Heartbreaking news from Iraq where there’s now photographic proof that ISIS has destroyed the 1400-year-old St. Elijah’s Monastery in Mosul:
ISIS destroys Iraq's oldest Christian monastery. 1400 years of faith erased. (Photo ctsy: AP) pic.twitter.com/clty89SrBp
— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) January 20, 2016
Satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press confirm what church leaders and Middle East preservationists had feared: The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the ISIS terror group’s relentless destruction of heritage sites it considers heretical.
St. Elijah’s Monastery stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years, including most recently for U.S. troops. In earlier millennia, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches, prayed in the chapel, worshipped at the altar. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ’s name, were carved near the entrance.
Here’s what it looked like before the Islamic terrorists did their thing:
#ISIS destroy oldest #Christian monastery in #Iraq, St Elijah of #Mosul built in 582 AD #ausdef #Assyrian @SyriacMFS pic.twitter.com/f0QdLbg9c4
— David Feeney (@Feeney4Batman) January 20, 2016
Iraq's oldest Christian monastery destroyed by Islamic State #news pic.twitter.com/0ZPrqIx9dS
— freshnews (@freshnews247) January 20, 2016
INTERACTIVE: Before & after #ISIS destroyed #Iraq's oldest Christian monastery: https://t.co/9lKQTr4YC6 pic.twitter.com/MY4sQjCvcP
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) January 20, 2016
ISIS Grinds Iraq's Oldest Christian Monastery to Rubble – https://t.co/sOtwWVtJVx @JewishPress pic.twitter.com/l2a9NmHEca
— JewishPress.com (@JewishPress) January 20, 2016
VIDEO: “That’s it. It’s gone.” Heritage conservationist on IS destruction of Iraq's oldest Christian monastery https://t.co/5zEV2slMyW
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 20, 2016
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