Last weekend, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad, Louis Raphael Sako, visited the site and blessed the new cross in the village of Telekuf-Tesqopa, 17 miles from Mosul.
BritainFirst A large group of Christian faithful accompanied the archbishop to a hill on the outskirts of the city where he blessed the enormous cross as the people set off fireworks and cheered, “Victory! Victory! Victory! For those who chose the faith and those who return!”
This cross will announce to the world “that this is our land, we were born here and we will die here,” Archbishop Sako said. “Our ancestors were buried in this pure land and we are going to remain to preserve them with all our might and for future generations.”
“It is a sincere and great call to return and rebuild. We are joined to our land, to our future on the land of our ancestors. Here we can be proud of our history and here we can be granted all our rights,” Sako said.
The placement of crosses has become a recurring gesture since the Iraqi Army began the offensive to retake the city of Mosul, the stronghold of the Islamic State in Iraq. As villages have been liberated across the Nineveh Plain, Christians have made wooden crosses and placed them on the roofs of churches and homes.
Below are ISIS savages taking down crosses in Iraq and replacing them with black flags of jihad:
Prior to the blessing ceremony, Archbishop Sako also celebrated the first Mass after two and a half years in Saint George Church, which was attended by authorities and officials of the region.
In his homily at Mass, Sako said that this event is “the first spark of light shining in all the cities of the Nineveh Plain since the darkness of ISIS, which lasted nearly two and a half years.”
“This is our land and this is our home,” Sako told the congregation, noting that the return of the faithful to the region demonstrates to the world that the forces of darkness, as terrible as they are, cannot prevail over Christ’s Church, which is built upon rock.
A year ago, the Patriarch published an Easter message in which he implored Christians not to leave Iraq, despite the hardships. Christians must “stay united in this land of ours, in which we were born, where we have lived for 1400 years,” he said.
In late 2014, Sako called the systematic persecution of Christians in Iraq by the Islamic State “a real genocide”and called for decisive steps to put pressure on decision-makers at home and abroad to ensure a free, safe life for all in Iraq.
“There were about 1 million Christians in Iraq and more than half of them have been displaced. Only 400,000 are left while displacement is still rising,” Sako said at the time.
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God Bless them.
Does anyone remember the lesbian bishop in Sweden who ordered the removal of crosses from her church so as not to offend new invaders? Then I read something like this and am reminded there are simple Christians in the world who outrank a bishop ..
This just in:
The inphallicable pope has just issued a bulla*
declaring that those Iraqi Bishops have erred mightily.
He DEMANDS that those symbols, dear to the hearts of
his beloved co-religionists be restored immediately,
lest his venal foot-kissing be to no avail.
Further, said Bishops must complete a compulsory
200 hour ‘sensitivity training’ course.
\sarc off
* Hence our modern term ‘bull-shit’.
Why not dream big? A day will come when the Divine Liturgy will again be sung in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
Hear, hear!
Christians and Jews STILL outnumber Muslims. It will be a monumental slap-down for them when they see OUR might and power, again (soon, I pray).
“to ensure a free, safe life for all in Iraq.”
Won’t happen!!! The Pandora of izslime is out of the box and nothing but much WAR and suppression of the horrid thing, will ever put it back in, and allow the Christians actual peace. This thing ain’t nowhere near being OVER.
Nice to see Christians reasserting themselves again, those crosses are like a ray of hope. I hope Trump wipes Isis off the face of the planet
I pray that “…things turning around for Iraq”, continues and lasts.
In Egypt, however, things are real bad. News of genocide against Copts is getting worse. News of the true situation is hushed, as usual for Islamic countries.
Most incidents go unpunished, filtered through ‘reconciliation
sessions’ under the auspices of the government that aim to move past the violence in order not to inflame the sectarian climate. This tired exercise become couched in worn out patriotic discourses and securitized language sidestepping the root issues of endemic institutional discrimination by the state against Copts in public life.
In countries with Muslims majority will never, NEVER be humane, it is against their faith, that simple.
Rony, what happened with el-Sisi? I thought he vowed to protect them.
Dear Iraqi Army, Hurry up and retake Mosul …. you know ISIS is “Crucifying the Christians” trapped there …. and if every 1,000 Christians harbor one Jew …. their fate is even worse ? (I hope Iraq isn’t letting ISIS do their dirty work (cleaning out non-Muslims) for them ?)
A BEAUTIFUL sight! The Satanic Black flag of Jihad replaced with the BEAUTIFUL Cross!
The Gates of Hell will Not Prevail Against the Church!
It’s called standing up to tyrants!
Bless those Iraqi Christians. They are very brave. Personally, I think they should migrate somewhere safer, away from the Muslums who always wipe out the minority Christians.
“I will bless those who will bless you & and; curse those who curse you ” Things like this, putting a cross that belongs back up is a sign things are turning around for Iraq