The bells will not hit everywhere

WORLD 10:12
The bells will not hit everywhere




The prayers of the Christian church in Damascus accompanied by anxiety about their fate and thousands of their co-religionists, not only in Syria but also in other countries in the Middle East and Africa. Where the expectation of resurrection shades fear of the brutal murderous jihadist violence.

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A lighted candle in the rubble of a destroyed church in ruins Aleppo in Syria. A prayer for the two missing Orthodox metropolitans Christians kidnapped three years ago. A brisk "Christ is risen" in tent in a refugee camp somewhere in Central Iraq. A female shadow that glides with a thousand precautions midnight in "church slaves" in the neighborhood controlled by radical Islamists in Tripoli, Libya, to light the lamp. At Sinai the abbot of the historic monastery of St. Catherine exclaims "Come receive the Light", under the protection of arms Bedouin ... Easter in the Middle East, birthplace of Christianity. The week of passions endless.Christians in another congregation cross expect in the resurrection, but looks away. "The people have faith and hope, after the crucifixion comes the resurrection," says the "K" the dean of the Orthodox Theological University Balampant Lebanese father Porphyry Gkiozi. liquidation Religious Persecution continues unabated, with little, however, to no view of the growing plight of persecuted. The horrors of jihadist displaced by the global news religious liquidation which still systematically engage the fans of "Islamic State" in Syria and Iraq and now Libya. And they had to bring the massacres last month 21 Christian Copts in Benghazi from ISIS and 147 Christian students in Kenya by Somali jihadists Holy Week Easter Catholics to shake the world Christendom making her realize in the most dramatic way that Islamic terrorism crossed the Red Sea and threatening the Christians of Africa. Faith acierate the observance of tradition and religious practice, say the theologians. But how many believers can respond to the call for religious activities when the stakes are the same as life, as now in the Middle East? In these circumstances, however, and with a base in Lebanon and Damascus where things is somewhat better, the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John tries daring visits to towns and villages to encourage them remaining loyal but increasingly scarcer, and intensifies the feeling of insecurity. "Only then can you sterioseis people to your site," said the rector of Balampant and adds: "Here in Lebanon where holed million Christians, everything will be done properly. In Syria are some areas for security reasons people do not exercise their religious duties. There is impossible to make functions. The entire Northeast Syria occupied by the ISIS and there are no Christians. In Maaloula, the city where they speak the language spoken by Christ, have returned some Christians, but the Monastery of Agia Thekla is in poor condition having been badly damaged by the attack jihadists and nuns can not turn around.There is a parish church where they operated the few Christians. In Damascus will become procession epitaphs and Resurrection. "In Aleppo there are some parishes, few, that make operation. The Christian Church is still alive. Nobody knows how many have left, I would say that it remains 25% of Christians than those who were. They stayed and people are the hope of the resurrection will come. The people have faith. " The assistant of the Patriarch, Bishop Damascus Moses, in a telephone communication with the "K" of the Syrian capital, said that the "free sites" meaning those controls Assad, will be celebrated in all the churches the liturgy and even Easter Monday will broadcast the glorification of the Resurrection from the public broadcaster. Minimum bells will sound to announce the Resurrection of Christ in Iraq and those in some, few, Christian churches in the capital Baghdad, where but not the procession Epitaph To avoid Muslims. In the refugee camps of the Central and Southern Iraq some scenes will turn the night of Resurrection briefly churches to hear "Christ is Risen", while reason can not be used during religious ceremonies held by the "Islamic State" areas. "At best, someone lit a candle crypto ruins of a demolished church if he decides to take risks ..." says the "K" an Iraqi refugee, Catholic Christian, who fled Mosul and temporarily living in Thessaloniki. In Tripoli Libya At the risk of her life, a woman in Tripoli, Libya may try to light the candles in the Church of St. George, the only plus in this country after its dissolution and the advent of jihadists. This Greek woman married to a local, in which -and leaving anagkastika- Metropolitan Libya Theofylaktos left the keys to open sometimes the "church slaves," as it is called, because it was built in the 15th century for the needs of some Greek sponge divers Christians were sold as slaves of the Ottomans. "If they succeed, they will be good, I will work and pray on behalf of my flock, who had a whole to leave Libya for fear of Islamists from a church in Katerini, where I am now in exile ..." says the "K" Mr. Theofylaktos. "Until the revolution did procession of the Epitaph and the center of the capital, Tripoli. This Easter will be the first without either Christian sample in Libya ... "he said. In the biblical Mount Sinai, the monks and Christians who dare because of rising Islamist attacks of bloody incidents in the peninsula, to travel on pilgrimage to the historic Greek Orthodox Christian Monastery of St. Catherine, will celebrate the Liturgy of the Burial and Resurrection with Byzantine splendor, but also with ... barrels of guns Bedouin "projecting" the danger of raids jihadists, who have already made ​​their appearance with repulsive actions Mount Moses. Is Bedouin tribes, Muslim by religion, they have created the monastery shield against extreme their coreligionists, and for them a source of life due to tourism. "We pray ...""The plague rampant now in Africa, pray for lives of Christians here. What else can we do? "He said in a telephone conversation with the" K "member Christian mission in Nairobi. The massacre of Christians in Kenya Garissa University made ​​more gloomy backdrop of the persecution of Christians this year's Easter and has shocked the Christian world, causing great concern. The Christian churches in Kenya guarded after the last murderous attack by security forces who fear a new round of violence by Islamic extremists. Under the watchful eye of the police will become the rites of the epitaph and the Resurrection and Egypt. The fear of terrorist attacks against Coptic Christians has increased to the highest level its protection measures, especially after the massacre of twenty-one of them in Libya where they worked. For extreme Islam, an Arab Christian equivalent to treason and the punishment is one: death.