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Source: The Christian Science Monitor By Jane Arraf, Correspondent Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled Mosul and its region after ISIS seized the city, uprooting communities tied to some of the earliest Christian societies. DAIR MAR MATTI, IRAQ — Just a few miles from Mosul, the map of Iraq is being redrawn in a cataclysmic restructuring of an area that was home to some of the earliest Christians. The takeover of the city and wide swaths of other territory by the Al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has pushed half a million people out of Mosul, including…

Source: Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) By Nina Shea | Fox News On Wednesday, May 7, history is being made. On behalf of the suffering churches of Egypt, Iraq and Syria, a broad array of American Christians, with a degree of unity rarely seen since the Council of Nicaea in 325, have joined together in a “pledge of solidarity and call to action.” In the “We the People” tradition, the pledge is a grass roots effort, with input from many sources. It is being released publicly on Wednesday morning by Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), but it does not…

Source: Congressman Frank Wolf UPDATED MEDIA ADVISORY  AMERICAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS “PLEDGE” TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMPERILED CHRISTIAN AND OTHER RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT, SYRIA AND IRAQ  Press Conference 11 a.m. Wednesday, May 7, 2014 234 Cannon House Office Building  Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), co-chairs of the bipartisan Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus, will host a press conference at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 7 on Capitol Hill featuring several prominent American Christian leaders who will be releasing a Pledge of Solidarity & Call to Action on behalf of Christians and other religious…

Source: ALMONITOR Author: Gracia BitarPosted Translator: Steffi Chakti The Russians are elevating their rhetoric in Lebanon, exactly like a czar. A Russian parliamentary delegation visited Syria and then stopped in Lebanon upon the invitation of the Orthodox Gathering. The slogans used by members of the delegation are inspired by the sayings of Jesus: “Truth is on our side, and we will be victorious.” Maybe this is where the elevated tone is coming from. They are seeking to form a unified front so that the Christian Orthodox voice will be also unified during international events. The delegation met with Syrian President…

Source: The Globe and Mail by TOM HENEGHAN [LONDON — Reuters] Reported cases of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012, according to an annual survey. Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said. “This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,”…

Source: The American Conservative By ROD DREHER NCR’s John Allen reports on the kidnapping of the Syrian Orthodox nuns by rebel forces: The monastery’s mother superior, Sr. Pelagia Sayyaf, and 11 other Orthodox nuns were taken away to the nearby rebel stronghold of Yabrud. Though some rebel sources insisted that the sisters had been evacuated for their own safety, most observers regard it as a kidnapping, something that’s become a sad fact of life for the country’s Christian minority. Last February, the website Ora pro Siria [1], operated by Italian missionaries in Syria, launched an emergency fundraising appeal it called “Ransom a Christian.”…

Christians feel they’re targets of extremists By Dusan Stojanovic Associated Press Source: The Augusta Chronicle DAMASCUS, Syria — Sami Amir is used to the deep, echoing rumble of Syr-ian army artillery pounding rebel positions on the outskirts of Damascus. It’s the thump of mortars launched from an Islamist-controlled neighborhood that scares him to death. Mortars have hit repeatedly in his mainly Christian district of Damascus, al-Qassaa, reportedly killing at least 32 people and injuring dozens of others the past two weeks. “You don’t know when and you don’t know where they hit,” says Amir, a 55-year-old Christian merchant. “Life here…

Source: The Federalist After yet another bloody weekend, it’s time to speak frankly about who’s killing Christians and why  By Mollie Hemingway Wealthy Kenyans and Westerners bustled about Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi on Saturday. Families ate lunch in the food court. A radio station targeting Kenyan Asians was hosting a children’s event on the roof of the parking lot. Around noon, armed gunmen stormed the mall and exploded grenades. Thousands of terrified people dropped to the floor, fled out of exits and hid in stores. The gunmen began lining people up and shooting some of the five dozen people they…

Source: BBC Protests and vigils have taken place across Pakistan as Christians demand better protection after suicide blasts killed at least 80 people at a church. Sunday’s double suicide bombing is thought to be Pakistan’s deadliest attack against Christians. Many burials have taken place and candlelight vigils have also been held in memory of the victims. Two Islamist militant groups with Taliban links said they ordered the attack to hit back at US drone strikes. Political and religious leaders condemned the attack, but angry crowds nevertheless took to the streets, denouncing the state’s failure to protect minorities. Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi…

by Alexandru Cautis Source: Drum european He is Syrian, he is Orthodox Christian and he just finished his studies in Romania. S.M. lives through the war in Syria as an eyewitness and views it completely differently than it is presented to us in Romania. (The Syrian asked me not to give his name; I guarantee that the following interview is an honest one, that S.M. is not forced by the Syrian authorities to talk nice about Bashar Al Assad) How does a Christian living in Syria view the current situation from Syria? I am a Syrian who studied in Romania.…

Source: Deseret News Compiled by Matthew Brown, Deseret News The uprising in Syria began as a peaceful protest for diversity and democracy during the Arab Spring of 2011. But it has turned into a holy war between Shiite and Sunni sects of Islam — with Christians and other minorities caught in the middle. The highest profile Christian victims of the civil war are two Orthodox bishops kidnapped in late April, and there is still no official word as to the whereabouts or fate of the two clerics, who were abducted as they returned from a humanitarian mission in Turkey. “We…

Source: Albawaba Sunday is the Orthodox Palm Sunday, celebrating when Jesus returned to the city of Jerusalem. The day is known as  Shaa’nineh in Arabic and is one of most important dates in the Orthodox religious calendar. The event enables families to come together celebrate mass, and the day is traditionally a familiar affair and an excuse to cook up a good feast and is well celebrated across the Levant nations of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and beyond. Palm Sunday also starts the Holy Week, the run up to Easter. The Middle East though, long associated with Muslims, has…

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