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Church serves as shelter for war-hit Palestinians

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GAZA CITY

Displaced Palestinians sleep on the floor inside Gaza City’s Greek Orthodox church on July 23, 2014. AFP Photo

Greek ChurchSome 400 Palestinians fleeing Israeli raids that have destroyed their neighborhoods have taken shelter in a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City.

Desperate Gazans escaping from Beit Hanoun and Shejaia, where more than 70 Palestinians – many of them women and children – were killed on July 20, have entered the Church of Saint Porphyrius after Archbishop Alexios opened the door.

The church is in Gaza’s historical district of Zeitoun which has a 1,400-person community and stands back to back with the Khatib Vilaye Mosque.

When a group of people came from Shejaia and discussed where they would take shelter and whether the church would allow them to stay, Alexios opened the door and extended a warm welcome. Some human rights groups have already begun providing aid.

A teacher from Shejaia, Mahmoud Abu Zehra, said his family of 22 had taken shelter in the church.

“We were able to escape from Shejaia when there was a truce. They destroyed our house but thanks to Allah there are no casualties,” he said. “In normal conditions we wouldn’t knock on the door of the church. Muslims go to a mosque and Christians go to a church, but there is no problem between us; we are all part of Palestine,” he added.

Muhammad Zanu, a resident from Beit Hanoun, said they tried to resist the Israeli bombardment but had to escape the neighborhood after a house near his residence was hit by a tank shell.

Since the start of the offensive, more than 100,000 Palestinians – about 6 percent of Gaza’s entire population – have sought shelter with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), crowding into 70 schools.

ISIS burns 1,800-year-old church in Mosul

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Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Sunday, 20 July 2014
10527278_1657806184443833_4861670119289238791_nMilitants from the radical jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have set fire to a 1,800-year-old church in Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul, a photo released Saturday shows.

The burning of the church is the latest in a series of destruction of Christian property in Mosul, which was taken by the Islamist rebels last month, along with other swathes of Iraqi territory.

Also Read:

* Christians flee Mosul after ISIS ultimatum to convert or leave
* ISIS destroys shrines, Shiite mosques in Iraq

A video posted on YouTube July 9 shows a tomb being destroyed with a sledgehammer which government officials said was “almost certainly” the tomb of Biblical prophet Jonah.

Earlier, Mosul’s Christians fled the city en masse before a Saturday deadline issued by the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for them to either convert to Islam, pay tax, leave or be killed.

Al Arabiya correspondent in Iraq Majid Hamid said the deadline set by the jihadist group was 12 p.m. Iraqi time (10 a.m. GMT). Hamid reported that many Christians fled the city on Friday. It is not clear if any remained after the deadline.

Patriarch Louis Sako told AFP on Friday: “Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Arbil,” in the neighboring autonomous region of Kurdistan. “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians,” he said.

Witnesses said messages telling Christians to leave the city by Saturday were blared through loudspeakers from the city’s mosques Friday.

A statement dated from last week and purportedly issued by ISIS that took over the city and large swathes of Iraq during a sweeping offensive last month warned Mosul’s Christians they should convert, pay a special tax, leave or face death.

Iraq was home to an estimated 1 million Christians before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted former President Saddam Hussein. Since then, militants have frequently targeted Christians across the country, bombing their churches and killing clergymen. Under such pressures, many Christians have left the country. Church officials now put the community at around 450,000.

(With AFP and the Associated Press)

Turkey: Tablet found in Armenian church ruins, date back to 2,000 years ago

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BATMAN – Doğan News Agency

Tablet found in Armenian church ruinsA historical tablet with Armenian writings on it was discovered in the ruins of an Armenian church. DHA photo

In the ruins of the Surp Asvadavin Mother Mary Church, which is located on Mount Mereto in the eastern province of Batman’s Sason district, a historical tablet and some historical artifacts have been discovered. The tablet and pieces were delivered to the Batman Museum Directorate.

The ruins of the Armenian church, some part of which was damaged in 2012, were cleaned by the Istanbul-based Sason Armenians Association Chairman Aziz Dağcı with 10 people. They found the historic pieces during the cleaning.

He said they had removed the ruins for restoration under the surveillance of Batman Museum officials. “When we removed the ruins, we found a big tablet with Armenian writing on it. We also found historical horseshoes and some Armenian historical figures,” Dağcı said, adding they had delivered them to the Batman Museum.

The historical pieces will be examined in the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate, he said. “Our goal is to restore this church, which collapsed two years ago. The church is located on the peak of the 2,973-meter-high Mount Mereto. We estimate that these remains date back to 2,000 years ago. We also applied to the Batman Governor’s Office for the construction of a different road to the church,” he said.

July/10/2014

Islamists attack St. Etchmiadzin Church in Mosul

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The jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has attacked the St. Etchmiadzin Church in Mosul, Iraq, religious leader of the Armenian community of Dohuk, Rev. Fr. Mosul ArmenianMasis Shahinyan told Lradou.com.

According to preliminary reports, fire broke out near the church.

Sources at the Armenian Prelacy in Iraq said that 65 Armenian families and a priest in Mosul were forced out of the city after Islamist militants raided the city and took control of Iraq’s second largest city.

Insurgents raised black flags over parts of the city on Tuesday, as soldiers fled their posts after Sunni extremists took the city after four days of heavy fighting against Iraqi forces.