Monthly Archives: August 2020

Iran (International Christian Concern) – An Iranian-Armenian Christian house church leader, Joseph Shahbazian, was finally released on a slightly reduced bail nearly two months after his detainment. The authorities had requested a bail amount of 3 billion tomans, the highest on record for an imprisoned Christian, but the family was only able…

By Debbie Kelley debbie.The Rev. El Badaoui Habib arrived at St. Rafka Maronite Catholic Church in Lakewood in May and is now offering Maronite Rite Mass the first Sunday of every month at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Colorado Springs.…

by Dale Gavlak, Catholic News Service Fawza Umri helps her son put on clothes after being bathed inside their tent at Atmeh camp, near the Turkish border in Syria, June 13, 2020. Humanitarian groups have accused Turkey of “weaponing water” in the northeast region of Syria. (CNS/Reuters/Khalil Ashawi)…

Chalice desecrated by ISIS. Credit: Diocese of Malaga, Spain.MoreCNA Staff, Aug 28, 2020 / 06:11 pm MT (CNA).- As part of an effort to remember and pray for persecuted Christians, several churches in the Diocese of Málaga, Spain are displaying a chalice that was shot by the Islamic State.…

Promotional poster for a new documentary about Iraq produced for the BBC and PBS. (BBC/PBS/Frontline)Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda said the documentary’s failure to discuss the plight of Iraq’s persecuted minorities ‘is tantamount to showing we do not matter and…

By John Pontifex MEMBERS of an ancient Chivalric Order with close ties to the Middle East have raised more than £10,000 for the people of Beirut suffering following the catastrophic explosion.…

Ancient Christian minority faces bleak chance of reclaiming ancestral landsBen Joseph A boy looks out from a tent at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria, where families of Islamic State foreign fighters are held. (Photo: AFP)…

CBN NewsJERUSALEM, Israel – Kurdish and Syriac news media are reporting that Turkish-backed Syrian opposition militants have kidnapped 14 Kurds who converted to Christianity from the northern Syrian city of Afrin.…

The Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil has accused the BBC of overlooking the plight of persecuted Christians and Yazidis in documentary series Once Upon a Time in Iraq. Archbishop Bashar Warda said Christians and other religious minorities felt pained at being deprived of their voice, The Times reports.…

Mor Ishok of Nineveh (613-700) In Akkadian, if ‘mak?ku’ derives from <mag?gu, it means to ‘widen’, ‘spread’, ‘grow’, ‘continue’, ‘stretch out’.If ‘Maka?u’ is accepted as the continuation of the word <maga?u’, it reflects the meanings of ‘siege’, ‘surround’, ‘enfold’, ‘enclose’ and ‘protection’. In Akkadian, the consonant ‘k’ can take the form of…

Dear sir/madam, In Nov. 2019, the World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) joined the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in supporting the reconstruction of a community center in the largely Aramean (Syriac) town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plain, North Iraq. Due to COVID19, this critically important project experienced a delay, but it is expected…

Following the horrendous explosion that hit Beirut devastating the capital and plunging its people “into darkness, blood and pain”, the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) issued a statement addressed to the churches of the world and to its partners, calling them to support the devastated Lebanese capital and its distressed people.…

Chaldean Catholic Cathedral of St. Joseph in Ankawa, Iraq. Credit: CNABy Matt Hadro Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 21, 2020 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- The Iraqi prime minister has encouraged Christians displaced by ISIS to come home—but are the conditions right for a safe return? Catholic leaders and aid agencies say without…

Dalia(Photo: Open Doors UK)Each day this week Christian Today is sharing stories of persecuted Christian women who have found strength in Christ to face incredible hardships. Today we share the story of Dalia, who is finding courage in God’s word despite the dangers of living in Iraq:…

 Iraq (International Christian Concern) – Today Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is expected to join US President Trump at the White House. It is anticipated that the conversation will largely focus on issues relating to security and the economy.…

Elderly Couple Flees Iran to Protect Their Health Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on August 15, 2020, Iranian-Assyrian Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and his wife Shamiram Issavi fled the country. Just four days prior, Shamiram received an official summons to report to…

We hear from time to time someone announces that all Iraqi Christians are Assyrians, or Chaldeans, or Syriacs, or Arameans. This kind of assumption is not logic and not accurate at all!…

Citizenship, the situation in the Nineveh plain and the Christians affected by the explosions in Lebanon at the center of the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Chaldean patriarch. For the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, the reconstruction of houses and employment are the priorities. Listen to the voice of the young people…

by Ayman Abdel Nour Politics & Diplomacy SyriaSyriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church Ignatius Zakka I Iwas (L) stands next to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (C) along with others clerics in Damascus in this December…

by Pierre BalanianA quarter of the victims at Beirut port were Syrian. Many of them decided to stay in the country to work on rebuilding homes. Damascus’ contribution to the care of the wounded. After years of occupation and war, there are small signs of friendship. The…