A 1,650-year-old monastery in northern Iraq, one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, is in danger of falling to ISIS… “Speak up. Of course there is good people in the Islam people. Not all are bad, I believe. But where is the good people? Where is their voice? Nothing!” Archbishop Sharaf said. “Where is their voice? Few! Few!”
by Leo Hohmann — June 2, 2015
WND via Pravmir
It has served as a place of refuge for persecuted Christians and other religious minorities for centuries, but now its very existence is threatened.
Some of the earliest Christians sought safety there. And when Islamic hordes stormed the city of Mosul, just 20 miles away, last June, the monastery’s thick stone walls again became a safe haven.
Located about 20 miles north of Mosul, the monastery is in protected Kurdish territory but is just a little more than three miles from the front lines of battle.
“We can see the battles and the airstrikes from here in front of us, especially at night. The sky lights up at night, but we of course are not scared. God protects us,” Father Yousif Ibrahim, one of three monks who resides in the monastery, told USA Today. There are also six students living at St. Matthew’s.
Before Iraq fell into chaos, the monastery was home to thousands of nuns, priests and students with the Syriac Orthodox Church. The ancient church traces its founding back to the time of Christ. Some of its earliest founders may have personally known Jesus Christ. They still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
It houses one of the most ancient Christian libraries in the region. Many of the oldest manuscripts have been removed and taken to Kurdish-controlled areas.
Christian refugees running out of places to hide
More than 125,000 Christians have been forced from their homes over the past 12 months. They now live as refugees, most of them in the semi-autonomous state of Kurdistan.
ISIS has previously vowed to destroy all Christian historical sites in the areas that fall under its control. In March, it destroyed the ancient Christian Mar Behnam Monastery in the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh in northern Iraq.
The jihadists have desecrated Christian cemeteries, seized Christian girls for sex slaves and killed other children in front of their parents’ eyes.
St. Matthew’s is built like a fortress into the side of Mount Al-Faf. Kurdish soldiers pushed the ISIS fighters back last summer to about four miles from St. Matthew’s, but the monastery is again in danger of falling to the Islamic jihadists
On CBS’ “60 Minutes” in March, Father Ibrahim told Lara Logan the worst part was the uncertainty.
“We don’t know exactly, but we are expecting the worst,” he told Logan.
Mosul has been completely emptied of its 10,000 Christians.
Nicodemus Sharaf, the archbishop, now lives as a refugee in Kurdish capital of Erbil along with 60,000 other Christian refugees.
Despite all of the Christian refugees in Iraq and Syria, most of the refugees being sent to the United States and other Western countries are Muslim. The United Nations selects and assigns almost all of the refugees.
When he left Mosul, Sharaf said ISIS fighters were already inside the city.
“I don’t have time to take anything. He told me you have five minutes. I took just five books; they are very old.”
Many even older were left. Christian relics dating to the first century B.C. fell into the hands of ISIS.
ISIS uses the Arabic letter “N” for Nazarene to mark the homes of Christians. When they use red paint to put the “N” on a home, the occupants can expect a visit soon by ISIS fighters. They are given a choice: Convert, pay the Islamic head tax or die.
“Speak up. Of course there is good people in the Islam people. Not all are bad, I believe. But where is the good people? Where is their voice? Nothing!” Archbishop Sharaf said. “Where is their voice? Few! Few!
“They lost our dignity here. I’m sorry to say that. We don’t have dignity in our country, in our land.”
Obama’s airstrikes offer little hope
President Obama’s airstrikes are seen as pinpricks on ISIS.
Archbishop Bashar Warda, who leads the flock of the Chaldean Catholics in Erbil, told Logan ISIS “is a cancer” that needs to be defeated.
Logan asked if that meant militarily.
“Please God,” he said. “It’s a disease, so sometimes you take some hard measures, unfortunate measures, to remove this cancer.”
In its heyday, St. Matthew’s monastery was home to 7,000 monks. The area surrounding the complex was named Al-Faf, meaning “the thousands,” in homage to the legion of monks who worshiped, taught and studied on its steep dry slopes, USA Today reported. “But just like the Christian population in Iraq, that number has dwindled dramatically over the years.”
Islamic jihadist groups have systematically targeted Christians over the past century, and ISIS is only a continuation of that long history, Ibrahim told the newspaper. Despite holding fort at the monastery, Ibrahim says St. Matthew’s, and Christianity in Iraq, are living on borrowed time.
Iraq’s Christians will eventually abandon the nation, Ibrahim said, leaving their history behind. Only then will he consider fleeing the war-torn country himself.
“The shepherd cannot leave his sheep,” he told USA Today.
“Saint Matthew ended up here because he was fleeing persecution, but persecution follows us,” Sahar Karaikos, one of the six students still at St. Matthews, told the newspaper. “We can’t run from it, we have to stand in front of our history.”
Angemon says
A pre-islamic monument with Christians inside? That’s doubly offensive to the “delicate” sensibilities of islamic state muslims.
sahani says
USA training Muslim to kill first few muslim and then christians. All these weapons will be used by ISLAM against west one day .That day will come soon. Islamic world buying Big planes Boeing ( Dubai etc), and one day these planes can be used by islamic militant to destroy world.
West need to add features in each when to stop these when they see they are attacked.
Joseph says
Of course there is good people in the Islam people. Not all are bad, I believe. But where is the good people? Where is their voice? Nothing!” Archbishop Sharaf said. “Where is their voice? Few! Few!
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That is because they are dead, dead by their own brothers hand. The others are expecting to be dead soon.
There is no speaking against Islam, unless you want them to be the last words to ever pass your lips.
And O’slimabama does……NOTHING
Zimriel says
This is part of the Islamic State’s plan.
Many Syriac manuscripts were preserved in Christian monasteries, covering the time of the Arab conquests and those first Islamic centuries (I choose my words deliberately here). These manuscripts were published over the late 1800s and early 1900s: the chronicle of Bar Penkaye, the Khuzistan Chronicle published by Guidi, the letters of Isho’yahb III. – and that’s just the Nestorians.
G-d alone knows what other relics have been preserved in those outposts. An original manuscript of Dionysius of Tel Mahre, perhaps. Or the “Tafnid” of Abu Nuh. It has to be a high priority of the Islamic State to rid the world of such ancient witness to their faith’s origins.
William Lucas Harvey Jr. says
Islam’s 7th Century Mentality Barbarians STRIKE AGAIN.
Destroying anything that Represents the World that Existed BEFORE Islam’s present 21st Century “Rule the World” Mantra, representing Islam’s “Cult” Ideology of Destruction, Hate and Bigotry, of “Death to the Christians, Death to the Infidel, Death to ANYTHING NOT Islam” .
vlparker says
Maybe there aren’t so many good people in islam after all.
mortimer says
Their consciences are QUENCHED by the doctrines of Islam. All people have the image of God in them, but they distort it by turning towards the dark side.
Islam is inverted morality. Muslims are evil whenever they imitate Mohammed.
Mohammed is the greatest liability of Islam.
Sabri S. says
This monastery would look even better as a mosque if
It is located in a predominately muslim area…don’t you think.
The us – created ISIS forces are just doing what the us has
Trained them to do…the chickens are coming home to roost…
And soon…..
Linde Barrera says
To Sabri S.- You are always decrying the USA being on Muslim lands. Why then did the King of Saudi Arabia in 1989 ask for our help using his “friend” (meaning lackey) President George H.W. Bush to guarantee the presence of US army servicemen and women to protect His Royal Highn-ass? And why did this monarch ask for protection? Because the king was under the impression that Sadam Hussein, not an American, was going to kill him. So what is your problem with Americans in the middle east? We go there because we are too stupid to turn down the invitation of people who are too stupid to fight for themselves against their own kind. So get with the program Sabri. The middle east problems are because Islam causes much bloodshed and unhappiness due to your core doctrines in your so called “holy book”. And the sad part is, people like you love the killings, because your Quran tells you to do it.
Kepha says
No, Sabri. A mosque bears false witness to God by saying that he did not become man and work atonement on the cross to save us sinners. It is a place that urges young men to waste their lives to become Shahids when the true God came to give life and that abundantly. You cry and shout that you want Falastin back . Alright. You Muslims return to us Christians the Ayasofia, the lands where Augustine of Hippo lived and worked, the Fertile Crescent, the Nile Valley, Anadolu, and the route from St. Matthew’s Monastery to China and India.
Sabu says
My heart is broken . I belongs to the Syrian Orthodox Church . It could withstand the Muslims all these years …but now !! Let God preserve us . The west has neglected these ancient Christians for some pecuniary interests . In 1890 to 1925 ,the middle east Christians were severely persecuted ,raped ,killed and forcibly converted to Islam (The first Genocide ,which as per Church record took 25,00,000 lives ) by the ottoman Muslims under the nose of Western powers .West did nothing …reason Oil business with Ottomans and other strategic considerations . Now the remaining handful Christians are on the verge complete destruction . Two orthodox Bishops are still under the ISIS custody .Where is the mind of West !! They are busy in protecting the human right “”of the head scarfed Indian Muslim who has been denied an unopened coke
Hayden Macpherson says
Amen, my brother, what you say is sadly all too true. The Church in the West is like a fat, sleepy bear; formerly formidable, but now glutted with contentment and ease, and deaf to the cries for help from our brothers and sisters overseas. The rise of Islam is a call to every true Christian to wake up, stand up and fight the good fight!
The Church in the East is on her knees, praying for deliverance. What we have in the West is a Church on her backside. What we need is a Church on her feet, with bayonets at the ready!
These are indeed dark days for the Church of Jesus Christ, and it seems like no man can resist the Islamic State. But take heart! For our trust is not in man, but in God, and He will surely judge these beasts who so sorely afflict His people.
“I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.” ~Isaiah 63:3-6
Linde Barrera says
To Sabu- I have prayed daily for my Christian brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq. I have also prayed for the Christians and Jews in Turkey who are targets there. I have sent money to ACERO, an organization that helps Christians in Iraq and Syria, and also the Chaldean Church in Michigan who has an outreach program to help Syrian and Iraqi Christians. I have written letters to Obama, Biden, and my senators Gillibrand and Schumer about this problem, but no one replies back to me. Do you have any ideas for me to try?
Kepha says
Where is the West?
I’ll tell you. Our leaders, if caught in private, would love to do with their Christians what ISIS is doing to its Christians (if only, our Western leaders say to themselves, we had some 外卵). After all, we Christians dared to say that the union of two homosexual men is no marriage at all! And Obama’s administration has even bullied little Uganda because it still has anti-sodomy laws on the books!
The current crop of Western leaders want to remake their civilization into a place where LGBT’s and the disciples of Malcolm X (they can’t think as far back as Muhammad) embrace each other.
albert says
The United Nations assigns refugees but Obama, Cameron and other western leaders can send our own people to Kurdistan and initiate an airlift of Christians to the west. If they can do that for muslims from Kosovo then do it for these Christians they would have no problem assimilating and we could be sure of their loyalty.
israeli says
Im jewish – and of course what happens in the muslim world is bad – but from a chrstian view alone
how can something so important to the faith not be moved from such an area – im not talking politicaly – just in terms of faith
books and a tradition from a time close to jesus – how more authentic it can get ?? where are the christians that care about their faith at ?? shouldnt this be in the minds of every religos christian ?
notice im not talking from a politcal view about how isis is evil ect ect but purly from a point of saving tnot only the books but the monks who have the knoldege ect
Kepha says
Thanks for your sympathy, Israeli.
As I told Sabu, the current crop of Western leaders hate Christianity almost as much as the Muslims do. It’s just that they encourage their sexual deviant friends to destroy individuals and institutions with lawsuits rather than shoot them. Long ago, the American Jewish author Saul Bellow, in his book on Israel entitled _To Jerusalem and Back_, opined that the West seems eager to see the last of its Christianity (and he did not seem happy about it).
I am almost willing to bet that despite his association with the Iraqi immigrant fraudster Rizko in Chicago, Obama thinks that the Christians of the Middle East are there because of the evil machinations of French and British imperialism and their missionary catspaws.
Mind you, take good care of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other such treasures that lie between the Jordan and the Med. If one of those be-balaclava’ed criminal barbarians gets anywhere near them, you’ll have my Christian thanks for plugging him.
BTW, I sometimes fear that as he considers modern America and Europe, the Almighty is preparing an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah, Yeroboam ben Nebat, and the men of Judah in the days of Manasseh and Amon.
duh_swami says
The ancient church traces its founding back to the time of Christ. Some of its earliest founders may have personally known Jesus Christ.
I would like to see some substantiation to both those claims…AD 363 is a little late for Jesus personal acquaintances……
I hope all the people have time to get out when ISIS starts shelling it…
AnneM says
Got to remember that outside of the Holy Land, which is where the Christian faith got its start, the next oldest area is where Syria/Iraq is now. Many first followers of Jesus came to that area to get the Christian faith started.
Look for what is left of the Christian faith to flee and end 2,000 years of living in that part of the world there.
Kepha says
duh_swami:
Believers in Jesus were first called “Christians” in the city of Antakya, Turkey (rightfully called Antioch, in the Roman Province of Syria) quite literally before the ink was dry on Paul’s letters (Acts 11:26, probably written around A.D. 64).
I refer you to William Stewart McCullough’s _A Short History of Syriac Christianity to the Rise of Islam_.
AnneM says
ISIS is doing what its GOD, SATAN the DEVIL tells them to do.
Allah = SATAN.
Ebrahim says
I am a Shi’a Muslim. The world should know that these Wahhabis/Yahudis/Salafis/Jihadis/Takfiris are bloodthirsty wild beasts of hell fire. They are curse upon mankind in general and Muslims in particular. They are shameless creatures who know nothing except wars, violence, terrorism, bloodshed and transgression.
They stone the land of Hijaz and changed the name of the country to Saudi (Yahudi) Arabia after their family name! Ever since then they have rampaged and destroyed each and every Islamic heritage. These swines and apes of hellfire not only demolished the house of the first wife of the holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his holy progeny), the mother of believers but converted it into public toilets. Can person with a grain of commonsense can understand the extent of their hatred against the holy Prophet, his family and respectable, sincere companions.
May Allah send His worst ever wrath upon these wild beasts and all their supporters and associates who have lost their senses and are playing havoc in the name of religion. Ameen.
andrew sapia says
Come on now, every person who reads Jihad watch should be writing letters to their representatives insisting that these Christian refugees be given priority to come to the US or European countries. Tell your congressman and or senator that you want them fast tracked. This should be a top priority. It would be great if we could arm them to fight. The problem is that even our Muslim allies would be against Christians being armed even if for self defense. Therefore they should be given immediate refugee status here in the west.
Robert perhaps you could write something, maybe a type of form letter that people could print out and include a link that allows people to look up their representatives addresses and phone numbers. I think email campaigns are too easy for politicians to ignore. It is much better if they receive written petitions along with phone calls letting g them know that they should expect your petition letter in the mail.
Please, don’t allow your Christian brothers and sisters to end up in some underfunded UN camp where Christians are discriminated against. Don’t allow them to be sent back to a miserable existence in a hostile culture that does not and has not valued them for 14 centuries.
PLEASE – PLEASE – PLEASE people, the elections are coming up, let’s make this a major issue. Force the candidates to talk about the plight of middle eastern Christians and make them pledge some kind of assistance.
Raymond Ibrahim, would be a perfect spokesperson for something like this during this election cycle.