For Christians, Holy Week is the most important period of the year. It's a time for us to commemorate the redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ on the Cross, and his victory over the forces of sin and death through his Resurrection.
(For more background on Holy Week, read my series from last year: Why Holy Thursday is so important to Christians; Why Good Friday is so important to Christians; Why Easter is so important to Christians.)
In the Middle East, most Christians belong to Eastern traditions of Christianity that have a strong liturgical focus, and Holy Week has historically been a time for the most beautiful ceremonies of the year.
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But this year, Middle East Christians will be keeping Christ's suffering in mind in a special way. That's because their communities are being crucified as we speak.
Most people are unaware that Christians are the most persecuted religious group on the planet. Third-world Christians don't get any love from the West's political and media elites. They are, in the cynical and accurate phrase of the atheist French intellectual Régis Debray, too foreign for the right to care, and too Christian for the left to care.
The plight of Middle East Christians is tragic for a number of reasons. Some of these communities date back to the very beginning of Christianity. Some of them still speak Aramaic, the language most likely spoken by Jesus. Many Middle East Christians hail from specific churches with specific history and rites that don't have an equivalent elsewhere (except among scattershot immigrant populations). And finally, the plight of Middle East Christians isn't just persecution — it is cleansing.
Extremist groups like ISIS do not simply want to reduce Christians to dhimmitude, or murder the occasional apostate. They want to wipe Christianity out of its heartland.
The grisly martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya was only the most visible and iconic manifestation of a much deeper phenomenon that goes little noticed in the West's capitals. For example, the ancient Syrian city of Maaloula, home to Christian communities since the dawn of Christianity and a haven for religious tolerance, has been nearly cleansed of Christians, to global silence.
As Middle East Christians gaze up at the suffering and broken face of their king, those of us comfortable in the West should at least talk about them and, if we are able to do so, especially, pray for them.
