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| The Islamic State militias set fire to a 1,800 year-old church in Mosul |
From Al-Ahram (published in Egypt 24 July, 2014):
"The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has seized Mosul along with other parts of northern Iraq and over 30 per cent of the territories of adjacent Syria, last Friday decided to evict the few remaining Christian families from the town after giving them the choice of forced conversion or the payment of a special tax, the jizyah, which was paid by non-Muslims during the Ottoman period in return for protection and exemption from military service...
...these Nazi-style terrorists had imprinted the Arabic letter n, standing for nassara [Christians] on houses to indicate that the residents should be forced to leave and that the houses should be confiscated as the property of the Islamic State." Read 'here'.
"All are invited to take part in a day of prayer on Friday 1 August, 2014 for our most neglected brethren in Iraq, Syria, and throughout the Middle East". Details here.
It seems that this blog written 3days ago, is too appalling to comment upon?
ReplyDeleteI have been half expecting some benevolent follower to post about the 'decent minded' Muslims .
If such are out there ,then have they no contribution ,condemnation, or influence other than wishing everyone " Happy eid"! which I saw posted at the meat counter this morning in a well know supermarket.
I came across details of an HM Government 'epetition' today which is petitioning our government to take steps to allow Iraqi Christians to enter this country as refugees. This is what has been posted:
ReplyDeleteTragedy of Iraqi Christians & Others in Mosul - Recent events in Mosul and the threat of annihilation of the Iraqi Christians by ISIS can only be described as horrific, the likes of which has not been seen since the 7th century AD. An 1800-year old Syriac Catholic Church is desecrated and burnt to the ground. Meanwhile, the outside world looks on as if this is but a mere local event.
Please write to your local MP, talk about the problem to your friends and, in particular, sign this petition to show Her Majesty's government the importance of this issue to every human being in the UK and elsewhere. Maximum pressure needs to be brought on the international community to see this for what it is, the genocide of the Christian in a part of the world in which Christianity was born.
To find this site I simply googled 'HM Government Iraqi Christian petition' and added my name.
Can I urge readers of your blog to consider adding their names to the petition. This is a cause that should unite all of us.
The Syriac Church has a huge well for us to drink at - imagine if it were to be lost - to become a footnote in human history. Here is one of her most famous sons - St Ephrem - meditating on the eucharist..........
"It was by closing with the sword of the cherub that the path to the tree of life was closed. But for the peoples, the Lord of this tree gave himself as food in his oblation.
The trees of the Garden of Eden were given as food to the first Adam. For us, the gardener of the Garden in person made himself food for our souls. Indeed, we had all left Paradise together with Adam, who left it behind him".
Please consider adding your name to this petition.
General Lord Dannatt has a refreshingly clear piece of advice about ISIS:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11023847/Lord-Dannatt-We-know-the-dangers-of-inaction-the-West-must-intervene-in-Iraq.html
Action has to be taken now - every day lost is another day of terror for the various peoples of Northern Iraq.
Write to your MP.