There is a land that the centuries have left untouched. Obscured in the northern regions of Iraq, surrounded by jagged hillsides and ancient ruins, lie the vast and grassy plains of Nineveh. Inhabiting this outstretched plain is a people as strong and ancient as the land itself: the Assyrians. The people who inhabit Nineveh’s plains are a fiercely independent minority in modern Iraq. Comprising only 3% of Iraq’s population, their history has unfolded dramatically. Persecution, wars, and even genocide have marked unforgettable epochs in the history of the Assyrians.
The Assyrian people trace their history to what was for them a prosperous and magnificent era, the days of the Assyrian empire. Their dominion once encompassed not only northern Iraq but the entire Fertile Crescent, swallowing whole nations, and forming a multicultural kingdom.
It was during the Assyrian Empire that the Prophet Jonah preached repentance to the citizens of ancient Nineveh (near modern-day Mosul). Donning sackcloth and ashes, the inhabitants fasted and prayed in response to God’s message, pleading for mercy and forgiveness for their sins.
Christianity Changes A Culture
The fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 B.C. and the ensuing survival of their culture made an impact on the world. But for the Assyrian people, the most significant era was the arrival of Christianity. They received the Gospel from St. Thomas, St. Bartholemew, and St. Thaddeus in A.D. 33, according to tradition. As in the days of Jonah, the Assyrians responded to God’s message with sorrow over their sin and earnest prayer. They accepted Christ in droves. Like a massive wave, Christianity swept across their culture, altering it forever. While the original Assyrian religion persisted in some areas, passionate dedication to Christ made its mark on the civilization. Christianity became an inseparable part of Assyrian culture and identity.
In today’s Iraq, most Christians are Assyrians (now frequently referred to as ChaldoAssyrians, due to the solidarity between the Assyrian and Chaldean churches). The Assyrian Church is the oldest continually existing church in the world, and its members are the only people group left on earth who speak Aramaic, the language of Christ.
Throughout history, the Assyrian people were repeatedly targeted for persecution. Between 1915 and 1918, more than 750,000 Assyrians were killed by Turkish and Kurdish forces. Saddam Hussein’s Baathist government also turned on the ChaldoAssyrian community, at one point razing two hundred of their villages in an effort to homogenize Iraqi culture. Numbering an estimated twenty million in ancient times, the Assyrian population has been reduced to approximately one to two million worldwide, with an estimated 50,000 residing outside Iraq.
“The history of Christianity and of the Assyrian people during the second millennium is really the history of persecution, deprivation, decline, and suffering,” says Bishop Mar Bawai Soro, a bishop in the Assyrian church who now resides in San Francisco. “I say also decline because of the fact that a few centuries ago our numbers were in the millions, but now we are reduced to a small number.” Some sources say that as few as 800,000 Chaldo-Assyrians remain in Iraq. “We are the church that [has] lost basically everything that we had: churches, schools, monasteries, libraries, books, people, clergy, nuns, and monks,” he adds.
A Church under Fire
It was 2:30 in the afternoon on December 7, 2004, when armed attackers approached a church in Mosul, Iraq. Ordering the people outside, the intruders detonated two bombs that engulfed the building in flames. Two hours later, the Chaldean bishop’s residence in another part of the city lay in ashes after a similar attack.
On the verge of a new day of freedom in Iraq, Assyrian believers now find themselves embroiled in a conflict that threatens their future in a country that has been their home for thousands of years. Violence against churches in Baghdad and Mosul has erupted on multiple occasions; car bombs have been detonated outside of worship services; and kidnappings and killings have terrorized the quiet neighborhoods of local Christians.
One Christian woman from Baghdad tells of the day her husband, son, and a friend were kidnapped. Her son returned ten days later, bringing word that both her husband and friend had been beheaded. While the woman is now living in northern Iraq, she still makes trips back to the capital to search for her husband’s remains.
Scenes of sorrow abound for Christians in today’s Iraq: A brokenhearted Christian father sorts through dead bodies at a hospital to find his son’s decapitated corpse, while another man mourns the shooting deaths of both of his sons. Others are still waiting to learn the fate of kidnapped relatives.
On November 8, 2004, four churches in Baghdad and Mosul were bombed, killing at least eight people and leaving dozens more injured. Assaults by radical Muslims on Iraq’s Christian community have become commonplace. The tragedy of everyday life in Iraq has taken its toll on the Chaldo-Assyrian church. An estimated 50,000 Christians have fled Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.
East Meets West
In a country that comprises Arab, Kurd, Turkoman, and Assyrian ethnic groups, Iraq’s Christians are a tolerant and peace-loving influence. Despite their small numbers, members of the Assyrian community are overwhelmingly learned and productive contributors to society. That’s one of the reasons that the vast numbers of ChaldoAssyrians departing Iraq is alarming.
Supporting a strong Christian presence in Iraq is essential to the development of democracy there. The presence of ChaldoAssyrians in Iraq will directly affect the formation of a tolerant society, as well as the quality of education and the workforce. Unfortunately, their voice isn’t being heard as clearly as it ought to be. Shortly after Iraq’s elections, reports circulated that a significant number of Mosul-area Christians had been denied adequate voting tools, including ballot boxes and ballots. As Iraqi believers continue to be shoved to the wayside, and in some cases ignored, it is vital for Western Christians to take up their cause.
Bishop Soro sees the need for Western participation. “I think every other Iraqi… [and] especially Americans need to understand the importance of preserving the distinct place of ChaldoAssyrian Christians in Iraq,” he says. “They will serve as the moderating force between the various segments of the Iraqi population.”
Untouched by time, unaffected by barriers of culture and climate, the body of Christ lives on in even the most troubled corners of today’s uncertain world. As believers, our unity in this worldwide body is put to the test when we hear about the plight of the persecuted Church in war-torn Iraq. It is imperative that we, as Western Christians, rise as defenders of our persecuted brothers and sisters in the East. When we take a stand with them, East can meet West through the power of God.
First and foremost, we need to pray for our fellow believers in Iraq. God sees the pain they are going through, and He hears our prayers on their behalf. Secondly, Western Christians should be a voice for Iraqi believers, urging the United States administration and the developing Iraqi government to do all within their power to promote freedom and protection for Iraqi believers.
Hebrews 13:3 calls us to “remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” It is a call that cuts to the heart of the Western Church, and compels us to care about the survival of Iraq’s ancient Christian community.
This article first appeared in the May 2005 issue of BreakPoint WorldView magazine.
Kristin Wright is the founder of Stand Today, an advocacy organization working on behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide.
(This update courtesy of the Breakpoint with Chuck Colson.)
