Now that Syria's brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is out of power, either dead in a plane crash, or else alive in Moscow, there is plenty of reason to worry about what will remain of Syria's dwindling ancient Christian community as ISIS and al-Qaida followers take over.

The archbishop of Homs thinks Christianity itself in Aleppo will be decimated and already sees the signs of it.

According to Catholic Vote, citing wire services:

Syrian Catholic Archbishop Jacques Mourad, of the Diocese of Homs, Syria, has decried the immense suffering of refugees fleeing the ongoing violence in Aleppo and the impending destruction of Christianity in the region. 

In an interview with Agenzia Fides, the news outlet for the Pontifical Missions Society, Archbishop Mourad described the dire situation. 

“We are really tired,” he said. “We are really exhausted, and we are also finished, in every sense.” 

Archbishop Mourad, a member of the monastic community of Deir Mar Musa, was born in Aleppo. He retains cherished memories of the city. As a spiritual son of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, the Jesuit founder of Deir Mar Musa who disappeared in 2013 in ISIS-controlled Raqqa, the Archbishop personally endured the horrors of conflict. He was kidnapped in 2015 by jihadist forces and held captive for months, first in isolation and later alongside 150 other Christians in territories controlled by ISIS.

Now, as refugees from Aleppo pour into Homs, Archbishop Mourad and his diocese are overwhelmed. The Archbishop told Agenzia Fides that many of the refugees have endured grueling 25-hour journeys, arriving thirsty, hungry, cold, and destitute. 

“We cannot bear all the suffering of the people who arrive here exhausted,” he said. 

The churches are doing what they can to help the fleeing Christian refugees with food and shelter. But the archbishop asks the obvious question:

“Why is Aleppo being so tormented? Why do they want to destroy this historic, symbolic and important city for the whole world?” Archbishop Mourad questioned. After 14 years of war, he lamented the continuous suffering, misery, and death the Syrian people have endured.

“Why are we so abandoned in this world, in this unbearable injustice?” he asked.

It's terribly sad, because we all know what happened to the Chaldean Christians around Iraq -- they vanished.

Aleppo may meet the same terrible fate.

Once upon a time, Aleppo was a great city, a city associated with St. Paul and his travels, and he probably knew it well.

There is still evidence of Aleppo all over in the Western world.

It had once been a great textile center, the remnants of which still exists, with distinctive woven patterns associated with the city, beautiful patterns woven by its artisans. Here is a link to one. Here is a link to others.

It's the home to the mighty Aleppo pine, a pine so tough it can grow in any desert conditions without much of any water -- with beautiful puffy needles -- a picture can be seen here.

It's the home to the Aleppo pepper, which anyone familiar with eastern Mediterranean cuisine, or the Mediterranean diet, is going to know about -- bright, flavorful, red, and used in all kinds of Greek, Italian, Turkish, Serbian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Israeli, and Syrian cuisine. I grow my own Aleppo peppers, and they are my favorites. I read that the pepper is now getting hard to find in Syria, owing to the last 15 years of civil war, making me an Aleppo pepper conservationist.

It's the home to a soap-making empire -- the world's finest soap, ultra-healthy, all-natural pure Aleppo soap, made of Laurel oil, olive oil and lye -- and nothing else, very healthy, the locals there assured me. One Lebanese woman told me that in Beirut, they have entire spas that use this soap. I discovered it yesterday at our local Persian market, shelling out $20 to bring six bars home, being entranced by the incredibly fresh, sweet, green scent, unlike any other, not wanting to leave the store without it. Made in Aleppo, the soap stamp says. According to Wikipedia, it was the soap Cleopatra loved. Aleppo was once a huge soap-making center throughout the ancient and Medieval world. Now there's just a little.

So many treasures about to be lost, but the saddest is the loss of the Christian community. Fifteen years ago, Christians made up 12% of Aleppo's population. Today, it's less than 2%. And that 2% is about to join the vast waves of refugees, genuine ones, fleeing to safety in the West, where as real refugees, they should be placed at the front of the line for entry. But in a West weary of the cartel human-smuggling network profiteering and assorted dictators profiting off migrant surges, as well as endless wars, it's unlikely they will be warmly welcomed as they should be.

It underlines that the current corrupted immigration system, abused by economic migrants lying on their asylum applications, cartel profiteers enticing big-dollar migrant smuggling runs to all the world's third world goobers, and greedy NGOs, has ruined a system that should belong to authentic refugees. These Aleppo Christians should be protected and cared for until they can go safely back. We in turn should be able to see the cradle of Christianity if we wish to go there. But that's not the world we live in now, and we are the poorer for it.

Image: Marti McFly, via Flickr // CC BY 2.0 Deed