By Theodore Shoebat

450 Christians in Syria are now fighting ISIS to protect four small helpless Christian villages. They are fighting ISIS to preserve what is left of Christianity in the region. I did a whole video on this:

Here are some photos of this militia, which calls itself Sutoro:

According to the report:

A few hundred Christian militants are at the vanguard of a fight in far north-eastern Syria to preserve some of the last major Christian pockets within the swath of central Arabia conquered by Islamic State.

For the past week, about 450 militiamen have tried to defend four Assyrian Christian villages among a cluster of 30 ancient settlements in Hassakeh province that had survived more than two millennia of war, invasion and insurrection.

Isis has shelled the area from its outskirts, ransacked its ancient core, and chased men, women and children into exile, capturing at least 300 hostages and killing dozens more. In doing so, the jihadi group has all but fulfilled its pledge to rid the area it controls – from Raqqa in Syria to Mosul in Iraq – of anyone who does not submit to its draconian ways.

…

Sanhareb Barsom, an official with the Syriac Union party, which is providing humanitarian aid to the refugees, said that 100 families from the besieged villages had settled in Qamishli, while 2,000 refugees have fled to the provincial capital, Hassakeh. He described the situation as “catastrophic”.

…

Kino Gabriel, one of the leaders of the Syriac Military Council, an Assyrian Christian militia, said the fight was existential. “[We are] like a tree that you uproot from its land,” he said. “We are a people with a historic lineage. We have been contributing to human civilisation for five or six thousand years, and we can still give.”

There are many examples of Christians fighting back in history. For this post I will write on two: the Coptic Christian revolt against the Muslims which lasted from 725 to 750 AD, and the Greek Christian revolt against the Arian persecution that occurred in the 4th century. Both of these explanations are from my upcoming book on Christian militancy which will be the most extensive research ever done on the subject, and it will be coming out within this year.

THE COPTIC CHRISTIAN REVOLT

In 705 one sadistic Abdallah became the emir over Egypt. He was of the cruelest sort, finding it entertaining to invite a Christian for dinner and decapitate him as he sat down to eat. He ordered entire churches to be torn down; his rulership was so severe that the wealthier Egyptians fled the country. (Butcher, The Story of the Church of Egypt, vol. i, part ii, ch. iv, pp. 395-396) It is a reminder of what has been taking place in Egypt now: Christians are being persecuted, while the believers who are wealthy enough have already left.

As the Babylonians took the resources of other nations to build their pagan temples, the Muslims stole the pillars of precious marbles and porphyry to add them to their mosques. Under Asama bin Yezid taxes imposed on Christians were increased, and every monk was forced to wear a silver ring on their hand, upon which was engraved the name of their convent and the date in which they paid; failure to wear meant beheading.

In 725 the Christians tried to make a stand against their masters, but being unarmed, the revolt became a pure bloodbath. One bishop was seized and relentlessly whipped until his fellow Christians could pay the emir a thousand pieced of gold. On the verge of death the ransom was finally made (although it was three hundred pieces) and the bishop let go. (Butcher, The Story of the Church of Egypt, vol. i, part ii, ch. iv, p. 401)

A temporarily successful revolt was led by the patriarchs Michael and Cosmas which led the Egyptians to obtain semi-independence for several years. The warlord Abd el Melek attempted to reconquer them only to lose, with a great amount of his army killed by the frustrated saints. Many a believer was murdered, and many a church burned down, but they still held out, until finally being defeated in 750 by Merwan, the caliph of the Islamic empire.

THE CHRISTIAN REVOLT AGAINST THE ARIAN PERSECUTORS

From the fourth century onward into numerous other centuries, the Arians persecuted and slaughtered many Orthodox Christians. The Arians were vicious heretics who believed that Christ was not God and that the Trinity was not true. It would be actually Arianism that would become the foundational heresy for Islam.

All of the cities near Constantinople were bombarded with the despotism of the Arians, by the hands of one Macedonius. He organized a persecution upon not just Catholics, but also Novatians, since they too believed in the Trinity.

The Novatians were schismatics that broke off from the Catholic Church, but subscribed to many of the teachings of the Church. Many pious people were seized by the Arians, who would force open their mouths and shove into them the Arian communion bread and wine. They took Christian women, and forcefully baptized them under the anti-trinitarian Arian baptism.

The women who resisted, the Arians would saw off their breasts, and those who spoke against it would get beaten with whips. They would also take Christian women and sear their breasts with hot iron. They took a Novatian presbyter, an aged man named Auxanon, and threw him into prison alongside his companion in monasticism, named Alexander, and beat them so severely with stripes that Alexander perished.

The Arians attacked churches and demolished them, and doomed to destruction any church that proclaimed the Holy Trinity. (Socrates, 2.38) Surely was this violent hoard of the Antichrist spirit.

The Arians were headed toward a certain Novatian church, and the Novatians, with immense zeal for the Holy Trinity, deconstructed the entire edifice and reassembled it in another place. The persecution was intensifying so much, that the Catholics and the Novatians united together, readied themselves for holy combat, and became willing to die for one another.

The Catholics and the Novatians in the province of Paphlagonia and Mantinium heard of how the Arians had just destroyed a church in Cyzicus, and so realizing that their churches were the next targets, they gathered together, armed themselves with hatchets, sharp hooks and whatever weapon they could get their hands on, and prepared for battle. Surely was this Christian militancy, with Christians fighting for the Faith and for the love of their neighbors.

Macedonius and the other Arians realized that it would be difficult to drive the Christians from their homes, and so with the permission of the emperor, he took an entire company of soldiers into Paphlagonia, that through the sword the people there might accept Arianism. The two forces clashed, with the swords of Christians and Arians colliding against each other. Much blood was spilt, and many agonies were inflicted. Many of the Christians lost their lives, but almost every soldier on the Arian side, was slaughtered. (Socrates, 2.28)

After this victory, Macedonius, in utter disrespect, removed the remains of Constantine the Great from his coffin, and transported them into a certain church. The Christians, in their love for Constantine, and in their zeal for Christendom, rose up and charged to the site of the church, and a bloody battle ensued with the Arians. They attacked one another and the entire churchyard was covered with human gore, and even the well overflowed with blood, so much that it ran into the adjacent portico, and from there into the street itself. (Socrates 2.38)

Thus was the spirit of the ancient Christians; they were not what some today portray them as (people of pacifism and superficial peace), but combat — combat against the devil and his followers. And so much did they love Christianity, that they fought and killed just to protect the remains of Constantine, the great defender, and the commencer, of Christendom.

Christus vincit!

—

Both of these writings are from my upcoming book on Christian militancy and warfare, and it will be the most extensive piece of research on the subject of Christian militancy and Holy War.

But before the book comes, be sure to get our 2-disk DVD special on Christian militancy which extensively teaches for several hours on what is Christian warfare how Christianity is truly about war against evil, and how Christianity is the greatest enemy to Islamic tyranny.

CLICK HERE TO GET OUR 2-DISK DVD SPECIAL ON CHRISTIAN MILITANCY