Muslims are Crucifying Christian Children in Iraq

Via The Eponymous Flower:

Edit: found a decent translation on google with some minor corrections.

Muslim militants are crucifying children to terrorize their Christian parents and encourage them to flee Iraq, yesterday was told a parliamentary committee studying the persecution of religious minorities.

Since the beginning of the war in 2003, about 12 children, some as young as 10, were abducted and killed, then nailed to makeshift crosses near their homes to terrify and torment their parents.

The Committee was informed that a child has been snatched, decapitated, burned and left on the doorstep of his mother.

Filham Isaac, speaking on behalf of the Advocacy Committee Nineveh, told the committee of human rights as the Christian churches in Iraq were bombed, clergy murdered and unveiled women were raped or marked the acid.

This is part of a systemic campaign – and very effective it is- of the ethnic cleansing of non-Muslims in the region, he said. Chaldean and Assyrian Christians, known as the Assyro-Chaldeans, were once the largest Christian minority in Iraq. They are also the oldest, being the descendants of ancient Mesopotamians who adopted Christianity in the first century.

The Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Eastern Church are among the Christian churches in Iraq.

Today, about 300,000 Christians, or one out of three, fled, he said.

“It’s a crisis point,” said Zaya Oshana later, a colleague of Mr. Isaac. “Christians will be completely destroyed.”

However, the Assyro-Chaldeans do not want to leave their country en masse.

Instead, they seek help to inhabit the plains of Nineveh in the north-western Iraq, where they can have some independence and form their own state. The land is rich, and could also be oil.

There is some support in the U.S. and Europe for the area independently, and international news show that over 700 police officers have begun training to protect Christians in Iraq, but another 4000 would be necessary to secure full region and establish checkpoints on all highways and roads in the villages.

Link to original…

How very evil!

Please pray for these persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus!

 

Olive Harvest at Gethsemane

At Gethsemane, in the place where Jesus prayed before he was arrested, the Franciscans carry on the tradition of the olive harvest with volunteers from all nations.

Me in Gethsemane last year. A really awesome place!

Pope Benedict XVI’s Speech in Assisi

Read it in full here.

What Did Jerusalem Look Like in Bible Times?

For a quick snapshot of how Jerusalem expanded from the City of David, to the time of Solomon, to the time of Hezekiah, to the time of Nehemiah, to the time of Jesus—this gives a nice overview:

But it’s also helpful to see some reconstructions in 3D. The City of David site has put together a good flyover video from David’s time, and Sephirot has an accurate 3D model of the temple in Jesus’ time.

Source

ECUSA Stats

68% of Episcopal parishes have an average Sunday attendance of fewer than 100. Only 4% have average Sunday attendance over 300. The Episcopal Church used to be the seventh largest and wealthiest Protestant denomination. Does anyone know their present ranking?

If you can help Fr Longenecker (above) with the answer, click  here.

 

Russian Businessman Donates 70 Icons Worth around $1m to the Church

The property developer Sergei Shmakov has spent over a year tracking down the works, which were removed from Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and during the first world war.

The Art Newspaper:

A Russian businessman has donated more than 70 icons with an estimated value of Ru 30m (around $1m) to the Russian Orthodox Church. Property mogul Sergei Shmakov has spent over a year tracking down the icons—which were taken out of Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and during the first world war—at auctions, antique stores and flea markets abroad. The icons include a rare mid-18th-century icon, St John the Theologian in Silence, which depicts the apostle with his fingers over his lips and an angel peering over his shoulder as he contemplates the gospel he is composing.

At a ceremony on 4 October, the Russian culture minister Alexander Avdeyev praised Shmakov for his donation. “Your help is a matter of great patriotism,” said Avdeyev. “You could have spent your money on something else, on developing your business, for example, but you are returning to Russia not only sacred, but cultural treasures, works of art.”

The culture ministry said that Avdeyev had accompanied Shmakov on some of his travels abroad in search of the icons…

More here.