المسيحيون في العراق
الرجاءحمايه المسيحيين في العراق
ندعو ابناء الامة الكلدانية في العالم بعقد مظاهرات سلميه ضد الاختطاف وقتل واضطهاد المسيحيين في العراق وارسال نسخه من هذه الرساله الي الامم المتحده والي قاده العالم والبرلمانيين خصوصا الى السيد جورج بوش رئس الولايات المتحده واعضاء الكونغرس ، كما والى
السيد توني بلير رءيس وزراء بريطانيا ، والى روساء الدول الاوربيه والى السيد جون هوارد رءيس وزراء استراليا واعضاء البرلمان الاسترالي.وكذلك الى رئيس وزراء كندا ونيو زيلنده.
البابا يناشد بالافراج عن الكاهن المخطوف في بغداد ـ مدينه الفاتيكان ـ البابا بنديكتس السادس عشر دعا الي الافراج عن الكاهن الذي خطف في عيد مريم العذراء. في 15 اب وجه قداسته نداء حار الي المختطفين باطلاق سراح القس على الفور بحيث يستطيع العوده الي خدمه الله والمجتمع المسيحي والمواطنون" فقال في رساله بعث بها الكاردينال انجيلو سودانو .وذكر غبطة البطريرك عمانوئيل دلي في بغداد. بان ملثمين اختطفوا بالقوه الاب حنا سعد سيروب 34 حيث تم ايقاف سيارته ثم اخذوه الى جهة مجهولة.
Copy of this letter has been sent to the Prime Minister of Australia
The Plight of Christians in Iraq
Please protect the Christians of Iraq
We call upon the Chaldeans, Assyrians and Syrians in the world to hold peaceful demonstrations against the kidnapping killing and persecution of the Christians in Iraq, please send copy of this letter to United Nation Secretary , to the World leaders, Parliamentarians specially to Mr George Bush the president of United state and to the members of the Congress, also to Mr Tony Blair the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr John Howard the prime minister and members of the Australian Parliament
.
Pope appeals for release of priest kidnapped in Baghdad
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI appealed for the release of a Chaldean Catholic priest who was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, just after celebrating Mass Aug. 15 for the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
"His Holiness makes a heartfelt appeal to the abductors to release the young priest at once so that he can return to the service of God, the Christian community and his countrymen," said a message sent by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, to Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad.
Masked kidnappers forced Father Saad Sirop Hanna, 34, to stop his car, then they took him away, Vatican Radio reported Aug. 18. Father Hanna works at St. Jacob Parish in Dora, one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighbourhoods.
Father Philip Najim, the Rome-based representative of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Baghdad, confirmed the report.
Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk told the British branch of the charity Aid to the Church in Need that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of about $1 million
As of Aug. 21, there still was no news about Father Hanna, Father Najim said
In the Aug. 19 message to Patriarch Delly, Cardinal Sodano said Pope Benedict's thoughts "also go to all the victims of abduction in your country, and he prays that this dreadful scourge, as well as the terrible daily bloodshed which delays the dawn of reconciliation and rebuilding, will finally come to an end."
Father Najim said the kidnapping of Father Hanna "is truly a very sad situation because he is a young priest who was continuing his studies. In fact, he was supposed to come here to Rome to study. He is a young priest who has dedicated his life to serving both the nation and all the Christian faithful he encounters."
Besides serving as pastor of St Jacob, the priest was the director of philosophy at Babel College, near the capital. Aid to the Church in Need had agreed to sponsor him to study for a doctorate in philosophy in Rome, starting this fall.
"Given the situation" of violence and confusion in Baghdad, especially in Dora where various militias have been fighting each other for months, "it is difficult to identify who took him," Father Najim said.
The priest said Patriarch Delly met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after the kidnapping and was assured that "everyone is trying to resolve this situation as soon as possible and to secure the release of our priest."
The Iraqi Islamic Party, a Sunni political organization, immediately condemned the kidnapping, Vatican Radio said.
"This demonstrates how united the Iraqi people are and that they are not trying to make divisions, because we are one people trying to live in peace," Father Najim said. "It does not surprise me that the Islamic party issued this statement.
"The Catholic Church in Iraq suffers daily, like the rest of the Iraqi people," he said. "Water and electricity are lacking. There are not enough hospitals but, more than anything, there is no security."
Meanwhile, Archbishop Sako told Aid to the Church in Need in a telephone interview that the kidnapping had sent shock waves throughout the Christian community.
"Christians are living in a panic, and they are terrified of more attacks on their priests and their churches," he said. "When a priest is kidnapped, the Christian community takes it very seriously because he is such an important religious symbol."
Describing the capital as "a jail" from which people were desperate to escape, Archbishop Sako said, "You cannot imagine what it is like for the people in Baghdad."
Father Habib al Nafaly, chaplain to the Chaldean community in London, described Father Hanna as "a very close friend" and asked for prayers from the international community.
"It is very miserable now in Baghdad," said Father al Nafaly, who recently returned to London after a three-week visit to his native Iraq. "It is as if the country has gone back to prehistoric times -- there is no law and order at all."
He added that in the immediate area where he stayed, on average at least one person was killed every day during the three weeks he was in the country.
"Iraq has been divided up into religious sections, and each section has its own leader -- each one a little Saddam, who has to be obeyed," said Father al Nafaly. He said each leader was imposing his own rules such on such topics as alcohol, wearing jeans, use of mobile phones and the Internet -- each punishable by death.
In early August, another Baghdad Chaldean priest, Father Raad Washan of Holy Family Parish, was kidnapped and held for about 48 hours.
Church officials said Aug. 20 Mass attendance in Baghdad was very low after a 48-hour curfew was introduced amid fears of a surge in sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Islamic factions.
Many public services such as water and electricity may be spotty in Iraq, but at least mail delivery seems to be going well enough. Christian Chaldeans, Assyrian and Syrians families all over Iraq have been receiving versions of the following letter delivered to them in their homes:
By the name of God the most merciful and compassionate!
"Do not adorn yourselves as illiterate women before Islam."
From the leadership of Islamic troops of "Al-Bader"
To this noble family:
We hope that the head of this family will stand with the "brothers of Muslims" group and follow basic Muslim rules of wearing the veil and possessing honourable teaching of Islam that Moslems have continued from old epoch. We are the Iraqi people, the Muslim people that do not accept any mistakes.
If not – and the message will not be followed, we will take the actions of:
1. Killing.
2. Kidnapping.
3. Burning the house with its occupants or exploding it.
For the Christian community of Iraq, one of the oldest on Earth, the message is crystal clear. Convert to Islam, or at least comport yourself to Islamic law – including the veil for your women. Or else you will regret it.
The threats contained in this letter are, unfortunately, all too real. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Christians have been the targets of numerous fatal attacks. In Shiite-dominated Southern Iraq, there have been many accounts of Christians businessmen being shot dead on the street for such crimes as running liquor stores or selling other goods prohibited by Islamic law.
Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Christians had been allowed to peacefully conduct such business without fear. Under U.S. and British liberation, many Christians are closing their shops or switching to other merchandise. Church officials have also been attacked. His Grace, Bishop Mar Adai of the Assyrian Church of the East was attacked on the streets of Baghdad. His assailants wanted to steal his gold cross from around his neck.
Perhaps the worst of all have been the kidnappings. On August 6th the LA Times reported of these crimes, "The kidnappings have a dark, ruthless quality, often targeting children and teenagers, usually from Iraq's tiny Christian community where no tribal networks exist to fight back against the gangs."
Who Are the Iraqi Christians
Most Christians in Iraq are ethnically Chaldeans. They are the original inhabitants of the land now referred to as Iraq. The Apostle Thomas himself preached the Gospel to the Christians, shortly after the Resurrection of Christ. The majority of the Chaldeans population had converted to Christianity by the second century, giving the Chaldeans a legitimate claim to being the first Christian nation in history.
Fired by their new faith, the Chaldeans began one of the most successful missionary enterprises of all time. By the end of the twelfth century the Church of the East spanned the Asian continent, from Syria to the Philippines. Marco Polo reported that during his visit to China in the thirteenth century, he was astonished to find Chaldeans priests in the Chinese royal court, and tens of thousands of Chinese Christians. Chaldean missionaries had been there since the sixth century, and had made such an impact that the first Mongolian system of writing used the Aramaic alphabet, over the next centuries, however, Muslim rule and its attendant repression eventually reduced the Christians in number and sapped the vigour of their culture. By the mid-1800s wholesale slaughter of Christians was being reported at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, under whose control their homeland had fallen. Between 1914 and 1918, two-thirds of all living Christians were murdered in a genocide the world has chosen to ignore.
Islamic militancy is growing, and appears to be gaining steam. To make matters worse, civil wars appear to be brewing within, as well as between, the major ethnic factions such as the Sunni and Shiite.
Australian Chaldean Democratic Forum
E-mail:
Chaldeandemoc@Yahoo.com.au
الكاتب
