Wooden cross becomes rare symbol of normality

Priests return to town held for two years by ISIL forces

QARAQOSH, IRAQ // A hastily built plywood cross, held together by wire and mounted upon a makeshift base of stones, adorns the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the town.

Priests Father Amar and Father Majid, who are from the town, erected the cross on their return even as Iraqi army forces were battling to oust ISIL fighters from areas of the biggest Christian settlement in the country. The town fell to the extremists more than two years ago, but along with others in the vicinity of Mosul, it is slowly being won back by the Iraqi army with the help of Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

In the courtyard of the church, which is littered with spent cartridge shells, the walls are pockmarked by bullet holes where the militants set up mannequins for target practice.

Maj Fuad Jassem, of the Iraqi ninth armoured division, says the church was used as a weapons and ammunition store by the militants. “They knew that the coalition would not bomb a site of such spiritual importance,” he says.

Further evidence of the militants’ occupation is visible everywhere. Besides the ISIL graffiti adorning columns that line the nave of the church, the streets are littered with the wrecks of burnt- out vehicles, buildings are scarred with evidence of rocket and small-arms fire, and the abandoned hospital has been stripped by the invaders of anything of medical or technical value.

Yet there is cause for celebration as the priests return home. Even as gunfire rings out and mortar shells explode not far from the church, the priests break into song.

The celebratory hymn, with accompaniment from Christian militiamen, is in Aramaic, the ancient language spoken by Jesus Christ and still used by the Assyrian Christians of Iraq today.

“This cross is a victory for all of us,” says Fr Majid.