"We foresaw an intense liturgical programme for the next Easter, but we don’t know whether we shall be able to celebrate it. Here, death is just behind the corner", said the auxiliary Chaldean bishop of Baghdad, Msgr. Shlemon Warduni, just before the Holy Week. He also expressed "sadness for the exodus of Christians from the country". "We feel bitter he said in an interview with SIR; – we are living in a situation which seems to have no end, in which the victims are the ill, the old, and the children, lots of whom lost their parents because of the unspeakable violence caused by car bombs, kamikazes and criminals”. However, he said, "Easter will strengthen our certain hopes for a fair future, a future of tolerance and reconciliation”. The lack of safety forced the Chaldean Patriarchate to anticipate the celebration of the Easter Wake in the afternoon of the Holy Saturday: "going out at night is too dangerous", said the bishop. All the appointments in the Holy Week will be made known to believers on 1 April, Palm Sunday. "We hope faith will give our Christians the necessary courage to overcome difficulties and participate in rites. For everyone he concluded, – the Holy Week is time to fast. Our fasting is the suffering in which we are living. It is meant for Iraq as well as for the whole world”.
