Christians limit celebrations in respect of 'Shiites brothers'

pictures of Our Lady of Salvation church massacre victims Baghdad – Jaafar Nassrawi The Christian community in Iraq has decided not to openly celebrate Christmas this year, owing to what they called “ precautions,” in addition to the fact that the celebrations coincide with “the Iraqi Shiite anniversary of Ashura, through which they commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali.
‘Arabstoday’ surveyed the views of some Christians, where the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad, Bishop Shlemon Warduni, said in a statement issued from his office “the Council of Churches in Iraq convened two weeks ago, calling on worshipers to cancel all celebrations, and limit them to spiritual celebrations in churches."
Father Mokhlis Keriakosh, priest of Our Lady of Salvation church, which witnessed a massacre last October 31, said “Christmas is different this year with our church’s grief over its children, as well as the sect’s respect for their Shiite brothers and sisters,” in reference to the Ashura, stressing that “Celebrations would be limited to mass, religious rites, prayers, and fasting, without any festivities.” In addition, Keriakosh told ‘Arabstoday’ “the Church decorates a Christmas tree every year, but this year we will not hold any of these festivities.”
In Basra, provincial council member for the Christian minority Saad Matti said “we issued the Basra Council of Churches statement to cancel all Christmas and New Year festivities, and to only hold the mass,” explaining to ‘Arabstoday’ that “the statement includes an apology for receiving well-wishers, in honor of our martyrs who have fallen victims in the massacre of Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad, in addition to the sanctity and inviolability of the month to our fellow Muslims.”
In the same context, head of the Chaldean bishops in Basra, Imad al-Banna, said “members of the community have been asked to halt the celebrations, and to not publicly receive guests for Christmas, out of respect to the feelings of Shiite Muslims.” He added that he wrote a letter to the members of the community which included a request to all churches to not hold any festivities out of respect to Muslims, particularly Shiites.  Al-Banna added that he urged Christians to limit the occasion to attending mass in churches and practicing rites in their homes, without any public celebrations.
From his part, Archbishop of Chaldeans in Kirkuk and Sulaymaniah, Louis Sako announced, Wednesday, that “Christians in Kirkuk decided to mark the season of Christmas in church masses and cancel Christmas celebrations due to Iraq’s crisis and the continuous targeting of Christians.” Sako said Kirkuk’s “Christians will not hold Christmas celebrations but will mark this occasion in church masses and pray for security and stability in Iraq.”
“Instable security in Iraq in general and Kirkuk in particular, the continuous targeting of Christians in Mosul, incidents of Badinan of Kurdistan in addition to other situations in Iraq led Christians to cancel Christmas celebrations,” he explained.
In the same context, Yousif Mohamed, owner of a flower shop in Baghdad, confirmed the decline of most Christian habits in Iraq in this time of the year, like buying Christmas trees, explaining that he used to prepare “200 – 300 Christmas trees every year, but this year I only sold 15 trees.”
It is noted that Christians in Iraq have been subject to several acts of violence since 2003, ranging from the kidnapping and murder of Archbishop Paoulos Faraj Rahho in Mosul in March 2008, to the bombing of the homes of Christian civilians in Baghdad December 30, 2010. The most violent of these attacks was the massacre of Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad, October 31, where unidentified gunmen held dozens of hostages inside the church, while performing Sunday mass, and resulted in the death and injury of more than 125 victims. Al-Qaeda-linked group ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ had claimed responsibility for this latest attack.
Christians used to make up 3.1% of Iraq’s population, according to the census conducted in 1947, reaching one or two millions in the eighties, however the numbers greatly declined due to immigration in the nineties, followed by wars and deteriorating economic and political conditions. Large numbers have also immigrated after 2003, thus, according to official census, the current number of Christians in Iraq does not exceed 300000, mostly living in Kurdistan.