By Baghdadhope
"The girls in the orphanage managed by the Chaldean sisters of Mosul were having lunch when they heard a dull noise and people shouting."
It is Msgr. Shleimun Warduni, Patriarch Auxiliary of the Chaldean Church, who told to Baghdadhope what happened yesterday in Mosul in the early afternoon, when the explosion of a device damaged a door of the Chaldean church dedicated to the holy martyr of the fifth century, Meskenta. *
"A church that dates back to the tenth century and is located near the orphanage managed by the Chaldean nuns that was the old seat of the Patriarchate, the Archbishopric and the old premise of the seminary of Saint Peter. An ancient church that was restored by the late Msgr. Rahho who loved it very much."
Was someone injured or was something damaged?
Was someone injured or was something damaged?
"There were only material damages, but our young people have already repaired the door. Fortunately there were no dead or wounded."
The whole world has finally answered to your calls and is talking of the violence against Christians occurred in Mosul ...
"Even here our sufferings are known. The government sent soldiers and the demonstrations of solidarity continue. This afternoon in my church (the Church of the Virgin Mary, editor's note.) I had a long meeting with many Muslims. There were about thirty people sent by Muqtada Al Sadr who came to express their solidarity and to offer help for the families that had to leave Mosul, and other representatives of the sheikhs of the city of Ramadi who publicly expressed their sorrow and their condemnation of the events occurred in Mosul. At least a dozen television channels filmed the meeting and these public demonstrations of solidarity and brotherhood strengthen the ties among the sound parts of the country, that are open to dialogue and against the violence against its citizens."
The Church of Meskenta is however in the old part of Mosul, in the area of Hay Al Mayassa, while the acts of violence of recent days have all occurred in the new part of the city, how do you explain this event?
"No one knows who damaged the Meskenta church. Certainly it is early to say whether the violence against Christians will reach the old part of Mosul. And certainly it is not encouraging for the families who are still in the city. We must pray that this incident is the isolated work of fanatics, and that it closes a horrible period for the city of Mosul the skyline of which has always been described as that of a city where the bell-towers rise next to the minarets as a proof of the ancient coexistence of different religions."
In addition to this incident it must be reported the death in Mosul of Ara Alton, the Armenian boy wounded two days ago in the shop of musical instruments of his uncle who was instead killed by the armed men who broke into the shop. The number of Christians dead in the recent weeks of violence in Mosul rose so to 14.
* The church dedicated to Meskenta, the saint martyr of the fifth century, dates back to the tenth century. The first references to it are in a manuscript dated 1212. Restored in 1851 by the will of the Patriarch Yusef Audo the church was enlarged in 1904 by the Patriarch Emmanuel II. During the 1976 restoration some holy relics belonging to the saint were shown in the old part of the baptistery. Inside the church there are the tombs of two patriarchs, Eliya Abdul-Yonan and Emmanuel II and many ancient manuscripts. (Note by Baghdadhope)