Epress.am News from Armenia
Several key leaders of the Christian churches in Iraq met with international church leaders, including members of the World Council of Churches Central Committee, in Geneva last week about the ongoing situation in Iraq, reports Independent Catholic News, citing WCC.
The Iraqi group, which included a patriarch and four archbishops, spoke not just about recent violence against Christians, such as the October 2010 shootings and suicide bombings at the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation (Sayidat al-Nejat) in Baghdad, but the continuing violence against all people in Iraq.
They also addressed the increasing absence of security within the country and immigration, which is causing a refugee problem.
The churches in Iraq remain active although under stress, the leaders said.
“We have parishes that have completely gone, and all churches have experienced decline in the number of worshipers,” said Archbishop Dr Avak Asadourian, the Primate of the Diocese of Iraq of the Armenian Orthodox Church and general secretary of the Council of Christian Church Leaders in Iraq. “If this continues for some time I am afraid our churches will be in peril.”
Asadourian also talked about how the church community remains fully active in the diaconal work of the church, providing food and lodging for people suffering from economic hardship.
Women’s groups from within the church “are very active and members of advocacy groups,” he said, describing how the women “visit different homes to see how families are living and what their needs are.”
Still, he said, “the need is very sharp and whatever we give them is not enough sometimes,” he said.