Pauluskapelle (Damascus)
The Pauluskapelle ( Arabic كنيسة القديس بولس, DMG Kanīsat al-Qiddīs Baulus ), also called Buloskapelle after the Arabic name form , is a chapel of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church consecrated to Paul of Tarsus , which was built in the 1930s on the foundation walls of the ruined city gate Bab Kisan ( Arabic باب كيسان, DMG Bāb Kīsān , Gate of the Kisan). It stands in the southeast of the old town of the Syrian capital Damascus .
Current situation
The Paulus Chapel in the Bab Kisan city gate is located at the southwest end of an intact section of the city wall in the southeast of the old town, where the highway to Damascus airport begins at a large overpass structure on the Ibn Assaker Street , which runs around it and has been developed as a main thoroughfare . The entrance to the chapel is on the outside in relation to the old town; you enter the chapel from the southeast, from Ibn-Assaker-Strasse. South-east of the Pauluskapelle behind Ibn-Assaker-Straße is a Christian cemetery .
Place of the escape of Paul from Damascus
In Luke's Acts of the Apostles , the 9th chapter describes the flight of Paul of Tarsus, who had recently become a follower of the Jesus movement (here named Saul - the name Paul is only mentioned in the 13th chapter) from the city of Damascus: His Followers let him down in a basket by the city wall at night ( Acts 9.25 EU ). In his second letter to the Corinthians , in the 11th chapter, Paul refers again to this flight with the basket, mentioning a window in the city wall ( 2 Cor 11:33 EU ). Tradition has it that Paul, in Arabic Bulos (بولس) called, on Bab Kisan or through a window in the wall next to it in the basket.
According to Ibn ʿAsākir (Ibn Assaker), the gate was a synagogue for a time , while according to Ibn Kathīr it was a church, which was converted into a mosque in 1122. In 1244 it was referred to as Porta Sancti Pauli by an English pilgrim , and other Christian accounts mention a window next to the gate through which Paul is said to have fled. However, these reports do not mention its use as a mosque. This mosque is only mentioned once more in connection with a renovation in 1387 and then no more.
After the building was acquired by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1885 and the chapel was opened in 1939, the tradition of the place as a place of refuge for Paul was reverted to. A basket is attached to a rope in the chapel, which is supposed to recreate the scene of Paul's flight over the city wall of Damascus.
history
During the times of the Roman Empire , the southeast gate of the city, the Saturn Gate, stood on the site of Bab Kisan, which was connected via a cardo (north-south street) to the Venus Gate in the northeast, today's Thomastor ( Bāb Tūmā ). The name of the city gate Bab Kisan goes back to the name of a slave from the time of the Islamic conquest of Damascus in 636 , who was given freedom by the caliph Muʿāwiya I.
In 1154 Nur ad-Din had the southeast gate locked in order to better protect Damascus from the attacks of the Crusaders . The gate was rebuilt under the Mamluks in 1364. The arches of the city gate that have survived to this day date from this period, while the stone blocks of the foundations date from Roman times. The gate is said to have been bricked up and reopened several times until it was mentioned for the last time in 1387.
In 1885 the old gate fell into disrepair when the Melkite patriarch Gregor Josef bought it for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church . A chapel was built here using the existing walls and arches, but it took until 1939 for it to be inaugurated.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Diana Darke: Syria . Bradt Travel Guides, 2006. p. 93. St Paul's Church and Bab Kissan .
- ↑ a b c d e f g John Abela OFM: Damascus - The Place of St. Paul's Escape ( Memento of May 9, 2004 in the Internet Archive ). Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, April 28, 2001.
- ^ A b c Daniel Demeter: Damascus - Saint Paul Church. Syria Photo Guide, November 7, 2014.
- ↑ Bab Touma. Love Damascus. Your guide to the oldest living city, accessed May 14, 2020.
Coordinates: 33 ° 30 ′ 24 ″ N , 36 ° 18 ′ 56 ″ E