Chaldean Church of St Paul is illuminated with red light in protest against the persecution of Christians around the world [Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters]
Hidden away behind a huge concrete blast wall and a heavily armed police checkpoint in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad is a beautiful little Chaldean church.
In the garden, a statue of the Virgin Mary is tucked away into a little man-made cave and inside the word of God is written in English, Arabic and Aramaic.
The priest shows us in the Chaldean Church of the Virgin Mary, which dates back to 1960s.
The Christian community in Iraq is said to be one of the oldest continuously existing communities in the world. They have had a presence in this land as far back as Mesopotamia.
In the last few years, the community has seen brutality and violence directed towards them.
The takeover of Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), Iraq’s second largest city, in 2014 saw the armed group kill men, women and children and seize Christian-owned houses.
Those who survived fled, and for the first time in its history, Mosul was left without Christians. This Easter, though, things have changed.
Rebirth
Much as the resurrection of Jesus Christ that Easter marks, the Iraqi Christian community is going through a rebirth.
ISIL was routed from the Nineveh plains and Mosul at the end of 2017 and for the first time since Church bells will ring out over Easter.
For Father Robert Jerjees in Baghdad, it is both a relief and blessing. He told Al Jazeera: “[The fact] that our Christian brothers and sisters are coming back…
… Read More
—-
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Urban Christian News