(CNSNews.com) – Mgr. Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul, said last week during a visit to Strasbourg, France that when ISIS came to Mosul and the Nineveh Plains, “they take our churches, they take our monasteries, they take our houses, our lands, our money, our life, our dignity, our history.”
Sharaf spoke with the European Centre for Law & Justice (ECLJ), an affiliate of the American Centre for Law & Justice, following a reception to raise awareness of the genocide Christians face in the Middle East.
“When ISIS come to the Mosul and the Nineveh Plains regions, they take everything from us, they take our churches, they take our monasteries, they take our houses, our lands, our money, our life, our dignity, our history,” he said.
He cited the terrorist group’s destruction of a manuscript from the second century and a fourth century monastery.
“We lost those books, we lost our churches,” he said, and added, “they destroyed the privacy of the family… and this is very, very bad.”
Archbishop Sharaf compared the speed with which Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled with the amount of time the Islamic State has been in the region.
“All the great countries, even France too, all this great countries, they destroyed Saddam Hussein and his regime in 15 days,” the archbishop pointed out, “and ISIS they are stay[ing] and they are seeking our lands, our houses, our churches from two years until now.”
“They want to destroy us,” Sharaf emphasized. “They said we will destroy the churches because we want to send [a] message to the Christian[s] who are from Mosul because he should forget Mosul and the Nineveh Plain villages.”
The archbishop also lamented the destruction of families and communities provoked by this genocide and the exodus, emphasizing that “the demon first attacks the families to destroy people and the church.”
The archbishop ended his interview with a plea for help.
“We need from all the world, if there [are] really people [who] want to help us I ask that the European and American and all the Western people, not the government -- I don’t ask anything from the government because we heard many things from the governments, they don’t do anything for us -- but we ask the people to push their government in Western countries all to help us to finish our bad situation,” he said.
“What happened with us, it’s genocide, we cannot say any another word, it’s genocide,” he concluded.
Sharaf spoke with the European Centre for Law & Justice (ECLJ), an affiliate of the American Centre for Law & Justice, following a reception to raise awareness of the genocide Christians face in the Middle East.
“When ISIS come to the Mosul and the Nineveh Plains regions, they take everything from us, they take our churches, they take our monasteries, they take our houses, our lands, our money, our life, our dignity, our history,” he said.
He cited the terrorist group’s destruction of a manuscript from the second century and a fourth century monastery.
“We lost those books, we lost our churches,” he said, and added, “they destroyed the privacy of the family… and this is very, very bad.”
Archbishop Sharaf compared the speed with which Saddam Hussein’s regime was toppled with the amount of time the Islamic State has been in the region.
“All the great countries, even France too, all this great countries, they destroyed Saddam Hussein and his regime in 15 days,” the archbishop pointed out, “and ISIS they are stay[ing] and they are seeking our lands, our houses, our churches from two years until now.”
“They want to destroy us,” Sharaf emphasized. “They said we will destroy the churches because we want to send [a] message to the Christian[s] who are from Mosul because he should forget Mosul and the Nineveh Plain villages.”
The archbishop also lamented the destruction of families and communities provoked by this genocide and the exodus, emphasizing that “the demon first attacks the families to destroy people and the church.”
The archbishop ended his interview with a plea for help.
“We need from all the world, if there [are] really people [who] want to help us I ask that the European and American and all the Western people, not the government -- I don’t ask anything from the government because we heard many things from the governments, they don’t do anything for us -- but we ask the people to push their government in Western countries all to help us to finish our bad situation,” he said.
“What happened with us, it’s genocide, we cannot say any another word, it’s genocide,” he concluded.