SAYFO: You may kill the body and plunder possessions, but you will never strip the faith from the hearts of believers

By Ablahad Hanna Saka | Bethnahrin National Council member and a deacon in the Syriac Orthodox Church

The Ottomans dismantled the Syriac family — they killed the father and mother, raped and plundered the children, all before the eyes of the international community. Yet, despite all this, the surviving remnant of the Syriac people managed to gather the pieces of their pain and wounds, and to restore the living cell of their history — the wounded family, still imbued with love, compassion, and the joy of parenthood and kinship. 

The Ottomans tried to tear apart our people and dismantle its institutions, spiritual structure, and social fabric. They committed atrocities beyond the imagination of tyranny itself. Fatwas were issued legitimizing the extermination of the Syriacs — what we today recognize as genocide. But through divine will and the resilience and faith of the scattered remnants of our Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people, they were able to reorganize, despite unparalleled sacrifices. These sacrifices — both material and emotional, psychological trauma, and even physical disability — surpass the history of suffering among all peoples. Yet our people offered their martyrs with joy and gladness, like a fragrant offering unto the Lord — a sign of His pleasure with this blessed, valiant people of unwavering will and determination. 

In his research, the Lebanese scholar George Habib Zaydan (1861–1914) — a prominent writer, historian, and journalist — described the Syriac people as “possessing intelligence, energy, will, and resolve. Whenever they felt a moment of safety from the oppression of rulers or the chaos of invaders, they would turn to the pursuit of knowledge and science, founding schools for theology, philosophy, and language, learning Greek sciences, translating them into their own language, and even explaining and summarizing them.” 

Zaydan’s message is clear: every time the Syriac people emerged from a dark era, they reorganized themselves to face the next — for they have always been locked in fierce and relentless battle against the forces of evil surrounding this living, faithful nation. A people who created and shaped all the civilizations of Mesopotamia — and, indeed, of the entire ancient East. And this war continues, despite its deeply asymmetrical nature. 

The remaining Syriacs in the East were forced to adapt to conditions of slavery, oppression, religious and sectarian discrimination, and systemic class injustice. Yet, in the face of these challenges, they seized every opportunity to survive and thrive. They succeeded in creating alternative ways of life, and their excellence in the spiritual realm and moral integrity became a testament to their patriotism. Their accomplishments in science, philosophy, knowledge, and human values earned them international recognition. They became a message of love and service to humanity, being an inseparable part of global civilization.

The late Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Mar Severius Ishaq Saka of Bartella confirmed in his five-part series “The Syriacs: Faith and Civilization” that the Syriacs contributed to the building of global civilization and that they cannot be considered as peoples outside of history. But can it be that their contributions to civilization were the reason for their persecution? Was it their focus on founding universities, institutes, and schools that led to their displacement from their homeland? Was it their organization of society and legislation that provoked their extermination? Was their love of the land and homeland the reason behind the attempt to erase their identity?

It was their Christian faith that taught them to love their enemies, forgive their oppressors, and bless those who persecuted them.

The attacks and persecution of the Syriac people did not cease in the modern era. From the immortal Sayfo genocide, alongside our Armenian and Greek brethren, to the notorious Simele genocide of 1933, the Suraya massacre in 1969, the Anfal campaign of 1988, and the seizure of dozens — even hundreds — of towns, cities, and villages belonging to our people. The terrorist bombings targeting buses carrying university students in Qaraqosh in 2010, and the massacre at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010, are just a few among countless atrocities. 

Most recently, in 2014, the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) erupted like a volcano of modern Islamic terrorism. It imposed policies of forced displacement, deportation, seizure of property, rape, slavery, murder, torture, and systematic violence — all with the support of the masterminds of crime and the dark legacy of the Ottomans and their allies. 

The infrastructure of our people was destroyed, their economy exhausted, and their properties, homes, and businesses confiscated. Everything they owned became a part of the losses. The value of their material and economic wealth is incalculable — and yet, no one mourns these losses, for criminals and madmen are not subject to extinction. 

The Aramean Syriac people in the East are oppressed and exhausted. Whenever the intellectual elite of this nation dare to demand a humanitarian solution or some degree of autonomy, they are accused of racism or loyalty to foreign powers — unfair accusations aimed at keeping this indigenous people under the yoke of tyranny, ruled by groups with no honorable history, no noteworthy civilization, no meaningful legacy, and no clear future. 

These oppressive groups, past and present, have cloaked their policies in legal language — laws of their own invention to justify their actions. They made permissible what is forbidden — murder, looting, rape, and seizure — and prohibited what is inherently lawful. They stripped humanity from the human being and robbed the human being of his dignity — all in service of their vile and degrading schemes. Indeed, there is a tragic clash between the laws of the oppressor and the principles of the oppressed, between the criminal and the victim. 

Seeds of despair and loss have taken root in the hearts of some Syriacs. Many came to believe there is no escape but surrender — surrender fueled by ungrounded fear. For some, fear has become the air they breathe, and migration from one place to another is a new torment. They don’t know what awaits them — only that it might be a fate worse than the current pain. It is a new death, a harsher punishment than the agony they already endure. 

The society in which we live has not changed — and will not change — in its view of the Syriac people, neither socially nor ideologically. It expects us to live at the margins, in despair, invisibility, unemployment, and hopelessness. They want to rob us of our identity, our future, our national belonging, and our spiritual and social roles. They want to strip us of our ability to participate in shaping our own destiny. 

It is impossible for a group that lives under such social dysfunction to mature and express its full potential without undergoing something akin to an electric shock. Many public jobs and positions have been denied to our people — causing a deep sense of alienation, anxiety, and disenchantment with the idea of national belonging. 

We are not opposed to individuals in their personal capacity — but we stand firmly against the traditional political and social system that perpetuates marginalization, exclusion, privilege, and an economic and cultural order that has violently expelled us for generations. 

National belonging runs deep in the hearts of Syriacs — and yet the disease of exile and migration eats away at their minds due to the immoral genocide they have suffered. Meanwhile, terrorism touches their hearts — stoking their emotions with pain and fear. We must unite, abandoning our personal grievances and dependency. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” 

And so, Syriacs today ask: 

1. Is it the fate of the Syriacs to drown in blood and racism because of their religious identity?
2. When did belief or religion become a crime punishable by human law?
3. What crime did the Eastern Syriac Christian commit, if he was born Christian without his will, or chose Christianity by free will?
4. When did humanity exclude a religion from human dignity, sentencing it to death for not conforming to its norms?
5. When did homelands become exclusive to one faith or religion?
6. Is the absence of joy and strength in others the reason they fight the blessings God has given us?
7. Does their feeling of weakness, fear, and deficiency push them to attack those full of grace and blessing? 

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name ‘s sake.” (Matthew 24:9)

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” (Romans 8:35) 

You may kill the body and plunder possessions — but you will never strip the faith from the hearts of believers.

Ablahad Hanna Saka of Bartella (Nineveh Plains, Iraq) is a member of the Bethnahrin National Council and a deacon in the Syriac Orthodox Church

The views expressed in this op-ed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SyriacPress.