Muslim conquest of the Levant
According to the tradition of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Muslim conquest of the Levant was a relief for Christians oppressed by the Romans. Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch, wrote later that the Christian god had "raised from the south the children of Ishmael to deliver us by them from the hands of the Romans". According to the "Chronicle of Seert", "the hearts of the Christians rejoiced at the domination of the Arabs – may God strengthen and prosper it!"