Rev. Feras Shammas came to Canada from Syria in June 2013. Born in Damascus and raised in Aleppo, he is now minister at Knox, Morrisburg, Ont., where he lives with his wife (who also holds a theology degree) and two daughters. He completed his theology degree in Lebanon, and then served several churches in both Lebanon and Syria. He came to Canada on the advice of a friend—Samer Kandalaft, a fellow Syrian ex-pat and minister at St. Paul’s, Kemptville, Ont.
The Record recently spoke with Feras via email, asking for his take on the violence currently gripping his native country.
Presbyterian Record: Why did you come to Canada? Do you have family still in Syria? If so, what do they tell you about what it’s like in Syria now?
Feras Shammas: I was considering becoming a minister here since 2010 and the procedures were not over until 2013. Recently my parents and two brothers have moved to North America. And my wife and two daughters followed two months after I was here, but I still have extended family there and my in-laws. The news we receive is not great.
Cities are being destroyed and people are very worried for their families. Almost everyone we know is now displaced either inside or outside Syria. Only small pockets by the coast are still relatively safe. No one knows anything about the houses they left behind. It is terrible that they have to live in fear and sadness. One person we know was among the people who recently could get out of the old city of Homs by the help of the UN. He had been stuck there for more than 18 months. He has been out now [in February] for more than 10 days, but he has not spoken one word yet. I can just imagine the horrible things he has experienced.
PR: What are your memories of Syria as a child?
FS: As of my memories: many ethnicities and cultures live side by side in Syria. I used to love the richness of that society, but everybody was afraid that such days might come and unfortunately they did. The Sunni-Alawite conflict was always like fire under the ashes, though this conflict cannot account for all what is going on today. Basically corruption and the Sunni-Alawite conflict have destroyed a very promising country.
PR: What is it like for Christians there?
FS: The Christian situation is complicated and I am afraid I cannot speak for all of it, but I can still say the following: I am positive that the majority of the Syrian Christians, having had their share of struggle with the corruption in all the governmental levels, still feel more safe under the current regime. The Syrian Christians don’t fear only what the world agreed to name as Islamic fundamentalists groups fighting in Syria, but also they fear the rebels who are labelled as moderates such as the Free Syria Army, which is supported by many western governments. Syrian Christians believe that the backbone of this free army is the Islamic Brotherhood, who do not have on their agenda a civil and secular country whatever they are ready to declare today. The Christians there are just too afraid that the massacres that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries will happen again.
PR: There are conflicting reports about what the main roadblock to peace is—what’s your opinion? What has to happen to stop the fighting and ensure lasting peace?
FS: Personally, I think the Syrian conflict, after three years of war, has become something very different than what it started. Keeping the war going on will never bring the desired results even if the rebels were to win the war tomorrow. This is why I think the solution has to start from stopping all kinds of military actions and looking to do anything else after that. The UN (as I see things) has to be able to oblige the two sides to stop fighting and start negotiations from that point on and not before it. There will not be a solution for the conflict there, rather there will be a resolution. This is why it is naïve to look for one now.
PR: Do you have hope that things will improve? If so, what gives you that hope?
FS: I have hope because I believe that God hears our prayers. On the ground, I hope that the big players will be convinced sooner and not later that going on with war will not do themselves any good and their enemies any harm, so they would stop providing all and any kinds of weapons and ammunition and would spare the lives of thousands of people who are still to die in this war.
