The Lord’s Prayer Slideshow
BOSTON AREA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER
On location in IraqThe Nineveh region of Northern Iraq is the heart of Christianity in Iraq. In danger of extinction, their numbers have dwindled from 1.5 million to 250,000*
They are Assyrian in ethnicity and trace their roots back thousands of years. They became Christian in the first century AD when Thomas the Apostle founded the Church of the East. They came to communion with the Roman Catholic Church in the middle ages as Chaldean Catholics.
They speak Aramaic, once considered a dead language. They use an ancient form of Aramaic in their liturgy and a modern dialect in their homes. You can go about the town the language you hear is the language that Jesus spoke.
I put together this slideshow of my photos of the area to the lyrical chant of Aelfric Michael Avery. The words are of the “Our Father” the prayer attributed to Christ in his original language.
* BBC News, “Iraq’s Christians close to extinction”. Here is an excerpt: Taking a historical perspective, the Archbishop of Irbil lamented the fact that in centuries past there was a happy period of fruitful cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Iraq, a time that historians have referred to as the Islamic Golden Age. “Our Christian ancestors shared with Muslim Arabs a deep tradition of thought and philosophy,” says Archbishop Warda. “They engaged with them in respectful dialogue from the 8th Century. “A style of scholastic dialogue had developed, and which could only occur because a succession of caliphs [Islamic political and religious leaders] tolerated minorities. As toleration ended, so did the culture and wealth which flowed from it.”