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ARISTOO
AND BAHRAM (d.1979 and 1980) |
Jesus said,. “I choose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”. (John 15:19) God our Father, giver of strength to all your saints, you led Aristoo and Bahram through their generous loving witness and death to the joy of eternal life. Heal the pain of those who loved them; grant us all forgiving hearts and loyal faithfulness like theirs; and give your joy and peace to the people of Iran. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. On February 19th, 1979 Aristoo Sayyeh, senior priest of the Iranian church and pastor at St Simon the Zealot Church, Shiraz, was found murdered in his study after two ‘enquirers’ had visited him and asked for a talk. On May 6th, 1980, Bahram Dehqani-Tafti, only son of the President Bishop, was waylaid on his way home from his teaching work in Tehran by two men who took him away to a desert place and there murdered him. He was twenty four with all his great promise before him, a proven steadfast love for Iran and already rich in service. Thus was the Church in Iran tragically bereaved. The murderers have never been identified. Their crimes are joined to the long saga of enmity by which, down the centuries, Christ’s Church has been assailed. The story of their martyrdom during the Iranian revolution has been vividly and movingly told by Bishop Hassan Dehqani-Tafti in The Hard Awakening. How shall the blood of the innocent serve the Church in Iran? Bishop Hassan answers in his own diary of prayer of May 17th, 1980: This has always been your method, Lord…and ever shall be. We must bear the suffering without hatred. Those who killed….really did not know that they were doing, therefore we must pray for them from the bottom of our hearts: Give me Thy joy, O wounded man of Sorrows. Thy joy filled full in those dark hours of pain. Joy in Thy fellowship, despised, rejected. Bearing all grief that love may live again. So Christ stands over against history and in its darkest and most dangerous moments we receive a new revelation of His power. Glory be to Thee, O Lord most high. |