34 corpi ritrovati in Libia. Due fratelli subiranno la pena capitale in Pakistan. In Africa missionari e fedeli sotto costante attacco
Poco più di un mese fa, la Fondazione di diritto pontificio Aiuto alla Chiesa che Soffre ha pubblicato il suo Rapporto annuale. Circa 300milioni i cristiani perseguitati nel mondo e 38 i Paesi dove sono discriminati. Tanti di questi cristiani perdono la vita a causa della loro fede.
La strage in Africa
Solo nel 2018: cinque sacerdoti uccisi in Centrafrica in quattro diversi attacchi, oppure ai sette sacerdoti uccisi in Messico; in Nigeria c’è stato un attentato all’interno di una chiesa nel mese di aprile, dove sono stati uccisi altri due sacerdoti. In Nigeria solamente nei primi cinque mesi del 2018 quasi 500 cristiani sono stati uccisi in attacchi da parte degli islamisti fulani.
L’attentato in Egitto
Poi, veniamo ad esempio ad un recentissimo attentato, come quello in Egitto del 2 novembre, nel quale sono stati uccisi 11 cristiani che si recavano in un santuario vicino Minya. Quindi, purtroppo, le tante uccisioni registrate quest’anno confermano il dramma della persecuzione anti-cristiana (Vatican News, 26 dicembre).
La fossa comune in Libia
Intanto proprio nel giorno di Natale, resti di 34 cristiani etiopi uccisi da combattenti dello Stato islamico nel 2015 sono stati trovati in una fossa comune in Libia. Lo ha reso noto il ministero dell’Interno di Tripoli. I jihadisti avevano pubblicato un video nell’aprile 2015 che mostrava l’esecuzione di almeno 28 uomini, descritti come cristiani etiopi.
Un funzionario ha detto che i loro corpi sono stati scoperti vicino a Sirte, l’ex roccaforte de Daesh fino a quando non è stato estromesso dalla città costiera nel dicembre 2016 dalle forze fedeli al governo appoggiato dall’Onu in Libia (Avvenire, 26 dicembre).
The attackers opened fire on the bus of pilgrims in Minya province after the occupants had visited the Saint Samuel monastery, the local bishop told AFP. (Photo by MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP)
Two Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting outside a church in southwestern Pakistan on April 15, 2018, officials said, the second such attack on the minority community in the area this month. / AFP PHOTO / BANARAS KHAN
Coptic Orthodox Christians packed the newly built Nativity of Christ Cathedral for a Christmas Eve mass after a bloody year for the minority singled out by jihadists for attacks. / AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI
A decapited and shot at by ISIS the statue of Our Lady in the side chapel of the Mar Quryaqus (Qeryaqos) church in Batnaya
Mar Quryaqus (Qeryaqos) church in Batnaya
There is a church in Batnaya by the name of Mar Quryaqus (Qeryaqos), the patron of the town. It is a big church in the middle of the town on a high area. In 1944 the Mar Qeryaqos Church was built on the ruins of a monastery by the same name believed to have been built early 15th century. A second but smaller church Mart Maryam was built in 1966, while the church of Mar Gewargis was mentioned in an inscription dating 1745. Besides, there is the Monastery of St. Joseph which looks like a big house. It is inhabited by the Order of the Dominican Sisters. It also contains rooms and halls for catechism and a kindergarten. It is run by the religious and teachers of catechism. It is noteworthy that the sub-diocese of Mar Quryaqus belongs to the Chaldean Diocese of Elqosh.
There is a shrine in the town called Mart Shmooni which lies in the middle of the towns cemetery. It is visited by people on memorial occasions for prayer, religious canticles on such revered occasions for the villagers.
Batnaya is an Assyrian town in northern Iraq located 14 miles north of Mosul and around 3 miles north of Tel Keppe. All of its citizens fled to Iraqi Kurdistan after the ISIS invasion on August 6, 2014. On October 20, 2016, Peshmerga and Assyrian forces drove ISIS out and occupied the town. [2]
Etymology
The name Batnaya is of Syriac origin derived from either “Beth Tnyay” meaning “The House of Mud” or “Beth Tnaya” meaning “The House of Assiduity.”
History
Batnaya used to be called “Beth Madaye” meaning the “House of the Medes” where it’s believed that a group of the Medes who followed the Assyrian monk Oraham (Abraham) settled there around the seventh century. It’s also believed that Christianity reached Batnaya around that time.
Batnaya was attacked by the army of Nader Shah in 1743 who destroyed the village extensively and is believed to have killed half of its inhabitants.
In the past Batnaya used to be famous for making matting from the reeds its people used to cultivate in the valley of al-Khoser river. Currently, some of its inhabitants are cultivating different kinds of crops while others are involved in non-agricultural trades.
In 1944 the Mar Qeryaqos Church was built on the ruins of a monastery by the same name believed to have been built early 15th century. A second but smaller church Mart Maryam was built in 1966, while the church of Mar Gewargis was mentioned in an inscription dating 1745.
In Batnaya are several inscriptions, one dating to 1545 by Darweesh bin Yohanan from the village of Aqreen is entitled “Prayers for the Dead”, another one is a complete bible inscribed in Syriac by the priest Ataya bin Faraj bin Marqos of Alqosh dating 1586.
As with all the other currently chaldean villages that belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church, Batnaya’s chaldean used to follow the Church of the East until the sixteenth century, when the efforts of the Catholic Church came to fruition and the Church of the East was divided. However, as is the case with all the other villages of the Nineveh Plains, Catholicism did not gain ground till around mid 18th century.
Population
During the 17th and 19th centuries, the town had about 900 people; in 1995, the town grew to about 3,000 people. Prior to the emergence of ISIS, it exceeded over 6,000 people. All the people in the town are chaldean and belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Modern day Batnaya
In 2007, because of the growth of the town, Sargis Aghajan built 25 new model houses near the Mar Oraha Monastery, which is beside the town. The Provision of municipal services to the village and monastery through the supply of two tractors for harvest & agriculture, and a dumper to collect garbage as well as employment of labourers to clean the access roads in the village. The village is under full control of “Peshmerga”.
Egypt launched an air strike on a jihadist training camp after masked gunmen attacked a bus of Coptic Christians south of the Egyptian capital, killing at least 28 people.
Christian, 35, is a known local white supremacist, according to local media. He has been booked on charges of aggravated murder (two counts), attempted murder, intimidation in the second degree (two counts), and felon in possession of a restricted weapon. Christian is being held without bail.
/ AFP PHOTO / AFP PHOTO AND PORTLAND POLICE / HO / XGTY
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Muslim youth volunteers help repair Catholic monastery attacked by ISIS in Mosul
Muslim youth volunteers help repair Catholic monastery attacked by ISIS in Mosul
Muslim youth volunteers help repair Catholic monastery attacked by ISIS in Mosul
Muslim youth volunteers help repair Catholic monastery attacked by ISIS in Mosul
Muslim youth volunteers help repair Catholic monastery attacked by ISIS in Mosul
I fratelli “blasfemi”
Altro grave episodio pre-natalizio è la condanna a morte subita da due cristiani in Pakistan. Accusati di avere postato sul loro sito Internet materiale considerato blasfemo, due fratelli, Qasir e Amoon, sono stati condannati a morte in Pakistan per il reato di blasfemia.
Entrambi i condannati, sposati e il primo padre di tre figli, erano riusciti a lasciare il Pakistan dopo che nel 2011 erano emerse le accuse nei loro confronti.
Erano stati arrestati al loro rientro in patria nel 2014 e rinviati a giudizio secondo gli articoli 295-A, B e C del Codice penale, collettivamente noti come “legge antiblasfemia” (Avvenire, 15 dicembre).
La preghiera per le due scandinave
Intanto il 23 dicembre in Marocco si è tenuta una manifestazione interreligiosa per onorare la memoria delle due ragazze trucidate da terroristi islamici nel territorio di Imlil, nella regione di Marrakech. Le vittime, la danese Louisa Vesterager Jespersen e la norvegese Maren Ueland, di 24 e 28 anni sono state violentate e decapitate da un gruppo di banditi, collegati ai terroristi del Daesh.
“Gesù, porta la pace…”
Il “corteo di preghiera interreligiosa”, come definito gli organizzatori, è stato organizzato dalla associazione Dar Imma che ha sede nella cittadina di Lalla Takerkouste, a poche decine di chilometri dal luogo dell’atroce delitto. Il rito interreligioso ha coinvolto le tre fedi monoteiste.
Hanno partecipato le autorità religiose delle moschee della regione, fra cui il lfikii della moschea di Takerkouste, l’imam Ibrahim Elatrache, il presidente della comunità ebraica marocchina di Marrakech-Safi, il rabbino Jacky Kadoch, e il parroco della chiesa dei Santi Martiri di Marrakech.
I partecipanti portavano anche alcuni poster per la pace e la tolleranza fra fedi religiose. Tra questi un’immagine con l’immagine di Gesù trionfante e la scritta: “Gesù, porta la pace nel cuore dell’umanità” (Avvenire, 25 dicembre).