Pray for the Iraqi Christians Today

Source:

Iraq’s Christians trace their history to the first century apostles Thomas and Thaddeus. Most are Chaldean Catholics, practicing an Eastern liturgy but recognizing the authority of the Vatican. Many Chaldeans still speak forms of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. But because of ISIS, which has now declared a “caliphate” in the region it controls between Aleppo in Syria to Diyala, Iraq, there are now no Christians in Mosul for the first time in 2,000 years.

“It’s an act of cleansing,” says Al-Zebari. “They are wiping out our community.”

Al-Zebari was among more than 1,200 Christians who marched in a demonstration to the UN headquarters in Erbil during a visit by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Many of those marching wore shirts or signs bearing the Arabic letter “N”—for the word Nasrani meaning “Nazarene” or Christian—the symbol spray-painted by ISIS forces to mark Christian homes in Mosul.