Syrian Pastors Who Stayed Minister to Their Flock Amid War, Displacement, and ISIS Resurgence
As ISIS announces a 'new phase' of operations in Syria following the U.S. military withdrawal, Christianity Today profiles the pastors who have refused to leave — men like Valentine Hanan of Aleppo, who has moved four times with his family to escape fighting but has never abandoned his calling to shepherd Syria's battered Christian community. The profiles arrive at a moment of acute danger for Syrian Christians: the combination of ISIS resurgence, American departure, and the ongoing instability following Assad's overthrow by Islamist rebel forces in 2024 has left the estimated 2 million Christians in Syria and Iraq more vulnerable than at any point since the height of the Islamic State's caliphate. The pastors' stories are a testament to the kind of faithfulness that makes no strategic sense — staying when every rational calculation says flee, ministering in a country where the church has existed for nearly two millennia and now faces the possibility of extinction.
Read Full Story at Christianity TodayThe good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
— John 10:11
Christ's words about the good shepherd echo through the stories of these Syrian pastors — men who have chosen the way of the shepherd over the way of the hireling, staying with their people in a place where staying means risking everything.