Amid all this persecution, the Orthodox Church is growing in Nigeria. There is an increasing prevalence of monasticism and a growing acceptance of Holy Orthodoxy among native Nigerians. All this is threatened, however, by the continuing violence against the Christians of that country. Please continue to pray that our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ would bless Nigeria with peace, and that Holy Orthodoxy in Nigeria would flourish and experience a new period of growth.
“280 Christians killed in attacks in Nigeria,” by Diana Chandler, Baptist Press, March 20, 2019:
Christian deaths are spiraling in Nigeria as militant Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram terrorists escalate their attacks, according to reports from religious liberty watchdog groups active there.
As many as 280 people were killed in Christian communities in several attacks spanning February through mid-March in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, according to varying reports from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Morning Star News and International Christian Concern (ICC). Militants destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced residents.
In the latest attack, Fulani militants killed 10 Christians overnight March 16 in Kaduna state, Morning Star News reported March 18. The deaths follow the killing of 40 Christians in at least two attacks in Kaduna Feb. 10-26.
Meanwhile, a regional Nigerian court ruled that the national government failed to protect victims when militant Fulani killed 500 people, most of them Christian civilians, in several Middle Belt attacks in Benue State in 2016. The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Feb. 26 sided with Christian plaintiffs and ordered the government to investigate the 2016 killings, saying the government shirked “its obligation to protect the human rights of the Agatu Community and prevent its violation.”…
