Monthly Archives: March 2016

By Rudaw For more than 10 years, Iraqi Christian have fled the country due to the civil war, the persecutions, and now terrorism. The very few who decided to stay fear for their future. They live their faith under high security.…

Christian Deguit (REUTERS/OMAR SANADIKI/FILES)Tourists take pictures at the ancient Palmyra theater in the historical city of Palmyra, Syria in this file photo. When the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was expelled from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, majority of the artistic treasures were destroyed but a few historical sites were left intact.…

carey-lodge Carey Lodge Christian Today Journalist 31 March 2016 Miriam David Talya with the Bishop of Syria, His Grace Mar Afram Athneil. ISIS has released an Assyrian Christian girl, the last remaining hostage of a group abducted in northern Syria last February.…

An Iraqi Christian woman prays at the Chaldean church in the southern city of Basra on January 1, 2016. HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty by Thomas D. Williams, The Christian population in Iraq has been decimated in a little over a decade, dropping from 1.4 million in 2003 to just 275,000 today, according to a report released…

Siranush Ghazanchyan Asbarez – Garo Paylan, an Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), has presented an inquiry to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu regarding the cabinet decision to expropriate a number of areas and structures in Diyarbakir (Dikranagerd), among them the Surp Giragos Armenian Church.…

St Mary’s Syriac Church, Diyarbakir Christians in Diyarbakir, south east Turkey, have requested prayers as legal consultations take place about a state takeover of church buildings and other properties. Diyarbakir has been the centre of fighting between government forces and Kurdish…

CB Condez (REUTERS/Rodi Said)Displaced people, fleeing violence from the Islamic State in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate on Aug. 11, 2014.…

By Ishaan Tharoor Clothing donated for an expected influx of Syrian refugees is sorted by volunteers for size and gender at a theater rehearsal space in Toronto on Nov. 24, 2015. (Chris Helgren/Reuters) According to reports in the Canadian media, an Ontario-based Catholic priest is under…

For Christians in Iraq, driven from their ancestral lands by the Islamic State, Easter celebrations were overshadowed by the feeling that they might never see home again. Now a small band of the displaced are taking up arms in order to defend their fellow Christians. Special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports.…

This year’s festivities are set to be the largest yet with more than 20,000 expected to attend throughout the day. A RECORD breaking crowd of 20,000 people are expected to attend the Assyrian New Year festivities this weekend, making it the biggest in a decade.…

PanARMENIAN.Net – Surp Giragos Church, the largest Armenian church in the Middle East, is among the buildings in Sur province of Diyarbakir that were expropriated by the decision of Turkey’s cabinet. Syriac, Chaldean and Protestant churches were expropriated too, Agos reports.…

by Larry Fedoruk It’s quite an incredible story out of London, Ontario: A Catholic priest allegedly admitting to gambling away $500,000 slated for refugee sponsorship. London police say they did receive a complaint near the end of February and an investigation is underway.…

YEREVAN, MARCH 29, ARMENPRESS. While clashes and curfews continue in Diyarbakir, the cabinet took an urgent expropriation decision. St. Giragos Church, the largest Armenian church in Middle East, is among the places in Sur province of Diyarbakir that are expropriated by the decision of the cabinet. The church was restored…

By Eyûb Nisrî DAWDIA REFUGEE CAMP, Kurdistan Region – As ancient Christian communities in northern Iraq celebrated Easter, Christian refugees marked the festivities in camps across the Kurdistan Region. At the Dawdia camp in Kurdistan’s Duhok province, Christian refugees celebrated the…

By Eric Czarnik Chaldean Community Foundation Program Manager Sharon Hannawa and receptionist Bushra Karana work in the foundation’s lobby last fall in Sterling Heights. (File photo by Deb Jacques) The Chaldean Community Foundation welcomed recent actions by U.S. officials that…

By Jesse Ferreras Police in London, Ont. are investigating a Catholic priest after he allegedly gambled away over $500,000 meant for refugees. Father Amer Saka of the St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church confessed to bishop Emanuel Shaleta last month that the money had disappeared in games of chance, The…

(MENAFN – Arab Times) Iraqi Christians gathered in Baghdad this weekend to mark Easter but celebrations were tempered by fears Islamic State would eradicate their shrinking community, even as the army launched a US-backed offensive to retake Mosul, their ancestral homeland.…

Iraqi Christians who fled violence in the northern city of Mosul after Islamic State group militants took control of the area attend a Good Friday Mass in Irbil, the capital of the country’s autonomous Kurdish region. | AFP-JIJI BAGHDAD – Iraqi Christians gathered in Baghdad over the weekend to mark Easter,…

Posted by Chris Jennewein ISIS fighters in Iraq. Courtesy of Iraqi government San Diego’s large Chaldean community is celebrating Easter amid concern for their fellow Christians in Iraq and Syria who are persecuted by ISIS terrorists.…

Eastern Reflections on the Resurrection The hearts and eyes of Eastern Christians in Iraq and Syria are directed to the resurrection (Easter) not as a celebration or ritual station, but as also to renew the hope and confidence of victory over the suffers of the suffering Church, as the Lord of the Church had victory…