Posted on 09/13/2022 6:31:27 PM PDT by marshmallow
Idlib (Agenzia Fides) - Mass was celebrated in a church that had been closed for ten years. This happened in the province of Idlib, in an area still controlled by the anti-Assad Islamist militias. Permission to re-open the Christian place of worship and celebrate the Eucharistic liturgy in a serene and festive atmosphere was the same head of the jihadist faction that, in past years, had seized property and the houses of Christians as "spoils of war".
This event is emblematic of the real situation experienced by the Christian communities in this region of Syria.
On August 28, after a ten-year suspension - according to newspapers such as al Monitor and Independent Arabia - the Christians still present in this area were able to celebrate mass in the Armenian Apostolic Church of Saint Anne, in the village of Yacoubia, in the countryside northwest of Idlib. There, the feast dedicated to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday of August.
For ten years, since this area fell under the control of jihadist militias, the church has been closed, and in recent times it has also served as a refuge for refugees. Dozens of Christians from different denominations attended the liturgy, footage of which was released by the same Islamist militias that control the region. On July 19, Muhammad al Jawlani, head of the militia of Hayat Tahrir al Sham - "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant", a jihadist formation known in the past as Jabhat al Nusra - met with representatives of Christian communities still present in the villages of Qunaya, Yacoubia and al-Jadida, and announced its intention to "protect" their liturgical celebrations, also guaranteeing the gradual restitution of real estate seized in recent years from Christian owners. Tharir el Sham.......
(Excerpt) Read more at fides.org ...
I wouldn’t depend on that remaining in place. They could just be drawing them out in the open to make it easier to martyr them like the Koran says.
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