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

Circuit Talents Challenge

"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money ..." Matthew 25:14-30 Why don't you take up the Circuit Talents Challenge by taking a £5 note and making it grow for the Circuit? More details ...

The wind among the trees

I sat among the trees once. And a wind was blowing. Quite a strong wind; I could hear it in the trees –   rushing, rushing. A lovely sound, soothing to my ears. I stopped what I was writing and began to listen. I remembered that Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was like   the wind. You could hear it; see its effect. But you couldn’t see the wind itself. You couldn’t see   where it was coming from, nor going to. And I wondered, “Are you showing me something about your Spirit, Lord?” So I sat, and I listened, and I watched. They were big, old trees where I sat. Tall they were, in an ancient wood, well-branched,  shapely. Beech, grey bark against the clear blue of the sky. And leaves: they were leaves that knew the wind;   leaves that let the wind know them. They looked, like beach leaves look in a wind: full of life –   and with a certain beauty all their own. I watched the great crowns of those great trees. I watched the branches sway and the ...

For such times as these! - A good news story from Windhill!

For such times as these! (Esther 14:14) On June 1st James Stannet (from e:merge , a Christian Youth organisation) began his youth work for Christchurch LEP in Windhill. He says, "Well! June has been a really busy but very productive month. On Wednesday, in the park, numbers are climbing week by week, now averaging 25. Good partnerships have been made with local organisations. this has been a blessing: enabling us to deliver varied sport activities and build good relationships.' 'The Hope Revolution, youth event, based at Christchurch LEP was a massive hit. A BIG Thank you is expressed to the Church for the support, encouragement and prayers. 200 people attended the Fun Day. Despite the rainy weather, 100 young people took part in local projects: two house clear-ups, school garden project (Windhill Primary) and running the Fun Day. 10 Christian Organisations working together resulting in several families requesting Christian children's activities.' ...