men, who he thought were a kind of faith police. They had somehow
learned that he was interested in Christianity, although he always had been
very careful not to attract attention. He had secretly got himself a Bible in his
language, and for visits to house churches he had travelled to Teheran forty
miles away, where he could be anonymous. He had not dared to be baptised
there, found it too risky. But he had started to be interested in more western
style activities like running and boxing. He thought that these changes in his
lifestyle may have made him suspect. The attack by the faith police caused
him to leave, for 55 days he was on an arduous journey until he reached
Germany. You could meet him these days in a café which is run by Trinity
Church and is open to all refugees, Christians or those who wanted to
become Christians.
To understand what persecution looks like, you could learn from the pastor
of the Syrian-Orthodox Church in Hamburg. He says that his people have
become Christians almost 2000 years ago, following the mission by the early
Church. From the beginning, they were persecuted as a people for the name
of Christ. The pastor can tell terrible stories of colleagues like the Bishop of
the Greek-Orthodox Church in Aleppo who was taken and simply
disappeared, together with the Bishop of the Syrian –Orthodox Church.
Christians in Mosul were told by leaflets that they needed to convert to Islam
or had to leave with only the clothes they had on their backs, without
luggage, o r face execution. Houses of those who remained were marked
with an ‘N’ for Nazarene, in Arabic an abusive name for Christ.
In 2016, Stephen might be called Mohammed. We need to take
responsibility for all men and women persecuted for their faith, we cannot
ask for freedom of religion for Christians only. Pray for them on St Stephen’s
Day!
B Williams
(Using an article in the magazine ‘Andere Zeiten’, 3/2016.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------St Oswald’s will be having a table at the Christmas Bazaar, Kings Park
Parish Church, Saturday 3 December. (See Page 5)
Please make and donate crafts to furnish the stall and deliver them already
priced.
It would be preferable to bring your items along to St Oswald’s at end of
November or arrange to deliver to the congregational members who will man
the stall on the morning of the event. If neither of these is possible, please
contact The Vestry or The Editor (0141-632-3604) to arrange collection of
your donation.
The Vestry
StOM Page 12