More than 2,000 locals who were driven out of their hometown of Homs, Syria, returned on July 12 to witness a moment of sweet triumph as a young couple married inside the wreckage of their beloved church.

The Daily Mail is reporting on the bitter sweet story of Fadi and Rana, 28, two refugees of the years-long Syrian civil war, who met in a refugee camp. Fadi, a university graduate who was working at a pharmaceutical factory in the city before he was forced to flee, fell in love with Rana while they were both working for the U.N. Refugee Agency.

When they decided to marry, the two wanted the ceremony to be where they had always dreamed it would be – inside their hometown church, St. George’s, an Orthodox church in the Christian Hamidiyah section of Homs.

Unfortunately, when the couple returned to their old neighborhood, they found the church and almost every other building, reduced to rubble. Almost nothing was left of the beautiful St. George church except the old stone walls. Everything else, the roof, the ornate interior, the pews, were all gone.

 
But that didn’t stop Fadi and Rana from achieving their dream of marrying in their hometown church. Chairs were brought in, white lace bunting draped over the tattered walls, and tall stands of flowers outlined what was once a beautiful center aisle. Guests arrived in the early evening of July 12 and watched Rana enter the church in a beautiful white tulle gown and walk to the remnant of an altar where she was joined to her husband in marriage.

An attendee took photos of the joyous event and posted them on Twitter and Facebook where they proceeded to go viral.

“U can destroy their church but u won’t destroy their spirit. First wedding at St George church Hamidieh Homs,” wrote a man named Bassem on Twitter.

Since that time, thousands of people from all around the world commented on the images and congratulated the newlyweds.

“Congratulations, yours is the final return of peace and safety of Syria,” one commenter wrote.

“Life continues despite destruction and death,” another said.

In addition to the joy of starting their new life together, Fadi and Rana brought joy to thousands of other persecuted Christians who suddenly realized that in spite of all the hardship they had endured, life really does go on.

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