Damascus
Episodes 6, 15 and 20
Damascus is the capital city of a country called Syria in the Middle East. If you look for Syria on a map, you’ll find it between the Mediterranean Sea and Iraq.
People have lived in Damascus for longer than almost anywhere else in the world. Clay tablets have been found there which date back to 7,000BC and you can read about the city in both the Old and New Testament parts of the Bible.
Naaman, a character from the Old Testament, who was healed of leprosy by swimming seven times in the River Jordan, was a general from Damascus. You can read the story of Naaman and Elisha here or in 2 Kings 5:1-17 and watch it in Episode 20, Aid and Comfort.
Very soon after Jesus had died and risen there was a community of Friends of Jesus living in Damascus. By the time Paul, or Saul as he was known then, went to Damascus more Friends of Jesus were living there than anywhere else in the world.
In Friends and Heroes Episode 6, you can watch the story of Saul on the Road to Damascus. Saul was travelling to the city to arrest Friends of Jesus because he hated them. In Acts 9:1-18 or here you can read how he was blinded by a dazzling light and heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him. This experience changed Saul’s life completely and he began to tell everyone he met how amazing Jesus was!
Ananias, who helped Saul, was the leader of the Friends of Jesus in Damascus and was a very important person.
Damascus is also the city that Paul had to escape from because the governor wanted to arrest him. He escaped by being lowered in a basket down the city wall. You can read the story in 2 Corinthians 11:32-33 and watch it in Episode 15, Over Walls.
There is a chapel in Damascus’s Old City called the Chapel of St Paul. People believe that it is where Paul was lowered down in the basket. There is also a chapel called St Ananias’s Church. It’s off the street called Straight Street which is where Ananias found Paul (Acts 9:11). It could be the house where Ananias lived. It is below ground which suggests it is very old.
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To find out more, read...Elisha and Naaman – 2 Kings 5:1-17
Saul on the road to Damascus – Acts 9:1-18
Paul escapes in a basket – 2 Corinthians 11:32-33
and watch Friends and Heroes...
Elisha and Naaman - Series 2 Episode 20, “Aid and Comfort”
Saul on the road to Damascus - Series 1 Episode 6, “Sweet Freedom”
Paul escapes in a basket - Series 2 Episode 15, “Over Walls”