Crosses, once banned by ISIS, return to Christian villages in Nineveh Plain

Jardine Malado Thursday, November 03, 2016

Iraqi priests hold the first Sunday mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, Iraq, October 30, 2016. | REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

Priests returned to Christian villages liberated from ISIS in the Nineveh Plains in Iraq and they brought their crosses with them.

The priests were among the first non-combatants to re-enter Christian villages like Karamles and Qaraqosh, according to World Watch Monitor.

Fr. Thabet lived among his congregation in a complex for internally displaced people in Erbil. He brought a large cross covered with flowers upon his return to Karamles.

He planted the cross firmly on the ground of Barbara Hill overlooking the village.

"My dream is to bring all the Christians back to this village. Then we will worship outside on Barbara Hill; we will have the Eucharist in the open air. Everybody will see that this is the Church; this is the Body of Christ; this is Christian land. That is my dream â€“ to give a testimony to the world," he said.

Upon his arrival at the village, Thabet found his church heavily damaged by ISIS but it still stands and it is not beyond repair.

In Qaraqosh, Fr. Ammar reinstalled the cross on his church with the help of Christian soldiers who were guarding the village.

Ammar has expressed his optimism that the houses and churches that have been ruined by ISIS can be rebuilt.

"After being away for exactly 811 days, after being attacked by the forces of darkness and evil, we have come back to worship in freedom," he said.

The priest also discovered 40 ancient documents about the church's history that have been untouched by ISIS.

"I brought those back to our people in Erbil. For us, those documents are our link with our history and are therefore very important," he said.

Several Christian settlements surrounding Mosul have been liberated since Iraqi-led forces began the offensive to liberate Iraq's second largest city in October.

According to a report from Breitbart, all the Christian armed groups in Iraq have reached an agreement to fight as one force to liberate their homelands. Some Christian militias are already participating in the Iraqi-led operation in Mosul.