Our Lady of Soufanieh: Myrna Nazzour, the Oil-Exuding Icon and the Apparitions of Damascus

Soufanieh is a modest district in the north of Damascus, near the city gate of Bab Touma. In 1982 Myrna Nazzour lived there with her husband Nicolas. She was Greek Catholic. He was Greek Orthodox.

November 22, 1982. The family were praying at the house of Nicolas's sister Leila, who was ill. Oil appeared on Myrna's hands. Leila reportedly felt her pain stop at once. A Muslim woman, Mayada Kozaly, was among those present.

Five days later, on the morning of November 27, a small icon of Our Lady of Kazan began to ooze oil. It was a cheap reproduction in a plastic frame. The oil came drop by drop, enough to fill a saucer. The Orthodox bishop Boulos Pandeli knelt to pray as it flowed. Then Myrna heard a woman's voice. "My daughter Mary, don't fear, I am with you. Open the doors, don't deprive anyone from my sight."

December 15, 1982. 11 pm. A crowd was praying before the icon. Myrna felt something pulling her arm. It led her up to the roof terrace. There she knelt trembling and saw the Blessed Virgin Mary. She panicked and ran away. Later she told Fr Elias Zahlaoui she had been frightened by "a beautiful lady".

Three nights later, the lady returned. "She is dressed with a white dress, surmounted with a cape with a blue belt, a veil on her right shoulder falling on her side unto her feet. She was very beautiful." She came through the air and stood there. Where she stood, a pool of oil stained the concrete floor. An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people came to the house on December 18 and 19. Three more apparitions followed, the last on March 24, 1983.

The state had already come. On November 28, 1982, State Security officer Akram Abboud arrived with the State Security doctor Dr Saliba Abdel Ahad and four officers. They took the icon out of its frame. The oil came from the picture itself. Myrna washed her hands with soap and prayed in front of them. Oil appeared again. "This is God's work," the doctor said, by one account. They left with oil-soaked cotton as samples.

Fr Zahlaoui sealed moistened cotton in a nylon bag and later found oil on his own palm. He became the case's archivist. Laboratories in Damascus, Germany, Paris, Rome and Oslo were reported to find "100 percent pure olive oil". From 1983 Myrna also bore stigmata, and Nabil Chkeir filmed most of her ecstasies.

No investigation in the record reported fraud. Observers found no evidence of trickery. Yet nearly all the detailed record comes from supporters: Fr Zahlaoui's archive, Christian Ravaz's account on the official website, Fr Robert J. Fox. No sceptical study of this case has surfaced, and the usual explanations for oil-exuding icons have never been tested against it. Recognition was partial too. Archbishop Jacques Georges Habib Hafouri recognised a miracle in 1987, but the Syrian churches as a whole made no official ruling.

The messages pressed one theme. Catholic and Orthodox unity, and a shared date for Easter. Ecstasy messages continued until 2014. Accounts of 2017 conflict: one says the oil stopped, another that the icon flowed again on Holy Saturday. Anthropologist Andreas Bandak studied the community in Exemplary Life. Mark Boulos filmed an Easter weekend of stigmata and visions for The Gates of Damascus in 2005. Fr Fox drew parallels with Fátima.