Skip to main content

Life for Christians in Iraq


I have spent the last three years in Iraq, working with Christians in that war-torn country. Some of that time was spent with Father Aram, a priest in the Catholic Chaldean Church. He guided me round the Christian communities, particularly on the Nineveh plain about 30 miles north of Mosul. Aram introduced me to many beautiful Christians, including Yusuf, an orphaned boy, five years old.

Yusuf’s parents were killed when ISIS (the so-called Islamic State) invaded Iraq in June 2014 and captured his home, the Christian town of Batnaya. Yusuf was taken byneighbours to the relative safety of nearby Kurdistan, northern Iraq. In all the towns and cities captured by ISIS, Christians were given three options: convert to Islam; pay jizya, a “protection tax,” or be killed.

Although Batnaya was liberated from ISIS in 2016, only a few Christians have returned. It is nothing but a ghost town empty and derelict.  Father Aram drove me through the town. We saw buildings homes, shops, workplaces - reduced to rubble by ISIS fighters. There is no water, electricity and little food. There are still undetected IEDS (improvised explosive devices) amongst the debris.

The Iraqi Church is one of the oldest churches in the world dating from the first century, when it is believed the Apostles Thomas and Thaddeus brought Christianity to the fertile flood plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

I often worshipped with Iraqi Christians. It was fascinating to learn they use Aramaic - the language spoken by Jesus. As such, the Iraqi Church has a direct, unbroken link with earliest Christianity. Yet it faces extinction. Throughout its history, the Iraqi Church has suffered fierce persecution. In recent times such persecution has been under Saddam Hussein and more recently under ISIS.

In 2003, at the end of the Second Gulf War, there were one and a half million Christians living in Iraq. Today there are only about 200,000. Many have been killed, others forced to emigrate. In Baghdad and elsewhere,

Christians are often named derogatively as ‘Nasrani’ (Arabic for "Christian") and 'mushrik’ ("polytheist"). These names are often written on the houses belonging to Christians, making them targets of abuse and discrimination.

Talking with Iraqi Christians who face great dangers simply for professing Jesus as Lord, I felt humbled and ashamed, that we in Britain, sadly, often take our freedoms for granted. Although they daily face adversity and fear, Iraqi Christians have great hope and steadfast love. I met with
Monsignor Bashir Warda, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan
.
He shared with me the needs of Iraqi Christians many of whom literally have nothing (materially anyway), only their faith. Yusuf, smiling and playful, is too young to understand what is happening in Iraq. But he and the Christian community he belongs to, face a frightening and uncertain future.
As Archbishop Warda stated to me: “Please tell Christians in Bradford we need your prayers and support. Please do not forget us”.

Dr Simon R V, Ebenezer 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

News from Thornton Methodist Church

Like everyone else, we are all trying to get on with life but at times it is not easy and not meeting with all our Church family can be difficult and lonely. Just before Christmas we were having services twice a month but not all people were able to attend which was very sad but we all kept in touch by text/phone it is not quite the same but it is good to talk. During Advent we put a display in the porch window of the Christmas story, adding different characters each week until all figures were assembled around the baby for the community of Thornton to see. All our children in Sunday School received an Advent calendar to let them know we were all thinking of them. We also had a Christingle service but this was very different from previous years. Masks were worn, tables set out at the required social distance and hand sanitizers available in lots of areas. People made their own Christingles from packs but instead of using fruits, wrapped fruit lollipops did the job just fine. Rev. Chris...

Virtual Worship - Easter Sunday 12 April 2020

Today’s the day - everything is changed. Death’s cave is empty, save linen cloth as calling card for Love. That life has won, and hope’s made whole, thank God! Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Holy and risen Lord, we come to worship you on this special Easter Day. We thank you for all you have done for us. We lift our eyes to honour you, living Lord Jesus. You have overcome death; fill us with your joy and new life. Amen You might like to read, sing or listen to an Easter hymn. Perhaps  Christ the Lord is risen today, or Low in the grave he lay (H&P 193/202, StF 298/305). This is perhaps the strangest Easter Sunday we have experienced in most of our lifetimes. Not able to gather as God’s people on this holiest of days. Not able to spend time with family and friends. Not able to visit dale or coast. Yet even as restrictions bite, we affirm God’s love in Christ Jesus, and seek to help each other hear the Easter message. We gather in ...

Rock Solid

Rock Solid is the new youth club for 9-13 year olds at Wilsden Trinity Church . It aims to provide a group for older children to follow on from Wilsden Trinity’s other youth club, Friends and Heroes. Every Tuesday we meet for games, Bible stories, sweets, crafts and chats. Highlights so far include wrapping people up as mummies, making ice cream sundaes, playing Zip Zap Boing (which is as confusing as it sounds), building Easter gardens and making lava lamps. We set aside a good amount of time just for chatting, and each week we have a “Millstone, Milestone” section – each person can say if they’ve had a difficult week (millstone) or a brilliant week (milestone) and why. This has been a platform for many entertaining anecdotes and tales that the group has shared together. Rock Solid started in March 2017, and so far numbers are low. Our small group has fun, but we would love to welcome some new members! All children and young people between the ages of 9-13 can join. It is £2 on the ...