HALLOWED GROUND: Archaeologists examine the recently discovered ruins of Hira, the site of dozens of ancient churches near what is now Najaf, Iraq. (
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After a 14-century-long lapse, today a small congregation of Christians will attend a special Mass in Hira in southern Iraq on the edge of the great Arabian desert.
Located south of Najaf, the holy city of Shi’ite Islam, Hira was the capital of the first Christian Arab kingdom until 633, when an Islamic invading army arrived with orders to wipe the “infidel” off the map. Recent archaeological expeditions have finally unearthed the lost city.
The symbolic Mass received the blessings of the highest Shi’ite clerical authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week when he received Pope Benedict XVI’s special envoy to Iraq, Archbishop Giorgio Lingua.
Arab tribes started migrating to southern Mesopotamia, a province of the Persian Empire at the time, in the ninth century BC, and by the third century AD had become a majority of the population. Sometimes called Arabistan (Land of the Arabs), the province became a semi-autonomous kingdom under the Lakhmids in the fourth century. By that time, Christianity had already been present in the region for more than two centuries.
The first church in Hira was built almost 1,700 years ago and, soon afterward, attracted a growing number of Christians in search of monastic life on the edge of the two empires of the time, Persia and Rome. Successive schisms within Christianity gave Hira a new role as a safe haven for “heretics” fleeing from Rome and, later, Byzantium.
Though of symbolic value, the Mass in Hira cannot hide the sad state of Christians in Iraq. A decade ago, they accounted for almost 5 percent of the population, mostly living in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and other major cities. Today, the best estimates put their number at around 3 percent. Thousands have left their homes to immigrate to Europe, North America and Australia or seek temporary shelter in Jordan.
A series of terrorist operations, including suicide attacks on church congregations by al Qaeda and other Salafist groups from several Arab countries, have convinced many Christians that new Iraq cannot ensure their safety and security.
After the American withdrawal from Iraq last year and the “Arab Spring,” the feeling of insecurity among Christians has steadily increased throughout the region.
There are no official statistics for the number of Christians in Najaf. But they are believed to number a few hundred. Up to now they had kept a low profile, attending Mass only in private homes. Now, however, they have come out, so to speak, and hope to revive part of their heritage. Plans are under way to convert an old monastery into a church and cultural center.
Iraqi archaeologists tell me that Hira contains the remains of at least 50 churches and 30 monasteries, some of which are among the oldest in the Middle East. And that is not to mention the perhaps legendary Palace of Xovarnaq (Cradle of the East), which is supposed to have been the most magnificent piece of architecture in the world.