Fighting to survive as a church

On August 23rd, the patriarchs of the four ancient churches of Northern Iraq gathered for a unique and historic joint service in a church in Dahuk, the major town in the area of Kurdistan to which most of the estimated 670,000 newly displaced have fled, including thousands of Christians. In a rare demonstration of unity, the four patriarchs fielded questions from the audience: five displaced Christians had been selected to address the church leadership, and they used the occasion to vent their anger, frustration and despair, but also to call for concrete solutions to their dilemma of now living away from their ancient homeland, seemingly without any hope of ever returning.
In a unique display of resolve, but also despair, the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Aphrem the Second, called on the Christians to defend themselves once Islamic State is defeated and the Christians are allowed to return to their ancient homeland on the Nineveh Plain.
The pain and agony was felt in every word that evening!

Kim Hartzner, MD, Managing Director

13 / 21

The third person to address the Patriarch raised the political problem of getting assurances for security if the Christians should ever return to their home towns, and made the church leadership responsible for the current situation. At the end of his questioning, the entire audience clapped with exclamation!
“Good evening to you: My comment is that this problem is not a problem of today, this is a problem going back 1,400 years. Where are the Syriac people in Tikrit, where are the Christian people in Najaf?
My second comment: if we return to our villages on the Nineveh plain, who can give us a word of assurance that this will never happen again?
The United Nations is quiet. Our patriarch told about those not respecting others. When we go back there who can guarantee us that they will not kill us again, who can promise us that what happened today will not repeat itself?
What is the situation of the British Government toward Saudi Arabia? They did nothing because they are afraid of the consequences. The problem is here. From the West who are called Christians, but it is not really Christian. It is like the Devil came from the West, which is supposed to be Christian but is not really Christian. ….

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