World

Iraq priest who saved Christian heritage ordained Mosul archbishop

January 25, 2019
New Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Najib Michaeel Moussa, center, uses a cell phone to take a “selfie” photograph with a woman during his ordination ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in the eastern part of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday. — AFP
New Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Najib Michaeel Moussa, center, uses a cell phone to take a “selfie” photograph with a woman during his ordination ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in the eastern part of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday. — AFP

MOSUL, Iraq — An Iraqi priest who saved a trove of religious manuscripts from Daesh (the so-called IS) was ordained on Friday as the new Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul.

Najeeb Michaeel, 63, was inaugurated in a ceremony in Mosul’s St. Paul Church attended by Catholic leaders from the region and the US, as well as local officials and residents.

“Our message to the whole world, and to Mosul’s people, is one of coexistence, love, and peace among all of Mosul’s different communities and the end of the ideology that Daesh (IS) brought here,” Michaeel said.

Michaeel entered religious life at 24 and spent years serving at Al-Saa Church (Our Lady of the Hour) in Mosul.

There, he managed the preservation of nearly 850 ancient manuscripts in Aramaic, Arabic and other languages, as well as 300-year-old letters and some 50,000 books.

In 2007, he transferred the archives to Qaraqosh, once Iraq’s largest Christian city, to protect them during an insurgency which saw thousands of Christians flee Mosul.

And when Daesh swept across Iraq in 2014, Michaeel again took action.

As the jihadists charged towards Qaraqosh, the Dominican friar filled his car with rare manuscripts, 16th century books and irreplaceable records and fled east to the relative safety of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

With two other friars from his Dominican order, Michaeel also moved the Oriental Manuscript Digitization Centre (OMDC), which scans damaged manuscripts recovered from churches and villages across northern Iraq.

From the Kurdish capital Arbil, he and a team of Christian and Muslim experts digitally copied thousands of Chaldean, Syrian, Armenian and Nestorian manuscripts.

Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul from Daesh in the summer of 2017, and Michaeel returned to the city months later to attend the first post-Daesh Christmas mass.

He found his church in ruins, with rooms transformed into workshops for bombs and explosive belts and gallows had replaced the church altar.

But he insisted there was reason for hope.

“I’m optimistic. The last word will be one of peace, not the sword,” Michaeel said last year.

On Friday, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church called for more international support to Iraq’s Christians.

“Bishops from outside Iraq are participating in this occasion to support the Christians of Mosul,” said Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako.

“They are encouraging them to return to their city, rebuild it alongside the other communities and turn a new page based on trust and peaceful coexistence.” — AFP


January 25, 2019
95 views
HIGHLIGHTS
World
5 hours ago

Trump’s Bible endorsement raises concern in Christian religious circles

World
5 hours ago

Colombia expels Argentine diplomats after Milei calls Petro ‘terrorist murderer’ 

World
5 hours ago

Bus carrying Easter worshippers falls off cliff killing 45 people in South Africa