Islam, via both Turkey and ISIS, threatens 5,000-year-old Assyrian culture with annihilation

• "There is a great parallel between 1915 and what is going on in the Middle East today — in terms of destruction of non-Muslim civilizations and the continuity of Islamic jihad..."
• "Before 1915, the population of the territory that is now Turkey was about 15 million, about 4.5 million of which was Christian (nearly a third). Today... the approximate population of Turkey is 80 million, but there are only around 120,000 Christians, less than 1% of the population.
• "What some people in Turkey proudly say is, 'Elhamdulillah [thank Allah], 99% of Turkey is Muslim.' They brag and boast about it. It should actually put them to shame; we know very well how they made it happen...
• "They murdered more than 300,000 Assyrians and forced almost another 300,000 to be exposed to assimilation in many countries across the world."

See also my special resource page on the Armenian-Assyrian Genocide.

5000-year-old Assyrian Culture Facing Devastation

By Uzay Bulut, Gatestone Institute via AINA, November 29, 2015

Left: A memorial in France commemorating the 1915 Assyrian Genocide in Turkey. Right: An Islamic State member destroys a Christian tombstone in Mosul, Iraq, in April 2015.

The recent invasions and massacres committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq and Syria have brought a persecuted but mostly forgotten people to the attention of the world: the Assyrians.

The Assyrians, a native people of Mesopotamia, have been exposed to massacres before -- throughout history, in fact.

Due to these campaigns of extermination, the demographic character of the region has been changed greatly.

Before 1915, the population of the territory that is now Turkey was about 15 million, about 4.5 million of which was Christian (nearly a third). Today, one can hardly even talk of a Christian minority. The approximate population of Turkey is 80 million, but there are only around 120,000 Christians, less than 1% of the population.

In 1915, a slaughter of minorities took place, the purpose of which was apparently to "Turkify" and Islamize Anatolia into a country with one language, one flag, one religion and one nation. To achieve this objective, all non-Turkish communities -- Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, Yezidis, Kurds and others -- were targeted.

But there was a difference between Christians and non-Christians. Non-Christian minorities were to be assimilated; Christians were to be exterminated.

According to the founder and the president of the Assyrian Genocide and Research Center (Seyfo Center)[1], Sabri Atman, there are links between the massacre of the Assyrians and the current massacres of Christians in the Middle East:

Assyrians of Paris: 'There are now many jihadists in France. We have the impression of being invaded...'

"The entire Assyrian community is hugely disappointed and angry with the French Government. Government inaction has resulted in the problems in Syria and Iraq coming to France. The French authorities have been entirely reactive, not proactive. They have not anticipated, but waited until the problems were on their doorstep... We made public protests last year. We have issued press statements warning of the dangers. But the Government has been inactive."  —Max Yabas, Coordinator, Union des Assyro Chaldeens de France (UACF).

The Assyrians of Paris
by Peter Ahem, AINA, November 17, 2015

St. Thomas The Apostle Assyrian church in Sarcelles, France

(AINA) -- The shocking terrorist strikes in Paris on the evening of November 13 have caught the attention of the world. While political leaders send expressions of condolence and support to President Hollande and his nation, individuals with friends and family in Paris have been clambering to seek assurances of their safety.

I am a frequent visitor to Paris where I spent time as a student. Some of my student friends were Assyrians who lived in the neighborhood of Sarcelles, where two thirds of France's 16000 Assyrians are resident.

The Assyrian community in France represents the result of two major waves of immigration. The first influx followed the genocide of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks by the Ottomans during the First World War. This second major wave of arrivals is far more recent, with many fleeing Iraq and Syria over the last decade because of rising persecution by Islamic radical groups. For decades France has been a place of refuge for Assyrians seeking relief from oppression.

'Convert or Die': In a Caliphate-ridden Iraq, Christians Face Ultimate Choice

"With the radical Islamic State's proud announcement that "the caliphate is here", the next step in their plan is to systematically eradicate Christians from the area."

By Elisa Cipollone

http://www.lifezette.com via AINA — October 23, 2015

An Islamic State jihadi destroys a church, breaks the crosses.

In Iraq today, Assyrian Christians have two blunt options -- convert or die.

With the radical Islamic State's proud announcement that "the caliphate is here" (that note is painted on the walls of their cities), the next step in their plan is to systematically eradicate Christians from the area.

The news coming out of the war-torn nations of the Middle East just gets worse.

Perhaps the most disturbing, according to a report from the United Kingdom-based charity Aid to the Church in Need, is that Christianity in Iraq could die out in five years -- in 2020.

During the reign of Saddam Hussein, there were 1.4 million Christians living in Iraq. Today, 260,000 remain -- although perhaps not for long.

Western nations have been asking the question for months now: What, if anything, should they do?

In a statement last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the brutality against Christians in Iraq.

"Every day in countries across the world, Christians are systematically discriminated against, exploited and even driven from their homes because of their faith," he said. "Now is not the time for silence. We must stand together and fight for a world where no one is persecuted because of what they believe."

President Obama has made no such statement about the ongoing Christian genocide.

A key advocate for the victimized Christian community in this region is Jean-Clement Jeanbart, who is the Greek Melkite Catholic archbishop of Aleppo, Syria. Despite nearly losing his life twice, he remains steadfast in his support, saying he will not leave his people or his homeland.

The archbishop leads the Christian community in Syria, on the battlefield where ISIS hopes to expand its territory. Jeanbart acknowledges that this is "one of the most important challenges of our 2,000 year history."

Pressure Grows to Declare War Against Christians a Genocide

"Christianity in the Middle East is shattered," Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska Republican, told the IDC [In Defense of Christians] conference on Sept. 9. "The ancient faith tradition lies beaten, broken and dying. Yet Christians in Iraq and Syria are hanging on in the face of the Islamic State's barbarous onslaught. This is genocide."

As I repeatedly strive to emphasize, "genocide" is a secular term, and while it is accurate in a forensic way, for us, as Orthodox Christians, we must school ourselves to speak of this as a "New Age of Martyrdom." 

Our brothers and sisters in Iraq, Syria and the Middle East — as well as in Egypt and throughout North and Central Africa, as well as in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia and throughout the entire Islamic world — are ascending a real Golgotha. Christianity is being crucified anew, and the evil is increasing in vast waves of persecution. Europe and North America are next. 

We must wake up, stand with our suffering brothers and sisters, pray for them, honor them as confessors and martyrs, and prepare ourselves for the trials to come through diligently living and practicing our most holy faith.

And, we must clearly state that this "New Age of Martyrdom," this "genocide," is the direct result of devout Muslims following the commands in the Qur'an, imitating Muhammad's example as extolled in the ahadith and the Sira, and applying the doctrines of Islamic jurisprudence. It is not just the Islamic State waging war against and persecuting Christians. It is also ordinary Muslims — neighbors of Christians — who are taking their religion more seriously and acting according to its commands. 

Islam itself is the direct cause of the first genocide of the 21st century, this "New Age of Martyrdom."

Pressure Grows to Declare War Against Christians a Genocide

by Douglas Burton, Washington Times via AINA, September 23, 2015:

Memorial to martyrs killed in 2010 church bombing; Baghdad, Iraq.

Human rights activists see it. Foreign leaders see it. And more than 80 members of the U.S. Congress see it. Together, they are pressuring the leader of the free world to declare there is a Christian genocide going on in the Middle East.

Their campaign -- which was discussed at a Capitol Hill conference earlier this month hosted by the two-year-old In Defense of Christians nonprofit -- has an influential ally on its side.

Pope Francis, making his first visit to the United States on Wednesday, has noted the number of Christians being martyred today exceeds the number martyred during the days of the Roman Empire.

In fact, the sheer numbers of Christians murdered and tortured every year in a dozen countries in the developing world is only getting worse, thanks to the relentless campaign of the ISIS and al-Qaeda terror groups.

For example, in 2014, 2,000 Christians were murdered in Iraq alone, which is the number cited by historian Edward Gibbon as the total number of Christian martyrs in the first three centuries of Christianity.

In Iraq, where Christian churches were planted 1,800 years ago, Christianity has been wiped out except for 200,000 refugees sheltering in Kurdistan and a few in Baghdad. Their language, Aramaic; their homeland, the Nineveh Plain; and their calamity are Biblical in scale. Hundreds have been publicly tortured and executed in Mosul while women and children have suffered severe levels of sexual violence since the Islamic State took control in 2014.

"Christianity in the Middle East is shattered," Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska Republican, told the IDC conference on Sept. 9. "The ancient faith tradition lies beaten, broken and dying. Yet Christians in Iraq and Syria are hanging on in the face of the Islamic State's barbarous onslaught. This is genocide."

5 Middle East Churches That Could Cease to Exist If Islamic State Influence Continues to Spread

A high-level overview of five of the local Christian Church communions most severely threatened by the 21st-century resurgence of pure Islam. 

Coptic Icon of Jesus Christ, Pantocrator

The below article is a welcome contribution to the education of American Protestants and Evangelicals, some of whom do not consider Eastern Christians of any kind to be true Christians. This is also a great help for us in our daily prayers for those being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. 

At the same time, it must be noted that the thumbnail sketches in the Christian Post article below concerning non-Chalcedonian Christology do not do justice to the theology of these "Oriental" churches. Further reading for an expanded understanding of this issue is highly recommended.

Therefore, immediately below are links to related articles which explore in far greater depth the question over the "non-Chalcedonian" Christian Churches.

_______

THE NON-CHALCEDONIAN CHURCHES:

Regarding the division which occurred after the Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451, and recent efforts to examine anew the faith of the non-Chalcedonian churches, see the following:

• RECENT EFFORTS FOR UNITY BETWEEN THE TWO FAMILIES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH - Coptic.net
• VARIOUS DOCUMENTS CONCERNING EASTERN ORTHODOX AND ORIENTAL ORTHODOX JOINT COMMISSION AND UNITY - Orthodox Joint Commission
• Beyond Dialogue: The Quest for Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Unity Today - Rev. John Erickson, Dean, St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

The report at Coptic.net linked above begins with this statement:

Since 451, at the Council of Chalcedon,  there has been a division within the Orthopdox [sic] Church due to different Christological terminology. In recent times, members  of the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches  have met together coming to a clear understanding that both  families have always loyally maintained the same authentic Orthodox Christological faith, and the unbroken  continuity of  the apostolic tradition, though they may have used Christological terms in different ways. It is this common faith and continuous loyality [sic] to the apostolic tradition  that has been the basis of the conversations held over the last two decades towards unity and communion.

For a traditionalist Orthodox response to recent dialogues between Orthodox and non-Chalcedonian churches, see:

• Eastern Orthodoxy and "Oriental Orthodoxy" - Orthodox Christian Information Center

As for my own view of the non-Chalcedonian question, I give thanks to God for all things, even for our sufferings and for this new age of global Christian persecution, for it enables each one of us to confess Jesus Christ, and to prove our love for Him and our faith in Him. Regardless of semantic differences in the theological expression of our faith in Jesus Christ, we are united at the very least by a communion of blood, a communion of the Cross, a communion of martyrdom.

See also:

• What is an Assyrian Christian?
• What is an Armenian Christian?

_______

5 Middle East Churches That Could Cease to Exist If Islamic State Influence Continues to Spread
Christian Post via Pravmir — August 24, 2015

There are Christian churches throughout the Middle East that trace their roots back to the time of the apostles that could cease to exist if Islamic State and other radical Muslim groups continue to gain control of more territory in the region.

The Islamic State Caliphate: Darkness falls across the Middle
East, North Africa, Central Asia, and on into Europe.

Author George J. Marlin, who is also chairman of the Board of Aid to the Church in Need USA, recently released a book titled Christian Persecutions in the Middle East, which not only discusses the growing threat to believers in the region, but also provides the history of many of the churches that have existed in the Middle East since the time of the apostles that could now be facing extinction at the hands of Muslim extremists.

Listed below are five of those churches.

1. The Syrian Orthodox Church

The Syrian Orthodox Church came into its modern formation when Syrian Christians rejected decrees made by the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Western Christian Churches at the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. The Council acknowledged that Christ has two natures, divine and human, which come together in one person.

(PHOTO: REUTERS/MAJED JABER. Jordanian Christian clerics hold a mass at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Amman, May 21, 2013.

In an attempt to hold onto their beliefs about Christ, which state that He is one nature of full humanity and full divinity, Syrian Christians regrouped under their own bishops and broke away from the established church.

The Syrian Orthodox Church traces its origins back to the church of Antioch found in the New Testament and considers St. Paul its first Bishop. The head of the Syrian Orthodox Church today is known as the “Patriarch of the God-protected City of Antioch and of all the Domain of the Apostolic Throne.” He is elected by fellow bishops and must be celibate. The patriarch resides in Damascus and the church has archdioceses in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Palestine.

Today, the Syrian Orthodox Church has 5 million members worldwide.

2. The Coptic Orthodox Church

The Coptic Orthodox Church — Coptic meaning Egyptian — traces its roots back to A.D. 42 when St. Mark the Apostle first brought Christianity to Egypt. Monophysitism, the belief that Christ has a single divine nature, first took root in Egypt and was embraced by the head of the church and patriarch of Alexandria, Dioscorus.

Islamic State bulldozes 1,500-year-old Syrian monastery, captures over 200 Syriac Christians

Islam's war against Christianity continues to advance. In this report you see it all: Muslims conquering, destroying Christian sites, taking of captives, offering the "three choices" — convert to Islam, pay the jizya, or death." And tens of thousands of Muslims from all over the world are flocking to the Middle East to join the Islamic State because they see it adhering to pure Islam.

Islamic State bulldozes 1,500-year-old Syrian monastery

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch — August 21, 2015

Besides removing supposed temptations to idolatry, Islamic jihadists want to destroy the artifacts of non-Muslim civilizations because doing so testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur’an suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth:

Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth. (Qur’an 3:137)

This is one of the foundations of the Islamic idea that pre-Islamic civilizations, and non-Islamic civilizations, are all jahiliyya — the society of unbelievers, which is worthless. Obviously this cuts against the idea of tourism of ancient sites and non-Muslim religious installations. V. S. Naipaul encountered this attitude in his travels through Muslim countries. For many Muslims, he observed in Among the Believers, “The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of Muslim theology. History has to serve theology.” Naipaul recounted that some Pakistani Muslims, far from valuing the nation’s renowned archaeological site at Mohenjo Daro, saw its ruins as a teaching opportunity for Islam, recommending that Qur’an 3:137 be posted there as a teaching tool.

“Isis in Syria: 1,500-year-old Mar Elian monastery bulldozed by Islamic State in Qaryatain,” by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times, August 21, 2015 (thanks to David):

Islamic State (Isis) militants have bulldozed parts of the ancient monastery of Mar Elian in Qaryatain, a strategic town located in the central Syrian province of Homs which has been seized from forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. IS-linked Twitter accounts posted pictures of the destruction of the monastery, which was founded in 432 on the claimed spot of St. Elian’s death, for “worshipping a God other than Allah”.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), IS also transferred dozens of Assyrian Christians, who were kidnapped after the capture of Qaryatain, near its northern Syria de facto capital of Raqqa.

ISIS threatens ancient monastery filled with Christians

A 1,650-year-old monastery in northern Iraq, one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, is in danger of falling to ISIS.

by Leo Hohmann — June 2, 2015

WND via Pravmir

St. Matthew’s Monastery is a 1,650-year-old structure built into the side of a mountain

on the Nineveh Plain of northern Iraq.

St. Matthew’s monastery, founded in A.D. 363, has survived the Ottoman and Persian Empires, Mongol invaders and Kurdish conquests. Today it’s threatened by ISIS. Only three monks remain.

It has served as a place of refuge for persecuted Christians and other religious minorities for centuries, but now its very existence is threatened.

Some of the earliest Christians sought safety there. And when Islamic hordes stormed the city of Mosul, just 20 miles away, last June, the monastery’s thick stone walls again became a safe haven.

Located about 20 miles north of Mosul, the monastery is in protected Kurdish territory but is just a little more than three miles from the front lines of battle.

“We can see the battles and the airstrikes from here in front of us, especially at night. The sky lights up at night, but we of course are not scared. God protects us,” Father Yousif Ibrahim, one of three monks who resides in the monastery, told USA Today. There are also six students living at St. Matthew’s.

Before Iraq fell into chaos, the monastery was home to thousands of nuns, priests and students with the Syriac Orthodox Church. The ancient church traces its founding back to the time of Christ. Some of its earliest founders may have personally known Jesus Christ. They still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

It houses one of the most ancient Christian libraries in the region. Many of the oldest manuscripts have been removed and taken to Kurdish-controlled areas.

Christian refugees running out of places to hide

More than 125,000 Christians have been forced from their homes over the past 12 months. They now live as refugees, most of them in the semi-autonomous state of Kurdistan.

ISIS has previously vowed to destroy all Christian historical sites in the areas that fall under its control. In March, it destroyed the ancient Christian Mar Behnam Monastery in the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh in northern Iraq.

The jihadists have desecrated Christian cemeteries, seized Christian girls for sex slaves and killed other children in front of their parents’ eyes.

Islamic State Militants Destroy Assyrian Churches Northern Syria

"The group has reportedly destroyed most of the churches in the area before withdrawal, military sources reported."

By Zozan Shekho

ARA News via AINA — May 26, 2015

The Assyrian Virgin Mary Church in Tel Nasri, Syria,

was destroyed by ISIS on April 15.

Hasakah, Syria -- Radicals of the Islamic State's (IS/ISIL) withdrew from several Assyrian villages in Tel Temir countryside in northeastern Syria, after battles with Kurdish and Assyrian forces.

The group has reportedly destroyed most of the churches in the area before withdrawal, military sources reported on Monday.

Speaking to ARA News, Fayez Korko, member of Haras al-Khabur force, said that a huge devastation hit the Assyrian areas in the vicinity of Tel Temir at the hands of IS terrorists, especially the worship places and civilians' property.

"They dropped the church's crosses and crashed them all. They also damaged all contents of the churches and painted anti-Christian slogans on the walls," he added.

100 Years of Silence

Of the 2.6 million Greeks of Ottoman Turkey in 1914, over 700,000 additional Thracian and Anatolian Greeks were slaughtered, bringing the total Greek deaths to over one million.

Related: The Armenian Genocide

by Thea Halo, Author of Not Even My Name, and A Lid for Every Pot, painter, former WBAI news correspondent.
Huffington Post — May 20, 2015
h/t AINA

In the struggle between denial and silence, silence wins hands down. That is, silence wins out over denial if the genocide of a people is to be complete. For almost 100 years, Pontic Greeks have mourned the loss of the 353,000 fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, friends and community members who were slaughtered outright, or who died agonizing deaths on long death marches to expulsion from 1916 to 1923. My mother was among them. Of the 2.6 million Greeks of Ottoman Turkey in 1914, over 700,000 additional Thracian and Anatolian Greeks were slaughtered, bringing the total Greek deaths to over one million.

Although the Pontic Greeks had settled on the southern shores and in the mountains along the Black Sea since 875 B.C., and other Greeks had settled in Anatolia since 1200 B.C., over 2,000 years before the first Turkish tribes invaded, today it's difficult to find anyone who has heard of the Pontians or Anatolian Greeks, as if they never existed? Ditto for the Assyrians who had settlements in Asia minor dating back four thousand years before the genocide that took the lives of at least 275,000 Assyrians, more than half their population. As with the Pontic Greeks, until recently, it was rare to find anyone who knew Assyrians still existed in the modern world.

Hereditary Martyrs: the Christian Victims of ISIS's Massacres

"At the news that her son was dead, Nana collapsed. Her cries filled the cold, desolate room. Nana's husband, a priest of the Ancient Assyrian Church, had been murdered the year before -- dragged behind his horse by Muslim neighbors. The following year, another family member would be shot by his Muslim servant..."

Read and share this powerful reflection by a descendant of survivors of the Assyrian Genocide.

Hereditary Martyrs: the Christian Victims of ISIS's Massacres

By Juliana Taimoorazy

AINA — May 18, 2015

Woody Allen once joked that sterility is hereditary: If you don't have any children, you won't have grandchildren either. In my family, we pass down a different condition: martyrdom.

My great-grandfather and my great-uncle both were murdered for their religion in 1915. Decades later, my own immediate family had to flee Islamist harassment in Iran. My colleagues' cousins even now are hiding from ISIS in isolated villages and on mountaintops. This is the heritage of all Assyrian Christians.

The butchery last month of Ethiopian Copts in Libya was not some new kind of atrocity. It's the latest incident in 100 years of Islamist religious and ethnic cleansing all across the Middle East.

The first genocide of the 20th century was launched by the Ottomans and the "Young Turks" against Assyrian Christians in Mesopotamia. The next victims were Armenians and Greeks. For nine long years the slaughter went on, ending only in 1923 after claiming 2.5 million victims. The Ottomans "cleansed" Turkey, and much of Iraq, of their Christians. In November 1916, the Atlantic Monthly reported:

"Within six months they [Young Turks] succeeded in doing what the Old Turks were unable to accomplish in six centuries .?.?. Thousands of Nestorians and Syrians [Assyrians] have vanished from the face of the earth."

For many years, my mother stayed silent about the genocide. But one cold night in Tehran, in 1985, as we huddled around the space heater, she finally opened up. She told me how Nana (her grandmother) was awakened in her little clay house by violent knocks. Nana's nephew George burst in. He threw himself down on her sickbed and wept for a solid minute. Then he reared up and whispered the news: "Nana, they killed Uncle Augustus. Those merciless animals cut his body into pieces and made me bring it home in a rice bag -- our ration bag."

Islamic State bombs Assyrian, Armenian churches in Syria

300 Assyrians captured in February attacks, entire villages emptied of Christians, expected never to return. Islam's endless war and genocide against Christians continues.

AINA, April 29, 2015

St. Odisho Assyrian Church in Tel Tal, Syria, after the ISIS bombing on April 28.

(AINA) — According to reports from Syria and also the Turkish press, ISIS has bombed two churches in Syria, the St. Odisho Assyrian Church in Tel Tal and the St. Rita Tilel Armenian Church in Aleppo. The churches were bombed yesterday.

'Sacrificing and Sacrificed for the Faith' — Martyrdom a Hundred Years Ago and Today

"...The history of the Christians in the Middle East is a story whose roots go back to creation, to the account in the Book of Genesis about the first crime committed in history, Cain’s murder of his brother Abel..."

Here is a striking theological look at Islam's unending war against Christians. It is clear that symbolically, Righteous Abel represents the humble, pious and forgiving Christians, who offer "a more excellent sacrifice" than the degenerate Cain, who represents Islam and Muslims, who "attack true worship and brotherhood." In Metropolitan Siluan's words,

"Cain irremediably attacks both existential dimensions of his life, the vertical and horizontal when he attacks true worship and brotherhood. On the other hand, in his person Abel saves, “offering up and offered by faith,” true worship and sacrifice to God. Furthermore, God accepts Abel’s offering and receives him as a sacrifice."

Related:

• Centennial of the Armenian Genocide — Special Resource Page
• The Orthodox Christian Holocaust: 1894 to the Present
• Second Anniversary of the Kidnapping of Archbishops Paul and John
• Armenian Church canonizes victims of Ottoman genocide

by Metropolitan Siluan of Buenos Aires and All Argentina
Notes on Arab Orthodoxy via Pravmir — April 26, 2015

“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” (Hebrews 11:4)

The Christian East continues in the footsteps of its Master, sacrificing and in turn being sacrificed upon the altar of martyrdom, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Matthew 10:24). This offering-martyrdom is the cup from which many of our brothers have drank and currently drink, confirming the words of the Lord to James and John on the threshold of His passion, “You will indeed drink My cup” (Matthew 20:23).

It is clear that the history of the Christians in the Middle East is at once painful and glorious. It is painful on account of the great pain and suffering that they experience on earth and glorious on account of the dignity and grace that they receive in heaven. It is a story whose roots go back to creation, to the account in the Book of Genesis about the first crime committed in history, Cain’s murder of his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). From his point of view, Cain sacrifices on the altar of his degeneracy God and his brother. Thus, Cain irremediably attacks both existential dimensions of his life, the vertical and horizontal when he attacks true worship and brotherhood. 

On the other hand, in his person Abel saves, “offering up and offered by faith”, true worship and sacrifice to God. Furthermore, God accepts Abel’s offering and receives him as a sacrifice. Later, when he recalls this episode, the Apostle Paul highlights Abel’s faith and its impact even until today: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” (Hebrews 11:4)

Today the voice of Abel echoes loudly as the Christians of the East in general and the Middle East in particular commemorate the atrocities perpetrated against their communities at the end of the Ottoman Empire, from 1915 onward. According to historians, a policy of methodical extermination, without precedent in history, was carried out at the hands of the Turks, causing the martyrdom of some five million Christians – Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Armenians and Orthodox: men, women and children. 

Churches in Turkey on the Verge of Extinction

"Turkey... has largely succeeded in destroying the entire Christian cultural heritage of Asia Minor."

Related: 

• Qur’an read inside Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years
• Ninth Hagia Sophia Church converted into mosque
• Muslim Prayers at Hagia Sophia: A Sign Calling Us to Repent

by Uzay Bulut

Gatestone Institute via Raymond Ibrahim — April 21, 2015

While Eastern Orthodox Christians recently celebrated their Easter holy week, a historic church in Istanbul — the once magnificent Christian city of Constantinople — is witnessing yet another abuse at the hands of its current authorities.

“The historic Istanbul cathedral and museum, Hagia Sophia, witnessed its first Quran recitation under its roof after 85 years Saturday,” reported the state-run Anatolian News Agency of Turkey. “The Religious Affairs Directorate launched the exhibition “Love of Prophet,” as part of commemorations of the birth of Islamic Prophet Muhammad.”

Even though Christians are a tiny minority in Turkey today, Christianity has a long history in Asia Minor, the birthplace of many Christian Apostles and Saints, including Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, Nicholas of Myra, and Polycarp of Smyrna.

All of the first seven Ecumenical Councils were held in what is today Turkey. Two out of the five centers (Patriarchates) of the ancient Pentarchy — Constantinople (Istanbul) and Antioch (Antakya) — are also situated there. Antioch was the place where, for the first time, the followers of Jesus were called “Christians.”

Turkey is also home to the Seven Churches of Asia, where were sent the Revelations to John. During the centuries that followed, countless churches were established throughout the region.

One of them, Hagia Sophia, was once the grandest cathedral in the Christian world — until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans on May 29, 1453, followed by a three days of unbridled pillage.[1]

Hagia Sophia was not exempt. Pillagers made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors. Trapped in the church, congregants and refugees became spoils to be divided among the Ottoman invaders.

Pictures of Armenian Genocide Centennial Rallies Throughout the World

Photographic coverage of global commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Visit our special Armenian Genocide Resource Page...

Flags of the victims of the genocide:

Armenian, Assyrian, Greek (L to R)

AINA — April 25, 2015

"We have made a clean sweep of the Armenians and Assyrians of Azerbaijan" -- Those were the words of Djevdet Bey, the governor of Van Province in Ottoman Turkey, who on April 24, 1915 lead 20,000 Turkish soldiers and 10,000 Kurdish irregulars in the opening act of the genocide of Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks.

Between 1915 and 1918 750,000 Assyrians (75%), 500,000 Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks and Kurds in a genocide that aimed at and nearly succeeded in destroying the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire.

European Parliament Votes to recognize Armenian, Assyrian, Greek Genocide

After Pope's statement, pressure builds on rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey to acknowledge its past persecution of Christians.

See also: The Orthodox Christian Holocaust: 1894 to the Present

Pravoslavie, April 16, 2015

(Brussel/Istanbul) The European Parliament backed a motion on Wednesday that calls the massacre a century ago of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a "genocide", days after Pope Francis triggered fury in Turkey by using the same term.

Although the resolution repeated language previously adopted by the parliament in 1987, it could stoke tensions with EU candidate nation Turkey. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said even before the vote took place that he would ignore the result.

After the vote, the Turkish foreign ministry accused the European Parliament of attempting to rewrite history.

Muslim Turkey agrees that Christian Armenians were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces that began on April 15, 1915, when large numbers of Armenians lived in the empire ruled by Istanbul, but denies that this amounted to genocide.

What is an Assyrian Christian?

Here is a very helpful summary of the history of the Assyrian Christian community. Additional suggested reading (with links) provided by the author. Thanks to Presvytera D. for sharing.

by Anton C. Vrame, Ph.D.

Director, Department of Religious Education

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Concelebration of Chaldean and Assyrian churches at St Zaia Church, Baghdad, 2011.

With the horrific stories still coming out of the Middle East about the sufferings of the Christian community there, and the news about Assyrian Christians, some of you might be asking questions about their identity. Again, there is much more to say about this and the history of the Middle East can get complicated (and most of us are not well schooled about the history in that part of the world), but this gives a general picture. 

Christianity was established and was blossoming in Mesopotamia (in general, today’s Iraq, Syria, and southern Turkey) by the mid-second century AD. The Persians conquered the territory, thus separating this Christian community from the other parts of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Under pressure from the Persian rulers and to avoid suspicion about their loyalties, the Church there was forced to separate itself from the Church associated with the Byzantine Empire. The Assyrians became an independent Christian community, with its own head called a Catholicos and Patriarch.

The Assyrian Churches "do recognize the Christology of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon, 451)."

As a result Assyrian Christianity developed independently from the rest of the Church. The Assyrians accepted the theology of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius and their teachings about Christ. The Assyrians were not present for the Third Ecumenical Council (at Ephesus) that condemned Nestorianism. After the Council many followers of Nestorius were expelled from the Byzantine Empire and were sent into Persia. As a result, some people still refer to the Assyrian Church as a “Nestorian Church” although the Church itself asks not to be called this. To this day, the Assyrian Churches still only formally recognize the first two Ecumenical Councils but through dialogue with other Christians they have concluded that they do recognize the Christology of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon, 451).

Fate of 220 Assyrian Christians Abducted by ISIS Remains Unknown

"Islamic State jihadis have now executed around 2,000 Assyrian Christians, including 1,266 civilians, the [Syrian Observatory for Human Rights] says."

by Jordan Schachtel, Breitbart News, March 19, 2015

The fate remains completely uncertain of around 220 Assyrian Christians who continue to be held captive in Syria by the Islamic State terror group.

With each day that passes, the likelihood that the majority of the Assyrian men, women, and children survive captivity diminishes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

“Sheikhs of Arabian clans are still working privately to release the detainees, amid fears by SOHR on their lives after the fake promises by the IS to release them,” reports the Observatory.

Islamic State jihadis have now executed around 2,000 Assyrian Christians, including 1,266 civilians, the human rights group says.

Assyrian Christians Cry Out 'The Whole World Is Watching History Repeat Itself' as ISIS' Relentless Horror Escalates in Syria

This is "not only a genocide against [the] Assyrian people, but also an attempt to cleanse [their] culture and history from the land."

Related:

• Learn about the full-length feature documentary, 'Mourning In The Garden of Eden'
• Sign the Petition urging the White House to "condemn this act of genocide and get involved in protecting minorities in Syria."
• See this article and video providing historical perspective on genocide committed against the Assyrian Christians in the 1930s and today.

By Sami K. Martin, Christian Post

February 27, 2015

Assyrian Christians are seen in Iraq during a service, in this still image taken from “Mourning in the Garden of Eden,” a feature-length documentary film by Gwendolen Cates currently in post-production. (Photo: Gwendolyn Cates)

More than 200 Assyrian Christians have been kidnapped by the terrorist organization ISIS, and prayers have gone out around the world for their safe return. Two members of the Assyrian Church of the East spoke with The Christian Post about the situation in Syria and the loss of several religious artifacts at the hands of ISIS.

Jennifer Griesenauer and her aunt, Toni Abraham, who live in the United States, have watched in horror as members of their faith are systematically being targeted for kidnapping and execution. This week it emerged that ISIS fighters also destroyed religious artifacts, reaching new levels of destruction and animosity.

"Oh my God it's horrible," Toni told CP late Thursday. "Khabour River area is where my great grandfather held a priest school. Under his teachings, we have many well-known bishops, priests and deacons who are scholars in Aramaic, the language Christ spoke, currently the Assyrian Church of the East. It's sad to see that church destroyed and our Assyrian people still being targeted because of our Christian religion."

Islamic State murders 15 Christian hostages, beheads woman; 35 Christian villages now entirely uninhabited

Further developments on this story... 

Jihad Watch, February 27, 2015

“One source has said that a mass execution is being planned for Friday, February 27, in the mosque of Bab Alfaraj, a Sunni village in the area..”

The burning of a church in Hasaka by ISIS.

ISIS kills 15 Christian hostages in Syria, beheads woman 
ANSAmed, February 26, 2015 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) – ROME – The Islamic State (ISIS) has killed 15 of the Christians it took hostage in northeastern Syria earlier this week.

The news was given by Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana to the Catholic organization Aid to the Church in Need on Thursday. ”Many of them,” he said, ”were defending their villages and their families.” One woman was beheaded in the village Tel Hormidz and two men were shot to death. There is no information at the moment on how the other 12 were killed.

BREAKING: New ISIS Video threatens to slaughter Assyrian Christian hostages unless US stops bombing Islamic State forces

RECENT REPORTS PUT NUMBER OF HOSTAGES AS HIGH AS 400.

by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times
February 26, 2015

UPDATE TO STORY BELOW: The BBC has quoted a spokesman for the Syriac Military Council, A Christian militia fighting with the Kurdish forces (YPG), as saying that between 350 and 400 civilians have been abducted by IS militants. 

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Islamic State (ISIS) militants who are holding about 150 Assyrian Christians hostage, including many women and children, are expected to release a video threatening to kill them if the US-led coalition airstrikes do not stop, activists and local officials report.

Jihadists attacked the village of Tal Shamiram, in the north-eastern Syrian province of al-Hasakah, at dawn and abducted dozens of people and took them to an Isis-held city named al-Shadadi.

In al-Shadadi, an Isis-held town in the same Hasakah province, IS militants placed women and children in different houses to use them as human shields in case of possible US-led airstrikes.

The jihadist group is expected to issue a video in which they address US president Barack Obama and threaten to kill all the Assyrian hostages if coalition airstrikes don't stop, Osama Edward, president of the Sweden-based Assyrian rights group, told IBTimes UK.