Overview

Christianity has been firmly established in Iraq for nearly two thousand years, but from the fourth century to the present day Christians in Iraq have faced periods of terrible persecution. This book brings together their stories, from the witness of martyrs sixteen hundred years ago, across the centuries, to our own time. In the twenty-first century Iraqi Christians have been confronted by relentless terrorist attack, by genocide and exile from their homeland. Alongside accounts of martyrdom and massacre under the Persian and Ottoman Empires and, in the twentieth century, the newly independent Kingdom of Iraq, Robert Ewan records the heart-rending stories of just some of the myriad of contemporary martyrs: Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni and of the massacre at Sayidat al-Najat Church in Baghdad.

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9780852449127

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The story of Christian life and worship in Iraq is full of pathos -- suffering and pain. As I have seen with my own eyes on numerous visits to the country, pain and persecution have brought the Church to the point of extinction but have also acted as its life-blood, incarnating in the faithful a profound sense of the sacrificial nature of true Christian discipleship. Robert Ewan has vividly captured the struggle for survival that has characterised Iraq's ancient Christian community down the ages, comparing and contrasting episodes from the earliest centuries of the Church with the chilling instances of persecution that we see today at the hands of Daesh (ISIS) and the like. What emerges are heroes of faith, men and women, young and old willing and able to pay the ultimate price for the truth that they profess in word and deed. I warmly recommend this book to all those who want to delve behind the news headlines and catch a glimpse of the soul of Iraq's faithful people. John Pontifex, Head of Press & Information, Aid to the Church in Need (UK)

The story of Christian life and worship in Iraq is full of pathos -- suffering and pain. As I have seen with my own eyes on numerous visits to the country, pain and persecution have brought the Church to the point of extinction but have also acted as its life-blood, incarnating in the faithful a profound sense of the sacrificial nature of true Christian discipleship. Robert Ewan has vividly captured the struggle for survival that has characterised Iraq's ancient Christian community down the ages, comparing and contrasting episodes from the earliest centuries of the Church with the chilling instances of persecution that we see today at the hands of Daesh (ISIS) and the like. What emerges are heroes of faith, men and women, young and old willing and able to pay the ultimate price for the truth that they profess in word and deed. I warmly recommend this book to all those who want to delve behind the news headlines and catch a glimpse of the soul of Iraq's faithful people. John Pontifex, Head of Press & Information, Aid to the Church in Need (UK)

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