Sunday, April 24, 2022

Iraqi Christians celebrate first Easter 'Holy Fire'

AFP , Sunday 24 Apr 2022

With joyous ululations, thousands of Iraqis have celebrated for the first time the arrival of the "Holy Fire" brought from Christianity's holiest site in Jerusalem to mark Orthodox Easter


Iraqi Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter Saturday at the church of the ancient Mor Mattai Monastery in the village of Bashiqa, some 30km northeast of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, during the night of April 23, 2022. AFP

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With chanting and prayers, excited crowds gathered Saturday night to greet the flame's arrival at the Syriac Christian Orthodox Mar Matta monastery of Saint Matthew, about 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the war-ravaged city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

"It is a message of peace and love for all... a message of resurrection for this bruised country, so that it can regain its strength, its security and its peace," Bishop Timathos Moussa Shamani, of the Mar Matta monastery, told AFP.

The flame had been taken earlier Saturday from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem -- where Christian tradition says Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected..

According to believers, the fire descends from heaven on the eve of Easter, and is a symbol of Christ's Resurrection.

From Jerusalem it was carried in a special lantern to Jordan, before being flown to Iraq -- a method that is used every year to take the flame to other Orthodox communities, including Greece.

For the first time, the flame came directly to Iraq. To calls of "halleluia" and the clanging of cymbals, the lantern arrived carried by a bishop into the church at the monastery.


Iraqi Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter at the church of the ancient Mor Mattai Monastery in the village of Bashiqa SAFIN HAMED AFP


'Historic'

Celebrating crowds packed the courtyard and monastery church, where worshippers, monks and priests leaned forward to kiss the lantern and receive the blessing they believe the fire grants them.

The crowds then lit candles from the flickering flame, filling the church with light.

"It's a historic day," said Saad Youssef, a 60-year-old teacher.

The region is home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities, but believers were hit hard under the onslaught of the Islamic State group (IS), who forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to flee.

Nineveh province, surrounding Mosul, was left in ruins after three years of jihadist occupation which ended in 2017 when an Iraqi force backed by US-led coalition air strikes pushed them out.

Iraq's Christian population has shrunk to fewer than 400,000 from around 1.5 million before the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

But monasteries and churches are being slowly restored, and Pope Francis made a historic visit to the region last year.

"What I feel is the best emotion in the whole universe", said one of the faithful, a housewife in her fifties who gave her name as Ferial.

Iraq celebrates first Easter 'Holy Fire'

By Al Mayadeen Net
Source: Agencies

Christian Iraqis have widely shared the hashtag "the dream has come true" on social media.


Iraqi Orthodox Christians share the flame of the "Holy Fire" brought from Al-Quds (AFP)

For the first time, thousands of Iraqis celebrated the arrival of the "Holy Fire" brought from Christianity's holiest site in Al-Quds to mark Orthodox Easter.

Worshippers gathered Saturday night to greet the arrival of the flame at the Syriac Christian Orthodox Mar Matta monastery of Saint Matthew, about 28 kilometers from the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

On his account, Bishop Timathos Moussa Shamani, of the Mar Matta monastery, said, as quoted by AFP, "It is a message of peace and love for all... a message of resurrection for this bruised country so that it can regain its strength, its security, and its peace."

The flame was carried in a special lantern from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Al-Quds, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected.

"For the first time in the history of Iraq we managed, through coordination with the Iraqi central government, to transport the holy fire (to Iraq) through Amman," said Boulos Matta Ephrem, a priest at the Mart Shmoni Syriac Orthodox church in Bashiqa.

According to believers, the fire descends from heaven on the eve of Easter and is a symbol of Christ's Resurrection.

Christian Iraqis widely shared the hashtag "the dream has come true" on social media.
From Palestine to Iraq

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli occupation forces prevented Christian pilgrims from freely reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday, adding that one of the priests was brutally attacked by the IOF while on his way to the church.

The occupation forces were heavily deployed in occupied Al-Quds and imposed restrictions on Christians heading to the church.

Earlier, the occupation forces closed the New Gate leading to the Old City of occupied Al-Quds, through which the pilgrims enter to celebrate the Holy Saturday.

Despite strict Israeli restrictions, thousands celebrated the outpouring of the Holy Fire inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia in Al-Quds, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, told Al Mayadeen that the occupation forces entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with their weapons.

The Archbishop revealed that the occupation turned the Old City into a military barracks, explaining that the occupation forces are blatantly encroaching on the sanctity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in an unprecedented targeting of the Christian presence in the city.
Archbishop Hanna further pointed out that the occupation forces' decision to enter the Church with their weapons is a clear provocation of Christians and worshippers, who were attacked by the occupation in an unprecedented scene during the most important Christian holidays.

He addressed the world saying, "This is a cry to the Christian churches in the East and the whole world to give heeds to the Christian presence in occupied Al-Quds."

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