New in PJ Media:
Estimates of the number of Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran vary widely, and that’s understandable. Life is so difficult for non-Muslims in general in the Islamic Republic, and for converts from Islam to Christianity in particular, that many keep their faith a secret and keep up an outward show of being a Muslim. Those Christians who attempt to practice their faith more or less openly do so with the awareness that they could attract the attention of the authorities at any time, and so they have to proceed with extreme caution, a caution that is utterly foreign to Christians in the West — but might not be for much longer.
Orthodox Times on Thursday published an illuminating account of life in the tiny Greek Orthodox community in Tehran, which, we’re informed, “gathers at the only Orthodox church in the entire country, the Church of the Annunciation.”
It doesn’t, however, gather very often. Archimandrite Nikiforos Kounalis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Crete has gone to Tehran three times to provide the faithful of the Church of the Annunciation with a parish priest, always for a brief period. Otherwise, there is no parish priest at the Church of the Annunciation, and most of the time, the church isn’t even open — because Iran’s Islamic authorities frown on its being open at all.
Fr. Nikiforos recounts: “I always went there during Holy Week, because that was the only time the church was open.” The other 51 weeks of the year, the Church of the Annunciation sits closed in Tehran, a silent witness to how difficult the Islamic Republic makes life for Christians.
Greek Orthodox authorities do all they can for the people of the Church of the Annunication. “Before me,” says Fr. Nikiforos, “Archbishop Makarios of Australia had celebrated the Divine Liturgy there, when he was still an Archimandrite. Also, the late Patriarch Demetrios, predecessor of the current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, served as priest of the church for ten consecutive years.” That doesn’t mean that Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios lived in Tehran and acted as a priest for ten years; it means that, like Fr. Nikiforos, he would go to Tehran for a week each year, giving the Orthodox Christians there their only opportunity to practice their faith outside of private devotions for the entire year.
Fr. Nikiforos adds that “it all began in 2018, when I was informed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate that I should travel there to celebrate the services of Holy Week. The services began on Holy Thursday and were performed exactly as in Greece, with the assistance of a chanter.”
At first glance, the fact that the divine services were “performed exactly as in Greece” sounds like a praiseworthy commitment to order and exactitude, but there is more to it than that. Fr. Nikiforos notes that “all the services were performed in Greek. It was not possible to use any other language, as this is considered proselytism.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
David Lakatos says
Muhammad’s one world religion of Doom.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Hopefully, there is light at the end of this tunnel not just for Christians, but also Zoroastrians, Jews, Buddhists, non-denominational Deists, Agnostics and Atheists as well. Once this regime collapses. all of them will be able to worship (or not) in peace
One appeal to Iranian shi’a: please do not switch to other islamic sects/beliefs – sunni, sufi, bahai’i, ahmadiya, ismailiya, zaidi, alawite….. Just get out of islam altogether first, and then see which belief system best suits you. Same thing to Iranian sunnis, sufis and others: please don’t take advantage of this seismic shift to try and make Iran what it was before the Safavids: accept a secular Iran, and like the shi’a, check out other belief systems outside islam
Walter Sieruk says
Those Muslim deposits of that that tyranny which with has asi itstitle “The Islamic Republic of Iran” has as its foundation Islam with its Sharia , So those dictators of h=Iran hate Christians because Christians believe that the Word of God, and there the truth about God and all other things of a spiritual nature”
The Bible contains in it many doctrines and teaching which do expose the errors of Islam ,to such an extent that the Bible exposes Islam as a false religion, Isaiah 8:20. Second Timothy .3:.16
So those tyrants must , naturally , view the Bible as dangerous threat to their power base, That’s why they hate Christians
abu taleb says
A friend once said to me that I had double discriminations in Indonesia as a Christian and as a Chinese. But what I have so far is nothing at all compared to what happened in Iran.
But it is still worse than that in the US, so those who cry discrimination in the US should be grateful for what they have there compared to other countries.
somehistory says
Back in the 90’s, I met and became friends with a sweet young lady who was Chinese and lived and worked in Indonesia. She had come to the U.S. to take some university courses required and paid for by her employer, some Japanese company..
I have not heard from her for many years, and I worry about her, not knowing how she is doing.
abu taleb says
Except for the anti Chinese riot on May 1998, the Chinese in Indonesia are mostly left intact by the mob. Now, seems people have realized that it is not the Chinese that cause them suffering, it is the corruption done by the state institutions. So the hostility toward the Chinese is decreasing.
However, the hostility toward the Christians does not change much. Seems the Islamists are more focusing on grabbing power and stealing money rather than spending their time opossing the Christianity. I don’t know what will happen once the Islamists take the power, probably it will become more like Pakistan or Egypt.
Any way, if your friend is still alive, she must have been doing well in my opinion. Any educated and capable person in Indonesia should be doing ok (except me 🙂 )
OLD GUY says
Ans: Scary