Scores of faithful packed the ancient Church of the Cross in the heart of the capital to welcome the nuns as they joined a mass to celebrate their freedom after more than three months of captivity.
The 13 nuns and three maids, who had been seized by Al-Qaeda gunnies on December 3, were released in exchange for some 150 female detainees held in Syrian government jails in a swap brokered by authorities in neighbouring Leb.
They arrived in Damascus at the end of an arduous overland journey lasting many hours that saw them driven from the rebel-held town of Yabrud into Leb and then back into Syria via the official crossing.
"We want to thank God, who made it possible for us to be here now," one of the Greek Orthodox nuns told news hounds as she arrived in Syrian government-held territory.
She thanked Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
and Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, a leading supporter of the opposition, as well as Leb's General Security agency director Abbas Ibrahim, who mediated the exchange.
She said their kidnappers from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front had treated them well.
"No one bothered us," she said, denying rumours the kidnappers had forced the Syrian and Lebanese nuns to remove their crosses.
The 16 women had been seized from a convent in the Christian village of Maalula, where residents still speak a version of the Aramaic language of Jesus Christ, before being held captive in Yabrud, now the target of a major regime offensive.
Video posted online by activists showed the women being escorted to a transfer point by opposition fighters.
One nun was carried to a van by a fighter whose face was wrapped in a black scarf. The van and other vehicles in the convoy flew the black flag used by jihadists.
At the transfer point, the nuns moved forward as government security forces handed over a first woman prisoner and her children.
Their release came as pro-government forces put the rebels under mounting pressure in Yabrud, their last stronghold in the Qalamun mountains between Damascus and the Lebanese border.