused by the attack on the Greek Orthodox church of Mar Elias in in Damascus, and he expresses his heartfelt solidarity with all those effected by this tragedy.
The 267th pontiff also offered his prayers for the repose of the victims’ souls, the recovery of all wounded in the attack, and those mourning the loss of loved ones, and finally for peace and healing throughout the war-torn nation.
In commending the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of our Heavenly Father, His Holiness likewise prays for those who mourn their loss, for the recovery of the injured, and invokes the Almighty’s gifts of consolation, healing, and peace upon the nation.
Other Christians in Damascus responded to the bombing by courageously marching along the streets carrying large crosses and chanting, “How beautiful is death at your doors, O our Church.”
Islam is one of the leading sources of anti-Christian persecution across the globe, and Muslim terrorists kill thousands of Christians worldwide every year, in addition to kidnappings, desecrations, and other violence and harassment.
READ: Who is really behind the deadly attacks on Christians in Syria?
Syrian Christians have faced particularly violent persecution since the toppling of Bashar Al-Assad’s government by radical Islamists linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda, including the reported execution of 48 Christian women in a suburb of Damascus on Pentecost Sunday.
