Part II of the Hester Stanhope post is coming later, but I wanted to comment on recent developments in Mosul.
Christianity arrived in Mosul as early as the Second Century AD, from the early Christian center at Edessa, and is said to have been the third-ranking Metropolitanate in the Assyrian Church by about 300. It has remained a major center of both the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church, with other denominations such as Syriac Orthodox also present. Confronted with a declaration by ISIS that Christians must either convert to Islam, pay a jizya tax, or face death (a very strict interpretation of Islamic law), most or all of Mosul's Christian population has reportedly fled to Erbil. Dohuk, or other cities under Kurdish control. The fate of Mosul's ancient churches and monasteries appears grim.
Earlier, external crosses were reportedly removed from churches, and he tomb of Yunus, equated wih the Biblical Jonah, was reportedly destroyed. Photos circulated over the weekend of an ancient church being burned, and today it's eing reported that the Monastery of Mar Behnam near Mosul has been seized and its monks expelled.
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