Amid the ongoing martyrdom of Christians in Nigeria, the Orthodox Church is growing. There is an increasing prevalence of monasticism and a growing acceptance of Holy Orthodoxy among native Nigerians. All this is threatened, however, by the continuing violence against the Christians of that country. Please continue to pray that our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ would bless Nigeria with peace, and that Holy Orthodoxy in Nigeria would flourish and experience a new period of growth.
“‘When He Refused to Deny Christ, They Cut Off His Right Hand’: Nigerian Christians Describe Horrific Attacks By Boko Haram,” by Chuck Holton, CBN News, August 29, 2019:
ABUJA, NIGERIA – It’s Sunday morning in Nigeria, and Christians across the country are heading to church. As part of the continent’s largest Christian community, believers here have their choice of places to worship. Here at Family Worship Center, led by Pastor Sarah Omakwu, a graduate of Regent University, thousands lift their hands in praise.
But just a few miles away on this Sunday, these people try to find enough food to survive another day.
I visited a refugee camp for people who have been internally displaced from their villages in the north and to the west. There are about 2.5 million internally displaced people within Nigeria, and that makes this one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world right now. And the thing that all of these people have in common is that they are Christians.
29-year-old Aisha Walla grew up in northern Nigeria with her family, scratching out a meager living along with the rest of those in her small village. She is a Christian from one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. Life was hard for this young mother of two boys, and it was about to get a whole lot harder.
Boko Haram Invades Village
“In November 2013, Boko Haram invaded our village,” she said. “They killed my father-in-law and abducted some of the children who lived with us. We were so scared, so we fled to the mountains.”
As a movement, Boko Haram has been around for a very long time, starting back in 2002. But as time went on they got more and more radical to the point where five years ago they detonated a car bomb at the UN Embassy in Abuja. And they’ve since then killed thousands of people across the country of Nigeria and elsewhere, to the point where, in 2015, they were designated one of the most dangerous terror groups on the planet.
Much of that terror is directed at Christians. Enoch Yeohanna was one of Aisha’s neighbors.
Burning Churches, Killing Members
“They started with burning churches, killing the pastors, and killing the members. Shutting them down,” he said.
“On 29 September 2014 was the day that they attacked my village. Around ten I had a call that they have killed my dad. They asked him to deny Christ and when he refused they cut off his right hand. Then he refused [again], they cut to the elbow. In which he refused, before they shot him in the forehead, the neck, and chest,” Yeohanna went on.
Many of the 1,500 Christians living in this camp have similar stories. Like Hanatu Katghaya, a volunteer school teacher, who had to flee on foot into Cameroon carrying her three-year-old daughter on her back.
“We escaped from Boko Haram. I walked for two months before I reached Nigeria,” she told us….
