Posted on 08/27/2002 7:30:54 PM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Aug 27, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A nun belonging to Iraq's Christian minority that still speaks a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus, was found beheaded in Baghdad, the U.S.-based Chaldean News Agency reported Tuesday.
CNA blamed "Muslim terrorists" for this murder of Sister Cecilia Hanna, 70. According to this wire service of Iraq's Christian exiles, she "was knifed down savagely and her head was severed from the rest of her body by a group of thugs while she was staying in the Chaldean monastery located in Palestine Street in Baghdad."
When asked about this report, a State Department spokeswoman told United Press International Tuesday, "We are not aware of this case."
Shortly after the start of the U.S. war on terrorism, Albert Yelda, a London-based Iraqi opposition leader, had warned that Iraq's ancient Christian community would be made a whipping boy for this conflict.
Yelda told UPI at the time that Iraq's Christians "no longer dare to wear their traditional crosses. They are being called crusaders. They do not receive food rations. They are being told, 'Ask the Americans to feed you. You have no business being here.'"
In an interview, Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim of the Chaldean Church's Eastern diocese in the U.S. referred UPI to the CNA story Tuesday but denied that Christians in Iraq were being singled out for persecution.
However, CNA now ranks Sister Cecilia Hanna among the long line of martyrs in present-day Iraq, whose Christians are the descendants of one of the oldest known civilizations -- Mesopotamia. Collectively, these Christians are known of Assyrians.
Assyians say they were the first nation to adopt Christianity as state religion in 179 AD, more than 100 years before Armenia, which prides itself with being the first Christianized country. The Assyrians also claim were the ones to have built the first Christian churches and to have been the first to translate the New Testament from Greek into their vernacular, which still resembles the language of Christ.
The Chaldean Church, to which the murdered Sacred Heart of Jesus nun belonged, is in union with the Vatican and has approximately one million members, half of whom still live in Iraq, while the rest is spread around the world, Bishop Ibrahim said.
Another 300,000 to 500,000 Assyrian Christians belong to the venerable Church of the East. This denomination was once condemned as heretical because it followed the teachings of Nestorius, the 5th-century bishop of Constantinople, who taught that the Virgin Mary was not the "theodokos," or mother of God, but simply the mother of Jesus Christ.
Nestorian missionaries were the first the reach Mongolia, China and Japan in the 8th century. However, in the 16th century, a segment of the Nestorian Church recognized the Pope and united with Rome, which persecuted the remaining Nestorians for centuries, especially in India.
"Today, our two churches are very close," Bishop Ibrahim said. While not in full communion, they practice Eucharistic hospitality under certain circumstances. In other words, they commune each other's members if they have no church of their own denomination to go to.
"Our liturgies are very similar," Ibrahim explained. "Assyrian services consist of 99 percent liturgy with lots of incense," Yelda said. The difference is that while the Chaldeans allow icons in their churches, the Nestorian sanctuaries are as stark as synagogues. But for a simple cross above the altar, nothing adorns them.
There are other parallels between the Nestorians and the Jews as well. Nestorians call their priest "rabi" (teacher), and like orthodox Jews they eschew mixed marriages. "We want to preserve a Christian people in our country," Yelda explained.
While Bishop Ibrahim allowed that "Christians like all others suffer from the turmoil in Iraq, but are not targeted for persecution," the Chaldean News Service accused Saddam Hussein's government of appeasing "the rising tide of Muslim fanaticism."
This movement, it said, "has at its final goal not only the murder or the complete subjugation of non-Muslims but all those who do not measure up to its doctrine of terror and hatred."
According to Albert Yelda, Saddam Hussein, too, has set out to destroy the venerable Assyrian culture, "not out of any Muslim convictions but because, like every tyrant, he hates minorities."
Yelda described how Saddam had banned the Assyrians' cultural clubs, where their literary language was kept alive. "Saddam had hundreds of Assyrian villages razed, including recently a 2nd-century church."
Yelda also accused Saddam's son, Uday, of raping and killing an Assyrian woman and then making this act public knowledge.
As for the repression of Iraqi Christians in the name of Islam, Yelda said it ran counter the stated wish of the Prophet Mohammed, who was so impressed by the Assyrians' knowledge of medicine and sciences that he issued a Firman, or letter of protection, for them.
The Firman disappeared without trace over 150 years ago.
By UWE SIEMON-NETTO, UPI Religion Correspondent
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
One year ago next month.
NEVER!!!! Even though they be our mortal enemies, even though we may need to kill them lest they kill us, they are still people. The Master told us to pray for our enemies; I would rather see them converted than killed (however unlikely I think that to be). History is replete with those who have denied the very humanity of their enemies; those times are singularly foul in odor. Stalin and Hitler are among the more notorious examples. Let us not join them. Our enemies, be they communists, or islamists, or common criminals are still Men created in the image and likeness of God. Never forget this, even when they leave you no choice but to put a bullet between their eyes.
AB
We have plenty of vermin in our own culture who are a threat to our way of life.
Our enemies, be they communists, or islamists, or common criminals are still Men created in the image and likeness of God. Never forget this, even when they leave you no choice but to put a bullet between their eyes.
Good point. Thanks for the reminder.
Does anybody think the major media like the New Yawk Slimes will stoke up their editorial outrage over this incident like they did over Danny Pearle?
Of course not.
They are too busy promoting "academic freedom" and "religious tolerance" in places like UNC which requires reading of such pro-Islamic boods as Understanding the Q'uran by incoming freshmen.
But, they are just being consistent. After all, they supported the likes of Fidel Castro when he was still a rebel in the Sierra Madre and Robert Mugabe when he was just a gleam in Stalin's eye. No doubt they'll continue their trashing of US attempts to get rid of Saddam and these same murdering scum the likes of which attacked us on 9-11!
I HEARD, but cannot verify, that the castration story was fabricated. And if it was not, I am quite sure that any atrocities of a vanquished foe would be paraded for all to see.
I DID quit subscribing to American Spectator about a year later, for other reasons. I am back now. Other than that interlude, I had subscribed continuously since the mid-70s when it was "The Alternative", a pulp magazine about 24" by 18". That story, and the hatchet job on Buchanan in '92 or '96 (cannot remember) makes me question their credibility on a lot of other things, including the Clinton stories (I stand second to no one in despising Clinton). Buchanan is subject to much legitimate criticism, but that job was beyond the pale of reasonable people. Sorry to ramble.
What the hell are you talking about? You won't find a bigger islamophobe than myself. My brother, a Fransiscan Priest, has been telling everyone about islam's goal of killing off Christianity for the last ten years. His fellow clergimen are in agreement on this.
The only ugliness here is your lame sport at Catholic bashing.
Uh, nobody's suggesting we rush in to slaughter a lot of people.
We only need to slaughter one person, and his sycophants.
What on earth are you talking about?
Not for nothing do the Christians of the Western world idealise the Crusades - that was exactly the Crusaders priorities, except they had it in for the Jews as well. So many people to kill, so little time ...
You're fabricating strawmen in an effort to bash Medieval Christianity.
All the posts on this thread want to kill terrorists. If you're not a terrorist you've got nothing to worry about.
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