ASIA/MIDDLE EAST – First communions of children, new hope for the Churches of Iraq and Syria

ASIA/MIDDLE EAST – First communions of kids, new hope for the Church buildings of Iraq and Syria

Qamishli (Agenzia Fides) – “The land that was attacked a number of years in the past by the militants of the Islamic State, who wished to remove Christians, right this moment rejoices aloud. Our religion and our Cross have gained”. Father Karam Shamasha, a Chaldean priest from Mosul, thus expresses his emotion on the spectacle that he has seen occur within the cities of the Nineveh Plain. The signal of the miracle that provokes their pleasure isn’t the large return of all of the baptized who fled the area lately and emigrated overseas, nor the political affirmation of some Christian occasion, however the pictures of the 126 girls and boys of the cities of Alqosh and Telskuf who acquired their first communion on the finish of April.

With the arrival of spring and Easter time, the celebrations of the primary communions of kids, during which the sacramental thriller of the Church is known as upon, are celebrated in every single place as a strong signal of how grace has preserved the religion within the native Christian communities, within the years of battle and convulsions which have disrupted the every day lives of many individuals each in Iraq and in Syria, and after the constraints imposed on liturgical celebrations by the arrival of the pandemic. The celebrations of first communions, exactly of their simplicity of gesture lived within the every day lifetime of the Church, launch emotions of gratitude and confidence sooner or later that unite all of the Church buildings of the East within the shared testimony of the grace of Christ that acts via the sacraments. On April 29, in Baghdad, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, additionally administered First Communion to 16 girls and boys within the Church of Saint Elias. “The reward of the sacraments and the chance to take part within the divine mysteries – mentioned the Patriarch on that event – characterize the supply of Christian life: Baptism offers the brand new start in Christ, and the Eucharist – added the Iraqi Cardinal, citing Saint Ephrem the Syrian – is the meals of hearts for everlasting life”. On Sunday, Might 1, 45 younger Syrian Orthodox Christians acquired Holy Communion for the primary time within the Qamishli church devoted to the Virgin Mary. The Eucharistic liturgy was celebrated by Mor Maurice Amsih, Syrian Orthodox Bishop of Jazirah and the Euphrates: “These girls and boys are for us the hope of the longer term, they’re the brand new lifeblood of the Church”, commented Bishop Maurice to the native Christian station Suroyo TV. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 3/5/2022)

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