Encountering Living History in Iraq

[Catholic_Johnny]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/32582ndABN/FrBashar13thcentmanuscript.jpg

True story: I was with the 82nd Airborne Division in the invasion of Iraq. We captured Baghdad and were sent out to survey the battle damage in order to repair the city. My boss and I were sent to the Churches and Mosques. We struck up a rich friendship with the Chaldean Rite Catholics at Sts. Peter and Paul Church. In this photo, Fr. Warda Bashar and I are holding a 13th century manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew written in Aramaic. The Chaldean Rite Catholics actually celebrate Mass in the original tongue spoken by Jesus and have for 2,000 years. I had the privilege to worship with them many times - in Aramaic.

The idea that Tradition is unreliable or that Jesus didn’t use historical examples is the testimony of demons and fools. These Christians are still using the vernacular of Jesus Christ (!) of Nazareth. They have unbelievable courage and fidelity to the faith. This is not what “professor so and so says…” or some worldy ‘expert’. I experienced this with my own eyes, ears, and hands. Not to mention heart!

We also visited the ruins of Babylon - it is today exactly as the Prophet Jeremiah said it would be: perpetually in ruins, never to be rebuilt, even though Saddam Hussein tried to on several occasions. The Muslim curator who led our ad hoc tour of the ruins of Babylon was a PhD who showed us the exact dais used by Nebudchanezzar, Cyrus and Alexander the Great, and the chamber that Muslims believe was the lion’s den of St. Daniel.

I visited the ziggurat at Talil air base (a tactical airfield) which was the site of Ur of the Chaldees - where Abraham was called by God (Genesis 12).

I crossed the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (per Genesis chapter 1), between which civilization began (Mesoptamia) and is the location of the Garden of Eden.

The Arabs, who have lived there for millenia do not even blanche at the historicity of any of this - they take it all as archeological, palentological, geological and anthropological fact with mountains of evidences and a tradition that traces back to the original accidents.

Now, I was there as a Soldier, not a seminary student, but you can bet I got the education of a lifetime! The liturgies in Aramaic of the Chalden Rite Christians will always stand out in my mind as an encounter with the historical Jesus of Nazareth that would be possible no other way on earth in our time.

Lastly, St. Peter warns solemnly:

We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming 9 of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father 10 when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 18 We 11 ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1)

 

[Mark77]

Sfc Proctor,

I apologize if your rank is incorrect.

May God Bless You for your service, for your courage and for your honor!

You are so blessed to have heard the Holy Mass in Aramaic and to have seen the Holy Scriptures in His native tongue.

You must share more of these priceless gifts from Jesus, our heritage that is so easily forgotten.

What can we do to help you and to help those suffering Christians in Iraq?

Thank you for the reminder from St Peter, our first Pope, chosen by Jesus Himself to carry the message of Truth through all human history.

Sancta Maria, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus.

 

[Catholic_Johnny]

Mark77,
Thank you for your kind words.
It was amazing to worship with these saintly Iraqis in their ancient rites in a sea of Islam. War is so traumatic anyway that it took a while for me to digest it all, including the encounters with the Iraqi Church.

We donate through the Christian Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), an organ of the Vatican. We also give through The Iraqi Christian Relief organizaion run by the Orthodox church of the East.

Not a penny of your money is wasted that is donated to these brave and vulnerable Christians.

Johnny

 

[JVSantos]

Catholic Johnny,
As a fellow OIF vet I thank you for your service.
It’s awesome you’re able to celebrate the Holy Mass in Aramaic, in-country. I also agree that the Iraqis don’t have a clue what they have in their country. It’s amazing to be actually be right there and see sites. Thank you for sharing
BTW I was with the 270th MP Co. stationed in BIAP 03-04

JVSantos

 

[Catholic_Johnny]

Catholic Johnny,
As a fellow OIF vet I thank you for your service.
It’s awesome you’re able to celebrate the Holy Mass in Aramaic, in-country. I also agree that the Iraqis don’t have a clue what they have in their country. It’s amazing to be actually be right there and see sites. Thank you for sharing
BTW I was with the 270th MP Co. stationed in BIAP 03-04

JVSantos

JV, and likewise, thank you for your service to our nation. I think the Iraqis know what they have in their country (at least the Church does from a Christian perspective) but I seriously doubt that most of the world realizes that they and the 79,000 Iranian Christians are the last communities on the earth that speak Aramaic in their liturgies.

They are also in deep danger from terrorists and Islamic extremists. This was an unintended consequence of OIF and one that troubles me very deeply.

I was back in Baghdad in 2008 and you would not believe how much progress has been made! Here’s another really good story about helping blind children in Baghdad.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/32582ndABN/FrBashar13thcentmanuscript.jpg

True story: I was with the 82nd Airborne Division in the invasion of Iraq. We captured Baghdad and were sent out to survey the battle damage in order to repair the city. My boss and I were sent to the Churches and Mosques. We struck up a rich friendship with the Chaldean Rite Catholics at Sts. Peter and Paul Church. In this photo, Fr. Warda Bashar and I are holding a 13th century manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew written in Aramaic. The Chaldean Rite Catholics actually celebrate Mass in the original tongue spoken by Jesus and have for 2,000 years. I had the privilege to worship with them many times - in Aramaic.

The idea that Tradition is unreliable or that Jesus didn’t use historical examples is the testimony of demons and fools. These Christians are still using the vernacular of Jesus Christ (!) of Nazareth. They have unbelievable courage and fidelity to the faith. This is not what “professor so and so says…” or some worldy ‘expert’. I experienced this with my own eyes, ears, and hands. Not to mention heart!

Tradition of what ? Much Tradition is anything but reliable: something is not automatically true because it is has been believed by many people for many years.​

The virtues of those Christians,however real, do not change this. It is not demonic, but good logic, to say this.

We also visited the ruins of Babylon - it is today exactly as the Prophet Jeremiah said it would be: perpetually in ruins, never to be rebuilt, even though Saddam Hussein tried to on several occasions. The Muslim curator who led our ad hoc tour of the ruins of Babylon was a PhD who showed us the exact dais used by Nebudchanezzar, Cyrus and Alexander the Great, and the chamber that Muslims believe was the lion’s den of St. Daniel.

There was a tradition that Calah in Assyria was built by Nimrod - hence its later name Nimroud. There is no truth in the idea, because Nimrod is a fiction. BTW, maybe the “professors” & "“experts” are Ph.Ds, like the guide - & maybe they have good reasons to say what they do.​

As for the condition of Babylon - the US Army did its share in damaging the site. Thanks to the thoughtlessness of those in the US Government who could & should & did know better, irreparable damage has been done to antiquities & archaeological sites in Iraq.

I visited the ziggurat at Talil air base (a tactical airfield) which was the site of Ur of the Chaldees - where Abraham was called by God (Genesis 12).

I crossed the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (per Genesis chapter 1), between which civilization began (Mesoptamia) and is the location of the Garden of Eden.

The Arabs, who have lived there for millenia do not even blanche at the historicity of any of this

Centuries, rather than millennia - since the 650s, or 13 centuries and a half.​

• they take it all as archeological, palentological, geological and anthropological fact with mountains of evidences and a tradition that traces back to the original accidents.

Evidence ? That depends what particular thing the evidence is evidence of. Not everything is equally well evidenced.​

Now, I was there as a Soldier, not a seminary student, but you can bet I got the education of a lifetime! The liturgies in Aramaic of the Chalden Rite Christians will always stand out in my mind as an encounter with the historical Jesus of Nazareth that would be possible no other way on earth in our time.

Lastly, St. Peter warns solemnly:

 

[Catholic_Johnny]

Tradition of what ? Much Tradition is anything but reliable: something is not automatically true because it is has been believed by many people for many years.​

The virtues of those Christians,however real, do not change this. It is not demonic, but good logic, to say this.

There was a tradition that Calah in Assyria was built by Nimrod - hence its later name Nimroud. There is no truth in the idea, because Nimrod is a fiction. BTW, maybe the “professors” & "“experts” are Ph.Ds, like the guide - & maybe they have good reasons to say what they do.​

As for the condition of Babylon - the US Army did its share in damaging the site. Thanks to the thoughtlessness of those in the US Government who could & should & did know better, irreparable damage has been done to antiquities & archaeological sites in Iraq.

Centuries, rather than millennia - since the 650s, or 13 centuries and a half.​

Evidence ? That depends what particular thing the evidence is evidence of. Not everything is equally well evidenced.​

1. You are speaking by another spirit, not the Spirit of God. And you know exactly what Tradition is. The Canons, Fathers, Doctors and Magisterial Authority of the Church.
2. Nimrod was a real person and you cannot prove otherwise. You oppose the Fathers of the Church on this and many other issues.
3. Please provide evidence that any US Forces damaged the ruins of ancient Babylon. Do you hear what you are saying? I was there. I did not read about it in some polemical rant on the internet, I was really there with a real Iraqi museum curator and there was no damage done to the ruins by Coalition Forces. None.
4. Do you know the Chaldean rite Christians in Iraq? Have you spent months with them? Do you know the sources and evidences of their traditions? Do you know the history of the Chaldeans and the Churches of the East in [what is now] Iraq? Have you heard their liturgy in Aramaic and observed their liturgical practices? Have met with their Bishops? Have you interviewed their Prelate from the Vatican? Have you been in the Iraqi cultural centers and museums? Well, I have done all above.

The fact is that God has preserved the ancient tongue of Jesus and the Apostles through a canonical living Catholic community directly descended from the first Christians.

I am constantly amazed at the audacity of people who have not been there and are so self-convinced that they know more about it than people who have.

And the arrogance of people removed 5,000 years from the actual events and think they know more about the events than the redactors. The heresies of modernism were condemned a long time ago in *Lamentabilli Sane. *

 

[Jolly_Joe]

Have you heard how your friends are doing in Iraq? 5 years is a long time with all that has happened.

 

[Catholic_Johnny]

Have you heard how your friends are doing in Iraq? 5 years is a long time with all that has happened.

I keep in touch by email. Much suffering and affliction has been put upon the Iraqi Christians. Somewhere near 200,000 have fled the country. Many live in Jordan or Syria and need our assistance (please see links in reply #3 for ways to help).

Fr. Bashar and the seminary had to relocate to nothern Iraq in the Kurdish area because things got so bad in Baghdad with the terrorists and insurgency.

I was in Baghdad in 2008 and spoke with Fr. Bashar. Things are very, very tough for the Church but they are bravely committed to staying in Iraq and witnessing to Jesus and the Gospel. If you could see their sweetness and courage and observe their pious worship you would be very inspired. Our struggles in the US are almost nothing compared to what they endure daily.

This true story about my relationship with Father Elyas Firas, now with the Lord, is one of the high points of my life. You meet men like Fr. Firas once in a lifetime.

I love you, Father Firas.

 

[Catholic_Johnny]

I haven’t posted here in a while. The Iraqi Christians are still in need of our help. Please pray about donating to the Iraqi Christian Relief Council.

Below is a picture of me with Chaldean Rite Catholic Priest Father Elyas Firas preparing for Mass. Father Firas risked his life multiple times to bring the Word and Sacraments to our paratroopers in southern Baghdad in 2003.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[TruthisBeauty7]

God bless you Johnny . Thanks for your service in Iraq.

I attend a Chaldean Church here in California. I too have been enriched by there deep spiritual traditions and the beauty of there Faith, even here in America.

 

[R2D2]

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Bump.

Thanks for your service John!

The Chaldean Christians are in my prayers.

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