Syrian priest, held five months by Islamic rebels, reports God's grace sustained him during captivity

November 20, 2015

A Catholic priest who was held for months by Islamic rebels in Syria has said that he believes God protected his life throughout his captivity.

Father Jacques Mourad, who was seized from the Mar Elias monastery in May and finally set free in October, told the National Catholic Register that he had been beaten once, but most of the abuse he suffered was verbal. His captors repeatedly told him that he must convert to Islam “or we cut your head off.”

“I received the grace to be thankful for what was happening to me,” Father Mourad told the Register. “I didn’t allow any hatred to enter in and take hold of me.” He said that during the time when he was held in a cell in Raqqa, Syria—a stronghold of the Islamic State—“God graced me with two things: silence and kindness,” in the face of his captors’ threats.

 

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Further information:

• Escaped Syrian Priest Was Saved ‘by the Hand of God’ (National Catholic Register)
• Kidnapped monk is freed, 'in good health' in Syria (CWN, 10/12)