News

Iran: Anti-Christian campaign continues with more arrests

March 5, 2019

The Iranian government is stepping up its persecution of Christians. Please pray that those who are persecuting the Church in Iran will experience, as St. Paul did, the power of Christ, and join those whom they are now persecuting.

Most of the 300,000 Christians in Iran are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, an ancient Church that broke off communion with Holy Orthodoxy after the fourth ecumenical council, the Council of Chalcedon in 451, in a disagreement over the Council’s definition of the divine and human natures of Christ. Other Christians in Iran are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Roman Catholic Church; there is also a growing number of Pentecostals, Evangelicals, and other Protestants. Please pray for all the Christians of Iran, that they would be protected and strengthened in this time of crucifixion.

“Anti-Christian campaign continues with more arrests,” CSW, March 4, 2019:

Three more Iranian Christians have been arrested in the city of Rasht in Gilan province, as part of an ongoing official campaign of repression targeting the country’s Christian community.

CSW sources report that two members of the Church of Iran, Mr Babak Hosseinzadeh and Mr Behnam Akhlagh, were arrested while attending a church service on the evening of Saturday 23 February. A third member, Mr. Mehdi Khatibi, was arrested on the same day, following a summons from the secret police.

The arrests bring the total number of Christians arrested in Rasht over the past five weeks to six. Hossein Kadivar (Elisha) and Khalil Dehghanpour were arrested in on 29 January. Then on 10 February, Pastor Matthias Haghnejad was arrested by Islamic Revolutionary Guard members who entered the gathering where he was leading a service, detaining him after it had concluded. Since 2006, Pastor Haghnejad has been arrested and tried on several occasions in the cities of Rasht, Shiraz and Karaj….