Blessed Are the Meek: The Life and Martyrdom of a Priest on Mission in Turkey

By Aussiegirl

Scribe, a regular reader and valuable commenter, has alerted me to this heart-breaking story of a Catholic priest in Turkey murdered a few days ago by "Allah is great"-chanting thugs. Vichnaya pamyat, "eternal memory", as we say in our Orthodox requiem liturgy, to this faithful servant of God. May he rest with the angels.

www.chiesa

Fr. Andrea wanted to live in the Middle East “as Jesus lived there, with the humble gift of his life.” They killed him, crying out “Allah is great,” while he prayed.

[...]After a long pause, he took off his glasses letting them hang around his neck and spoke again, calmly, as if talking to himself: “I am convinced that in the end there are no two ways, only one way that leads to light through darkness, to life through the bitterness of death. Only by offering one’s flesh is salvation possible. The evil that stalks the world must be borne and pain must be shared till the end in one’s own flesh as Jesus did.” Not one word more, not one less.

After he spoke silence fell on the room. Then he looked at his watch and got up quickly, apologised, picked up his small suitcase and left the room almost running. He didn’t want to miss the plane that would take him back to his Trabzon.

There he was kneeling yesterday, praying in his church. There a bullet pierced his heart.


www.chiesa