A Christian mass was successfully held at a church
in a small Iraqi village nearly 20 miles north of the ISIS stronghold of
Mosul this past Sunday
» more Displaced Iraqi Christians who fled from Islamic State
militants in Mosul, pray at a school acting as a refugee camp in Erbil,
Sept. 6, 2014. (Reuters)
For the first time since the Islamic State
seized most of the Nineveh province in northern Iraq, a Christian mass
was successfully held at a church in a small Iraqi village nearly 20
miles north of the ISIS stronghold of Mosul this past Sunday, Iraqi
News reports suggests.
Although reports coming from Iraqi news outlets originally said that
the mass was held at the Mar Yacob Church in the Christian village of
Telskuf, Father Paulus Thabit Makku, a Chaldean priest in Mosul, told
Fides News that the Eucharist was held at the only other church in Telskuf, Saint Georges Chaldean church.
“We celebrated the Eucharist this Sunday in one of the Nineveh
province’s villages – the first time since locals were forced out last
August by ISIS jihadists,” Father Makku said.
Christian Post reports that Father Makku further added that he and
many other Christian refugees from the town, all of whom were men
living as refugees in Kurdistan, had yearned to return to the village,
especially after Kurdish peshmerga liberated the town from ISIS control
this August.
Although the town has been free of ISIS control for about three
months, ISIS still has strong control in neighboring villages and
Mosul, so the town is not particularly safe for Christians to live in.
But, Makku said he and the men, even if for just a few hours, wanted to
return to the church to ring the church bell and and bring some life
back into the house of God.
After the mass concluded, the men returned to their refugee camp in the North.
A Christian mass was successfully held at a church
in a small Iraqi village nearly 20 miles north of the ISIS stronghold of
Mosul this past Sunday
» more Displaced Iraqi Christians who fled from Islamic State
militants in Mosul, pray at a school acting as a refugee camp in Erbil,
Sept. 6, 2014. (Reuters)
For the first time since the Islamic State
seized most of the Nineveh province in northern Iraq, a Christian mass
was successfully held at a church in a small Iraqi village nearly 20
miles north of the ISIS stronghold of Mosul this past Sunday, Iraqi
News reports suggests.
Although reports coming from Iraqi news outlets originally said that
the mass was held at the Mar Yacob Church in the Christian village of
Telskuf, Father Paulus Thabit Makku, a Chaldean priest in Mosul, told
Fides News that the Eucharist was held at the only other church in Telskuf, Saint Georges Chaldean church.
“We celebrated the Eucharist this Sunday in one of the Nineveh
province’s villages – the first time since locals were forced out last
August by ISIS jihadists,” Father Makku said.
