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Is Genocide Threatening Nigeria’s Christians?

December 4, 2018

Along with the other Christians of the country, Nigeria’s Orthodox Christians are in grave peril. According to Naij.com, “In 1966, the first Orthodox Church in the country was built for the Greek community. It happened with the money of the Cypriot brothers Anastasia and Christodoula Levedi. It was dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ. The temple is located in the capital of the country. Now it has become the cathedral of the Nigerian Diocese of the Alexandrian Orthodox Church, and its parishioners are not only Greeks, but also Russians, Lebanese, Georgians, Bulgarians and, of course, Orthodox Nigerians living in the country….It is worth emphasizing that the appeal of the native inhabitants of the country to Orthodoxy itself began not because of the activity of missionaries but as a result of spiritual searches of the Nigerians themselves.”

Please pray that this awakening in Nigeria not be extinguished, but that the persecutors of Christians themselves would see the light of truth and embrace Holy Orthodoxy.

“Is Genocide Threatening Nigeria’s Christians?,” by Lela Gilbert, The Media Project, December 3, 2018:

(COMMENTARY) This fall, dozens of Nigerian Christians were murdered by Islamist jihadis. Unfortunately, the violence has remained largely unreported.

In fact, I wouldn’t have paid close attention myself, if it hadn’t been for Israeli journalist and friend, Atara Beck. Last September, she contacted me about some confusing and disturbing private messages she’d received about extensive Christian bloodshed in Nigeria.

A year later, and there’s no question about the veracity of the messages.

By now we know that during 2018, more than 6,000 Christians have been killed or maimed by Islamist terrorists affiliated either with the notorious Boko Haram group – best known for kidnapping young girls – or with the Fulani tribesmen, whose anti-Christian brutality goes largely unanswered by Nigeria’s government.

Attacks against Nigeria’s Christian communities are escalating at an alarming rate.

On October 2, Morning Star News reported, “Armed Fulani herdsmen accompanied by militants in Nigerian army uniforms killed 17 Christians in their homes in the heart of Jos, north-central Nigeria, on Thursday (September 27), including four children, area sources said.”

Just days before, in mid-September, nearly 30 Christians drowned, trying to flee attacks by Fulani jihadis. World Watch Monitor reported:

“A pastor was one of at least 27 people who lost their lives following fresh attacks carried out by Fulani militants on five predominantly Christian communities in northeast Nigeria in recent days. Many of them drowned as they attempted to escape via the local river… [affecting] the villages of Gon, Bolki, Ndumusu, Yotti and Yanga, in Numan local government area (LGA), Adamawa state.”

Several Christians in Nigeria wrote to Beck, a journalist in Israel, about Islamist violence in their country. And why? Clearly, they thought Israelis – of all people – could understand their plight and might speak up on their behalf.

Indeed, colorfully-dressed throngs of Nigerian Christian pilgrims are a familiar sight in Jerusalem, singing and praying as they visit holy places. They are great supporters of Israel. They’re also aware that they share a common enemy with Israel’s Jews – radical Islamists threaten both nations’ safety and, whenever possible, attack local communities.

The widely publicized kidnapping of Nigerian girls in 2014, and the #bringbackourgirls hashtag, introduced many Westerners to the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Boko Haram kidnapped more girls in February this year, and now threatens to kill Leah Sharibu, a young Christian who has refused to convert to Islam. Leah’s desperate mother is pleading for her daughter’s release.

In 2015, the group pledged its allegiance to ISIS….

Is the world turning a blind eye to another imminent genocide?