In Mosul, Iraqi Christians Brave the Violence to Celebrate Christmas

December 25, 2008

Author: Sam Dagher

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/world/middleeast/26mosul.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast

Iraqi Christians in the northern city of Mosul say this year has been the worst in living memory. After a wave of killings and attacks in October, more than 2,000 families fled to nearby villages.

Mosul remains one of the most dangerous places in Iraq and a stubborn holdout of the insurgency, but security has improved enough that at least half of those families have returned. On Thursday, they braved the violence and biting cold and rain to attend Christmas Masses and pray for their safety.

At the nearly thousand-year-old Chaldean church of Miskinta, where a bomb had exploded in October and graffiti praising the insurgency remains on a nearby wall, about 50 parishioners followed a deacon outside to the courtyard, where a fire was lighted to symbolize the birth of Christ.

Many tried to hold back tears as they prayed for “the rebirth of tormented Iraq to a new life of forgiveness and compassion.”