Language: english, arabic
Ruggieri, V., Vaiana, R.R. "THE IRAQI SWING. Flashes of Light and Darkness in the Church of Iraq ". Valore Italiano Editore. ISBN 9791281584266.
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Mid-20th-century photographs reveal the visual sensitivity of the Jesuit Juan Mateos, an eminent liturgist and biblical scholar who resided in Iraq during that period. These monochromatic images capture churches, monasteries, villages, urban quarters, and, above all, the joyous moments of Christian life experienced by communities primarily in northern Iraq and the environs of Mosul. That era was characterized by a peaceful coexistence among the diverse faiths of the nation, a social cohesion that gradually eroded from 1968 onwards, ultimately facing total dissolution following the advent of conflicts that culminated in the fury of ISIS. The swing of history illustrates the alternating phases of light and darkness characterizing the Church in Iraq, a country that has drifted away from that interfaith coexistence which, in the Middle Ages, yielded artistic and intellectual excellence across a multitude of disciplines. This sequence of wars precipitated a devastating migratory phenomenon, as the majority of Christians have abandoned their ancestral lands, scattering into the diaspora. From this tragic fatality emerges a new arc of the swing: how to transmit, today, the voice of their native soil, the faith inherited from their forebears, and the joy of belonging to a community founded at the dawn of Christianity to those Iraqi Christians now dispersed? How can a connection be forged that, notwithstanding the physical distance, allows for the manifestation of a shared identity? The decision was made to provide a voice for four artists from Baghdad—Dahlia Khay Azeez, Bassam Sabri Butruss Nagara, Salam Idwer Yaqoob Al-Loos, and Haitham Yalda Matooka—whose work, through the interplay of colour and materiality, recounts and presents to their distant compatriots the fears, anguish, joys, solitude, and, most importantly, the hope and faith in the unique and beloved Lord, Jesus Christ, whom they feel ever present at their side. This book, therefore, stands as an endeavour to establish a new language aimed at reuniting a people intentionally dispersed.
VINCENZO RUGGIERI is Professor Emeritus of Byzantine History and Archaeology. For many years he has investigated Byzantine culture in Asia Minor; he is currently focusing his attention further east, on the Churches of the Middle East.
ROCCO ROBERTO VAIANA is a scholar of the Eastern Church, with a particular interest in the liturgical world and the textual tradition of anaphoric formulas. Born in the south-western corner of Sicily, he developed a special sensitivity to the coexistence of Arab and Christian cultures within an urban context. R. R. Vaiana actively collaborates with the episcopates of Mazara del Vallo and Piana degli Albanesi, exploring the presence of Byzantine and Arab cultures in Sicily. In recent years he has been analysing the phenomenon of diaspora in the Assyrian and Chaldean Churches, focusing on issues related to the transmission of ancient Mesopotamian and Christian culture.