Ewtn News documentary tells Iraq’s Christian history and ISIS impact

To commemorate the 10 years since Isis invaded Mosul and the cities of the plain of Nineve Your presence.

The documentary, Persecuted Christians in Iraq: An EWTN News Special (Christians pursued in Iraq: a EWTN News news special), premiered on February 28 at 8:00 pm

Through a dialogue with Fr. Mazin Mattoka, president of the Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah, a Syrian Catholic monastery in northern Iraq, the documentary shows part of the history of the monastery, which dates back to the fourth century DC, including their sculptures and historical murals, many of which were destroyed by ISIS, especially the crossings.

In the documentary, Archbishop Bashaha Matti Warda, of the Caldea de Erbil archdiocese, highlights what he calls the continuous “Dialogue of Life” between Christians and Muslims since the end of the seventh century with the arrival of the conqueror, and the role that Christians played in the enrichment of Arab civilization by translating texts of philosophy, mathematics, medicine and other science Greek, first to the Syriac and then to Arabic.

The Archbishop analyzes the options that ISIS presents to Christians: to become Islam, pay the Yizya (protection tax) or leave, and points out that, although paying the Yizya could have been acceptable in the seventh century, it is no longer in the 21st century.

The Archbishop Benedictus Youn Hano, of the Mosul Catholic Catholic Archdiocese, highlights the suffering of Christians for forced displacement and his deep pain when feeling marginalized in his country, without a place of refuge, unprotected, feeling betrayed and disappointed when losing their cities, homes and churches, becoming refugees in their own nation.

In the film, Mons. Hano clarifies that ISIS attacks were not limited to Christians, but affected all Iraq components: all were at risk and subject to persecution.

Several Christians of the Nineveh plain offer testimonies in the film of their painful experiences during the occupation of ISIS and during the series of events that followed the 2003 incidents, which created a political, social and religious vacuum that allowed groups armed with extremist ideologies to occupy that space, as explained by the former member of the Iraqi Parliament Khalis Esho.

Several young volunteers who helped those displaced in Ankawa-Erbil during the crisis also share their experiences and lessons in the film.

Fr. Raed Adel, responsible for the Syro-Catholic Churches in Mosul, recalls the brave and historical visit of Pope Francis to the city in 2021, attributing to that visit the active movement of reconstruction.

For his part, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, Patriarch Chaldean, expresses relief and the great hope that Pope Francis’s visit has infused in all Iraqis, pointing out: “There were three days free of attacks and problems, and all continued the visit with joy.”

In the documentary, Cardinal Sako also emphasizes the importance of solidifying the state of citizenship to improve confidence in the future and guarantee human rights, justice and equality.

The new documentary briefly covers some of the scars left by the events of 2014, still deeply recorded in Christian towns and cities, but according to witnesses and leaders in the film, these places continue vibrant of life and full of the remaining Christians who are rooted in their faith and their homeland, proud of their inheritance, firm and clinging to the land of their ancestors, determined to the land of their ancestors. Rebuild, develop and continue being headlights in the dark.

The documentary can be seen, in English, below: