A miracle in our times: Our Lady of Soufanieh, in the heart of Damascus (Syria)

While blood has been spilled in Syria for nearly seven years and continues to be shed, pure oil from the image of Our Lady of Soufanieh has been flowing in Damascus, the Syrian capital, for more than 35 years. In November 1982, in a neighborhood of north Damascus, a fragrant oil has been oozing generously from an icon of the Madonna and Child, a reproduction of the Virgin of Kazan. This oil appeared for the first time on the palm of the hands of a young married woman called Myrna Nazzour, on November 22nd of the same year. It has continued flowing since.

The miracle of Soufanieh is a strong beacon in the East, a call to people to change their ways, as scientific progress breeds arrogance and a loss of direction in life, said Zakka Iwaz, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. It is in this Arab country that Jesus and the Virgin Mary chose to bring a universal, spiritual, Christian, and human message in Arabic for the first time, to help Christians living in Arab Muslim Eastern lands to deepen their faith.

Soufanieh is an important sign for our times, in the predominantly Muslim Eastern world, and in a country that has been torn by war and violence since March 2011. Myrna never tires of repeating: The Lord came unexpectedly into my life ... He asked me to pray that His will be fulfilled, because a new light will spring from the East and we must bear witness to this light.

Source: Aleteia