An
Syriac Orthodox Priest Shot dead in Baghdad
Source: www.soku.org
An Aramaic Syriac orthodox
priest was shot to death yesterday Saturday morning in a neighbourhood of the
capital of Baghdad.
Father
Youssef Adel was gunned down and killed in a drive-by shooting in one of
Baghdad’s considered safest neighbourhoods Karrada. This barbaric attack took
place outside of his house near the St. Peter and Paul Syriac Orthodox church
where he presides.
Father Youssef Adel, had once before escaped the Sunni dominant
neighbourhood of Dora and the slaughtering of the Christians, at a time when
rebellious Islamic were burning down churches and Christian homes. Father
Youssef Adel and his wife Lamia moved to a
considerably safe area called Karradah and became the priest of St. Peter
and Paul Syriac Orthodox Church.
But the
Christian blood colours the streets of Iraq, and
father Youssef Adel became yet another martyr of the Syriac Orthodox
Church. On 9th October 2006 another west Aramaic Syriac Orthodox Priest was
kidnapped and beheaded by a terrorist group in Mosul. His name was Paulus
Iskander Behnam of St. Afrem Church. Father
Youssef Adel was shot down with a silencer, and collapsed in front of his home.
Neighbours and arameans (syriacs) from all over the district flocked and cried
outside father Youssef Adel house.
His body was brought to the church of Saint Peter and Paul Syriac Orthodox Church and the funeral was led by the Archbishop of Baghdad Severius Hawa and Syriac orthodox clergy on Sunday morning.
The
Patriarch of Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, condemned
this barbaric action and said “We should not surrender to grief but we must
look on his departure through the eye of faith and see his pious spirit flying
in paradise with the spirits of the martyrs, saints and devout priests.”
