- Title: IRAQ-PLAY/CHRISTIANS Iraq play shines light on country's Christians
- Date: 20th October 2015
- Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ACTORS PERFORMING ON STAGE ACTORS HOLDING CROSS WITH PICTURES OF CHRISTIANS PRIESTS AND PEOPLE KILLED IN ATTACKS ON CHURCHES BY ISLAMIC STATE / AUDIENCE CLAPPING
- Embargoed: 4th November 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVADOPOMWXXNZEX9BUZOSRGFBLF1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A theatre play about the persecution of Christians in the fourth century was recently staged in a Baghdad Church, reflecting a similar reality faced by Iraq's Christians in recent days.
The play, "For You, O Lord", tells the story of Christians who were persecuted in Persia around 340 AD under the Sasanian King Shapur II following the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine II to Christianity.
During his rule and his war campaign against the Romans, Shapur II imposed severe taxes on Christians and demolished many of their churches in fear of their loyalty to the Romans.
The key victim who suffered under Shapur II's rule was Simeon Bar Sabbae, the Patriarch of the Church of the East, who was arrested and then put to death after refusing to convert to Zoroastrianism along with five bishops and one hundred priests.
Despite it documenting the struggle of Christians in ancient times, the play was staged to reflect on the recent and similar reality faced by Iraq's Christians today.
Islamic State, which has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria over the past two years, has killed many Christians, whom it regards as infidels.
Soon after they declared their Caliphate, Islamist insurgents issued an ultimatum to northern Iraq's dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death.
IS has killed members of other religious minorities as well as Sunni Muslims who do not swear allegiance to the group's self-declared 'Caliphate'.
Iraqi actress Ann Khaled who played the role of one of the narrators of the story, explained how the play echoes a present reality through an ancient story.
"We surely have an important message which we want to convey through this important work and through this real story, which reminds us of the fact that history repeats itself. Indeed the suffering of Patriarch Simeon Bar Sabbae has being experienced now by Christians in Iraq. We hope from them (the Christians) to stay in their homeland. We also hope that all the Iraqis of different faiths, including Christians, Sabeans, Yazidis and Muslims would stick to their homeland, because if we leave, we will not have a real homeland and a real identity," said Khaled.
The play is the 5th to be presented by Mirror of Justice and Peace group, which was formed in 2013 by Iraqi director Khaled Ahmed Mustafa.
"The group now has young people from different churches and who live in different places. Their number now is around 30 and we have requests from many young people to join the group, but we accept only those who have good capabilities," said Khaled Mustafa, director and head of the group.
According to Mustafa, the play was a success despite a limited budget and the highly eloquent language of the text, which at times was hard for the actors to memorise and master.
"If we have a high production budget, a budget from the government, we would have made better decorations, better make-ups and costumes and all the other things which are considered as a complement of stage work. Add to this, most of the members of the team have difficulties pronouncing classical Arabic. The original text we presented today for example is a classical one, therefore I had to re-write it and divide it into chapters to give the actors a break, because the original text is difficult even for the professional actors as it is too flowery and highly eloquent," said Mustafa, who also played the role of the Sasanian King Shapur II.
Staged by a group of amateur Muslim and Christian actors, the play was hailed as a true representation of peaceful coexistence of Christians and Muslims throughout the centuries.
"It is a very great achievement made by Muslims, Christians and people of different faiths and sects. This is Iraq. It is a regret to see a change in Iraq's nature and Iraq's face. This is the civilisation of love, history and centuries-old memories shared by Christians, Muslims and other people who have lived together. This has to be restored and revived vigorously to help stand up to the takfiri terrorist trends," said Patriarch of Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq and the world Louis Raphael I Sako.
Iraq's ancient Christian population has more than halved over the past decade, from about 1 million before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, to barely 400,000 by July 2014. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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