Sayidat al Nejat Cathedral

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Coordinates: 33 ° 18 ′ 25 ″  N , 44 ° 25 ′ 33 ″  E

The Cathedral (2010)

The Sayidat-al-Nejat Cathedral ( Arabic كاتدرائية سيدة النجاة), German the Cathedral of Our Lady of Redemption is the cathedral of the Syrian Catholic Church in Baghdad . It is located in the Karrada district and is one of the largest churches in Baghdad.

Location

The Syrian Catholic Sayidat-al-Nejat Cathedral is located in the Karrada district ( al-Karadah al-Sharquiya or Arkhetah ) at 39 m above sea level, about 600 m east of the banks of the Tigris , about 600 m north of the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph and a few a hundred meters from the National Theater.

history

The presence of Syrian Catholic believers has been documented since the 19th century, but community life did not develop until after the First World War , when Syrian Catholic refugees arrived in Baghdad because of the genocide of Syrian Christians . Other believers arrived in Iraq through internal migration to Baghdad. In 1942 a first Syrian Catholic parish was opened in the Christian quarter of Agd-al-Nasara, which was regularly visited by the Syrian Catholic Bishop of Mosul.

A rather modest Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation was built in Baghdad in 1952. On March 17, 1968, after three years of construction, the current cathedral was inaugurated by Bishop Athanase Jean Daniel Bakose . The building was designed by the Polish architect Kafka in a modern architectural style and realized according to plans by the Romaya engineering office under the direction of the two Iraqi businessmen Victor Tabouni and Adnan Sajid.

On October 31, 2010, those present in the church were taken hostage in the attack on the Sayidat al-Nejat cathedral in Baghdad in 2010 and 68 people - in addition to the 47 believers in the church who were killed by targeted shots, including the two priests Taher al-Qasboutros and Wassim Sabih, including seven police officers and eight members of the killer gang - killed and 60 injured. However, it is not even known if some of the criminals managed to escape in the chaos. After the bloody deed, the church was renovated and a memorial for the murdered was erected. The two murdered priests are buried in the church's crypt, where other Syrian Catholic priests are also buried. The crime in the church led to a mass exodus. Before the Iraq war , about 5000 families regularly visited the Sayidat-al-Najat Cathedral, while about 7000 families came to the Syrian Catholic Mar Benham Church and about 2000 to the Syrian Catholic Mar Youssif Church (St. Joseph). In 2018, none of the three Syrian Catholic churches in Baghdad were regularly visited by more than 1,000 families.

Architecture and equipment

The cathedral, built in a modern style, looks like a boat, and at the main entrance on the east side there is a cross within an arch. There is a dome at the west end of the building, and the altar is also there. The church building should stand for the symbolism of the Gospel: The Cathedral of Our Lady of Redemption represents the boat that holds the believers, just as the boat carried Jesus with his disciples.

Facilities

Attached to the church is a primary school, the Ephraim School.

Diocese and bishop

The Syrian Sayidat-al-Nejat Cathedral Seat of the Syrian Catholic Archparchy of Baghdad ( Archieparchia Babylonensis Syrorum ), established on September 28, 1862 . In 2017 it comprised around 3000 believers in 3 parishes with 3 priests. In 2006 there were still about 22,000 believers in 4 parishes with 6 priests. Yousif Abba , born in Iraq on June 18, 1951, has been Archbishop of Baghdad since March 1, 2011 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 46 victims of the attack on the Syrian cathedral are buried. In: kathweb. November 2, 2010, accessed November 2, 2010 .
  2. ^ A b Sayidat al-Nejat Cathedral / Syriac Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation - Baghdad, Iraq. Gcatholic.org, May 19, 2020, accessed July 15, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b Martin Gehlen: The hostages die in the church. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . November 1, 2010, accessed November 2, 2010 .
  4. ↑ a b c Pascal Meguesyan: St Peter and St Paul Cathedral in Baghdad (Mar Petros and Mar Paulos). Mesopotamia Heritage, March 2018.
  5. ↑ a b c السريان الكاثوليك - كاتدرائية سيدة النجاة - بغداد [Syrian Catholics - Cathedral of Our Lady of Redemption - Baghdad].المواقع التابعة للديانات في العراق [Religious Sites in Iraq], accessed July 15, 2020.
  6. ↑ Death penalty for being held hostage in Baghdad church. In: ORF . August 3, 2011, accessed August 3, 2011 .
  7. ^ A b Syriac Archdiocese of Baghdad, Iraq - Archbishop Yousif Abba. Gcatholic.org, May 12, 2020, accessed July 15, 2020.
  8. ^ Entry on the Archeparchy Baghdad of Syrians on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved July 22, 2014.