Sarah Latifa had feared that her Christian community in Syria may struggle to celebrate its first Christmas since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.
But at a church in Damascus's historic centre, surrounded by some 500 faithful who were singing psalms on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, she could breathe a sigh of relief.
"It wasn't easy to come together in the current circumstances and to joyfully pray, but thank God, we did it," Latifa told AFP at mass at the capital's Syriac Orthodox cathedral of Saint George.