Syria: Fr Murad speaks of his time in captivity

Fr Jacques Murad

A Syrian priest who was kidnapped by IS earlier this year, and managed to escape, has spoken of his spoken of his time in captivity.

Fr Jacques Murad, Prior of the Monastery of Mar Elian said: "Even while being deported, with my hands tied behind my back, I surprisingly found myself repeating again and again: I am going towards freedom. My captivity was like being born again".

Fr Jacques' ordeal began on 21 May, when he and a co-worker were abducted by a group of armed men from the monastery in the outskirts of Qaryatayn. He escaped on 11 October.

The priest told Arab Christian broadcaster Noursat TV-Tele Lumiere, that he celebrated Mass in an underground dormitory where 250 other Christians from Qaryatayn were held captive by the same jihadists. He was united with the same group again on 11 August.

Fr Jacques said the Christians were often interrogated about their faith and about the Christian doctrine but they did not convert to Islam despite much pressure. They recited the Rosary many times.

"This experience of trial strengthened the faith of everyone including my faith as a priest. It is as if I have been born again,"

Fr Murad belongs to the monastic community in Deir Mar Musa, founded by the Italian Jesuit Paolo Dall'Oglio, from Rome, who disappeared in the north of Syria on 29 July 2013 while in Raqqa, a stronghold of 'Islamic State' jihadists. Fr Paolo is still missing.

Sea also: ICN 18 October 2015 - Syria: Kidnapped priest describes how he escaped IS www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=28587

Source: Fides