The Chaldean Patriarchate of Iraq announced the cancellation of Easter festivities this year to draw attention to the dire condition of Christians in the country. In July, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a presidential decree that gave Cardinal Louis Sako legal right as head of the church. With the additional threats from Iranian-backed militias and their growing influence throughout the country, Cardinal Sako left Baghdad for Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. 

Last Sunday, tens of thousands of Syriac-Assyrian-Chaldean Christians did celebrate their annual Palm Sunday procession in the pouring rain through the streets of Ankawa, a Christian-run village outside of Erbil. It was humbling seeing their joyous celebration, especially with Palm Sunday hardly being noticeable in my own community outside of Philadelphia. Perhaps because we are able to celebrate religious holidays without persecution, we too easily take them for granted.