Nun: The Sign of Genocide : In solidarity with our Persecuted Brethren in Iraq and Syria
Written by Malek
 
 from: http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/
 
Nun (ن), the 14th letter of the Arabic alphabet (the equivalent of letter N in our Roman alphabet), is the first letter of the word Nasara (نصارى : Nazarenes), the way Muslims have called Christians since the beginning of their invasion of the Christian world in the 7th century -- Christians under Muslim rule never called themselves thus, since the intent of Muslims was to portray Christians as a contemptible and disobedient sect.
 
It is the same name of the equivalent letter (נ) in the Hebrew alphabet (also a Semitic language), and it reminds us of the words of Jeremiah, also crying for an exile of his people sent to Mesopotamia:
 
Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened: the Lord hath delivered me into a hand out of which I am not able to rise. (Lamentations, 1)
 
In their genocidal physical elimination of Christians from the Mesopotamian city of Mosul, Muslim terrorists marked each Christian-owned institution and building with this letter, for the extermination of holdouts and expropriation of their belongings:
 
 
 
 
They mean it as a mark of shame, we must then wear it as a mark of hope: Yes, we are in the army of the Resurrected Nazarene, the Master and Lord of the Universe, the Man who is God Almighty, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. You may kill our brethren and expel them, but we Christians will never go away. 

 

It's over Genocide has been accomplished
 
 
[Cross removed this week from dome of Syriac Orthodox Cathedral, Mosul, Iraq]

For two thousand years, our dearest brethren saw it all from Mosul: Romanized Greeks, Hellenized Persians, Hellenized Romans from all origins later called "Byzantines", Armenians, Arabs from the desert with a religion of the sword, Egyptians, Crusaders, Mongols, Turks, French and British, "Independence"... Then the clumsiest Empire in history, an Empire unwanted by most voters, unwarranted by the Republic's own Constitution, led by bellicose hawks motivated by God knows what, justifying their actions on untruths, arrived, upsetting a balance that was not the best, but was best of all possible outcomes (at that moment). Two Vicars of Christ had cried their hearts out in vain warning of the grave danger of an intervention, of the, "extremisms that could stem from it."
 
Things were never the same.
 
For years, we have been warning that support for terrorists in neighboring Syria would surely end badly. But even we could not imagine that it would end so badly so fast and over such a vast area. And yet, the insane Empire-builders are still handing billions and billions, and hundreds of millions of dollars to "moderate" terrorists! Where's the outrage? Have you contacted your congressman, senator, president, MP, prime-minister expressing your outrage, begging this madness to stop?

 

 

Iraqi bishop urges prayer as Christians expelled from Mosul
 
 

.- On the eve of an ultimatum issued by Islamists to Christians in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the Chaldean bishop of Erbil, in nearby Kurdistan, urged prayers for the nation's remaining followers of Christ.

“We have hope that things will get better,” Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda of the Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil said in an interview with CNA on July 16.

“But … from the circumstances, which we are following, it looks like it’s going to take some time.”

A militant Sunni organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been steadily attacking cities and communities in north and northwestern Iraq since June. The attacks have begun dividing Iraq along religious and ethnic lines.

On Friday, July 18, ISIS issued an ultimatum to the Christians of the city of Mosul, which it captured more than a month ago: convert to Islam, pay the jizya, or be killed.

The cross a top the city's Syriac Orthodox cathedral was removed.

“They control the city and I think they made it very clear that there is no place for non-Muslims in the city,” Archbishop Warda said.

Thousands of Christians have fled Mosul, seeking refuge in Christian villages in the surrounding Nineveh Plains and in Kurdistan.

The charity Aid to the Church in Need sent a grant of more than $135,000 to provide food and shelter for the displaced in the region. Archbishop Amel Nona of Mosul told the charity in a recent interview that schools, church halls and abandoned houses have opened up to receive displaced persons from Mosul.

Recent U.N. estimates place the number of internally displaced Iraqis at 1.2 million, nearly half of whom have been driven from homes in the western province of Anbar. Many of those internally displaced are seeking refuge in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, which is known for its peace and stability.

Archbishop Warda said he has noticed an influx of refugees in Erbil over the past month. He said most refugees are renting out rooms or apartments from locals.

“(It's) crowded, yes, and expensive, which is also another issue” the archbishop explained. “But, that's the situation.”

He lamented that many Iraqis have been living in a state of crisis for many years.

“We hope that things will get better (and) will improve for the lives of those people,” he said.

“But from what we are observing, it's not promising.”

Tags: Persecuted Christians, ISIS, ISIL, Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil, Islamism

 

 

Mosul Archbishop: ‘My diocese no longer exists’

by Oliver Maksan*

 

 

 

Ahlan wa sahlan. Welcome,” is Archbishop Amel Nona’s friendly greeting to an anxious looking veiled woman who enters his office. He offers her a seat.

“She has just come here to Tilkef from Mosul on foot with one of her sons seeking safety,” says the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, translating the agitated words of the Muslim woman. “There have been skirmishes between the government and the Sunni rebels. That’s why she fled.”

There are only three kilometres between Mosul and the Christian town of Tilkef. But they are now worlds apart since the Islamists conquered the town.

“We welcome everybody here, be they Christian or Muslim,” Nona says. “This is what our faith teaches us: to help everyone regardless of religion. God loves everyone. That’s why we should help all.”

In fact the Church has opened its schools, kindergartens and community rooms not only to Christians, but also to Muslim families. In Alqosh, a Christian town about 20 kilometers from Mosul, they have taken in 150 Muslim families in addition to 500 Christian ones. In Tilkef more than 700 refugee families have been taken in, including Muslims. The town is bursting at the seams. Refugees have even been accommodated in a print shop for liturgical literature. Like the father Habib’s family of five.

ACN-child refugees

An Iraqi girl poses for a picture as young boys look on. Credit: ACN.

“We left everything behind in Mosul. We were able to rescue the clothes we are wearing, documents and a few bags from Mosul. That’s all that’s left. I don’t know whether we will ever be able to go back there,” the Chaldean Catholic explains. He shrugs his shoulder. “And I don’t know what the future will bring.”

Archbishop Nona knows what the people are going through. He has become a refugee himself. When the jihadist terrorists of ISIS took over Mosul three weeks ago he and about 5000 Christians fled from Iraq’s second largest town. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have also attempted to find protection from the cruel holy warriors. Their number is estimated at about 450,000. Most of them have found refuge in the autonomous Kurdish areas.

“My diocese no longer exists. ISIS have taken it from me,” the Archbishop says. At the present time, according to Nona, three quarters of the approximately 10,000 members of his diocese are on the run. “I don’t know whether they will ever be able to return to Mosul.”

ACN-refugee men

Refugee men and boys stand in line. Credit: ACN

The mood of the people is correspondingly somber.

“There is no room for us Christians in the Middle East,” one woman says. She also fled from Mosul. She has four children. “Where are they supposed to go now? There’s nothing keeping us in Iraq any more. First the 2003 war. Then the subsequent confusion when we Christians became the target of fanatics. And now this. We want to get to the west as soon as possible.” But she has no illusions. “I know from relatives that it isn’t easy to start a new life there. But at least it’s safe. I don’t want my children to grow up in fear.”

The bishops are quite clear about what their flock think. At the synod which ended last week they sought desperately for answers to the crisis which the advance of ISIS has sparked.

“It’s not only the present refugee crisis,” Archbishop Nona says. “The problem is that because of the advance of ISIS and the tensions between Sunnis and Shiites all Christians feel unsafe in Iraq. They have lost their faith in a future here.”

ACN-refugee girls

Two Iraqi girls laugh as their picture is taken. Credit: ACN

At the same time the bloodletting suffered by Iraqi Christianity, a movement going back to the Apostle Thomas, is not new. Archbishop Nona reckons that more than 25,000 Chaldeans were living in Mosul alone prior to 2003, when the Americans came to topple Saddam Hussein. Before the current exodus this figure was just 5000. In all, Iraqi Christianity has lost about two thirds of its previously 1.2 million adherents in ten years to the region and foreign countries in the west.

The bishops are now placing their hope in Kurdistan. This autonomous zone in the north of Iraq has for years become a refuge for Christians from turbulent parts of the country such as Mosul and Baghdad. It is here, the bishops believe, that they could find a new home.

“Aid to the Church in Need” has granted 100,000 euros (136,000 USD) in emergency aid for refugees from Mosul.

 

*Oliver Maksan writes for Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. countries. www.churchinneed.org (USA);www.acnuk.org (UK);www.aidtochurch.org (AUS); www.acnireland.org (IRL);www.acn-aed-ca.org (CAN)