Support a persecuted Christian in Iraq

Dear Christian,

The St. Nicholas Tavelic Network for Morisco Catholics, or ‘TavNet’, is a missionary network for converts from Islam to the Catholic Faith.

We are currently in touch with a Christian brother in Iraq who is in grave danger due to his conversion.

He has been a Christian for over a year, and since the time of his conversion, he has been kicked out of his house, kicked out of the emergency accommodation he was trying to live in, and has also recently been stabbed in the eye and is in desperate need of medical treatment.

See part of his testimony below, from his own words:

"I came to believe in Christ a year ago, and after my family found out about my faith in Christ, they did not accept me. My father tried to kill me with a knife, but thank the Lord, the knife only wounded my hand, and I escaped to a Muslim friend who owns a café in a bad area. I stayed with him for three weeks, but he too found out about my faith in Christ, did not accept me, and threw me out. Currently, I have no safe place to stay, and five days ago, someone tried to kill me. A Muslim stabbed me in my right eye, and now I have a wound in my eye."

This is an urgent appeal and we are in desperate need of your help.

We need enough funds to:

- Provide him with a place to stay in a city away from his current one, which is very dangerous

- Living costs such as food, electricity, water, and more

- Medical costs for his eye

- An emergency fund for him and for a small team we are sending to Iraq to help him

He has also written his testimony - it is incredibly heartwarming. Please read below:

"I did not know the Lord Jesus, but when I arrived at university, my father bought me a mobile phone, and I created a Facebook page and added friends randomly, but the Lord’s plan was to have Christian friends with me. I saw how they pray and how they glorify the Lord. This attracted me. But what attracted me most was their prayers that came from the heart and not just gestures of perfection in Islam while the heart was far from God.

Then I heard them saying in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one God, Amen. I did not know what this meant, but then I learned that God the Father and the Son is the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, not a human concept, but a heavenly concept, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and all are one. Then I learned that God is love and love your enemies. I live in a fanatical society that knows nothing but evil. I always wondered if God created us to take revenge on us because it is written in the Qur’an that God is vengeful and severe in punishment, but in the Holy Bible it is written that God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that everyone would not perish. Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. I had problems a year ago, and I thought of praying to the Lord Jesus, because He says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” So I prayed to the Lord, and I saw the Lord in the vision, which was light, and He said, “Do not be afraid, and we thank the Lord.” Everything ended a year ago, and from there I surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus. Many things motivated me to become a Catholic and praying to the saints is very important to me. For example, praying to the Virgin Mary, Saint Isaac of Nineveh and many other saints."

'And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.' - Matthew 25:40