Genocide
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. Revelation 20:4
All across the Nineveh plain the lights are going out
Crosses driven into the hearts of the last of Mesopotamia’s
Christians. These Assyrians, speaking Aramaic, the language
Of Christ, have been loyal throughout the long centuries
Of subjection to the burning wind that came, unbidden, out of Arabia.
Now the earth and the heavens have fled,
Now is the time of the second death.
No weasel words here, no turning of the cheek,
No meek, no mild, no gut-wrenchingly weak.
“Maaloula is the wound of Christ," the mourners chant
In the last Christian stronghold in Syria. Jihadist al-Nusra Front
Stormed this city: destroying statues of the mother of Christ,
Taking delight in defecating in the churches. Stripping monks
And nuns. Decapitating some. Crucifying others.
Whilst we, in the apathetic west, look on:
Dispirited, counting coin, afraid to face the sun.
John Marks
Thu 6th May 2021 22:18
Thank you kindly Keith. St Sophia's is as important to Orthodox Christianity as St Peter's in Rome is to the western Christians. The ONLY country that actively seeks to support the Christians of the East in Syria (who are almost all Orthodox) is Russia which is an Orthodox Christian nation.
"During Hussein’s regime I visited Iraq and its northern areas, and I was in Mosul. I visited ancient Christian monasteries. I saw this pietism of people and was glad that Christian churches calmly exist in the Muslim environment. Now almost nothing has been left. The monasteries have been destroyed and the churches have been blown up, 85% of Christians have been either eliminated or expelled from Iraq’s territory. And this could have happened in Syria,"