The oldest monastery in Iraq has been destroyed by ISIS, it emerged last week. St Elijah’s Monastery in Mosul had stood for 1,400 years and had recently been used as a place of worship by US troops. However, satellite photos obtained by Associated Press show that the monastery has been razed.
Fr Paul Thabit Habib, 39, a priest exiled in Erbil, Iraq, said: “I can’t describe my sadness. Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.”
After reviewing the satellite images, imagery expert Stephen Wood, of Allsource Analysis, told AP that the destruction of the monastery took place between August 27 and September 28, 2014. Before it was destroyed the monastery had 26 rooms including a sanctuary and chapel.
“Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust. They destroyed it completely,” Mr Wood said. St Elijah’s is one of more than 100 religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches, destroyed by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Fr Dankha Issa, an Iraqi monk belonging to the Antonian Order of St Ormizda of the Chaldeans, told Aid to the Church in Need: “St Elijah’s Monastery was a symbol of the Christian presence in Iraq. The fact that it has been destroyed is terrible.”
Fr Dankha, also an exile from Mosul, said: “It had stood abandoned for a long time – but it meant a lot to us Christians. It was an expression of our extremely long history in Iraq.”
Two teenagers arrested over anti-Christian graffiti
Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with the vandalism of two Christian sites in Jerusalem.
Because of their age, 15 and 16, authorities released few details about the incidents in which anti-Christian slogans in Hebrew were discovered scrawled on the walls of the Benedictine Dormition Abbey monastery and the neighbouring Greek Orthodox seminary, both located on Mount Zion next to the walls of the Old City. The vandalism came a week after a Christian cemetery was desecrated outside of Jerusalem.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said an investigation sought to determine whether there was a connection between the latest vandalism and other anti-Christian incidents in the Old City. He said security has been tightened in the Old City.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounced the acts and repeated its belief in the importance of education towards tolerance while urging “follow-up” against those who incite intolerance against Christians.
Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, said the age of the suspects shows a change in the education system is needed for young people who are “encased in intolerance”.
Marriage ‘is part of God’s plan’
Pope Francis has said there can be no confusion between God’s plan for marriage as an indissoluble bond between one man and woman who are open to life, and other sorts of unions.
“The Church, in fact, can demonstrate God’s unwavering merciful love towards families, especially those wounded by sin and life’s trials, and at the same time proclaim the essential truth of marriage according to God’s plan,” the Pope said on Friday, in a meeting with members of the Roman Rota.
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