Persecution, ICC's October Newsletter

International Christian Concern

PERSECUTION O C TO B E R 2011

inside this issue:

The Way of the Martyr What does it take to follow the path of a martyr?

Sonadei’s Story: A God Who Redeems The miraculous story of a woman who lost everything and of the God who redeemed it all.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE October 2011

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The Way of the Martyr As you read the stories of the martyrs and the persecuted church, have you ever asked yourself if you would be able to one day give your own life for Jesus? What is a martyr and what does it take to walk that path?

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Sonadei’s Story: A God Who Redeems Sonadei lost two very young children within days of each other.

Though her story may have been one of complete tragedy and death, the Father has brought redemption and new life.

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China: Persecution Rising Persecution is on the rise again in China. This year alone, we have seen dozens of church leaders kidnapped, arrested, and sent to China’s prisons and labor camps where they suffer physical torture, solitary confinement, heavy labor, and political re-education.

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Your Donations at Work Last month, we told you the story of Birtukan - the widow of an evangelist who was martyred in Ethiopia for his efforts to evangelize Muslims. This month, we want to share a picture of her new daughter and how we have helped them during this trying time.

From the President’s Desk What does it mean to be a martyr? In our lead story, “The Way of the Martyr,” we look at that question. Pastor Ojih and so many others have left us an incredible example of how to die for Christ.

Thankfully, most of us won’t have to face that trial, but all of us face the daily task of how to live for Jesus. Daily life bears down on us. Financial, emotional, relational, and life struggles are part and parcel of life in this plane.

Real life waits for us just over the horizon, but until we get there we struggle here. Jesus told us that the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke out the seed of the Holy Spirit, making us unfruitful (Mark 4:19). What does it mean that they make us unfruitful?

What is the fruit of the Spirit? Peace, joy, patience, goodness, kindness, etc..

The world will naturally push you towards despair and anxiety and rob you of the only true and real life: being connected to Him via His Holy Spirit. When we are close to Him, His personality flows into us. We are filled with kindness even when we naturally have a sharp tongue. We have peace even though our circumstances look dire.

If you are like me, you continually need the example of the life of the persecuted Church. They have no social standing, wealth or future, and their children will suffer because of their faith. They are nobodies, and yet they are devoted and chained to the mast of the ship in a roiling sea. They have chained themselves to Christ and He flows through them. Peace, joy, patience, kindness, and humility mark them.

Let’s learn from them. Stop right now and praise the Father. Turn away from any false idols you are trying to find life in. Look to only Him to give you life!

Jeff King President, International Christian Concern

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The Way of the Martyr The sharp blade of a machete cut the ropes that tied Pastor Ojih’s feet together as rough hands jerked him to his feet from where he had lain bound for hours, singing praises to God with his cheek pressed to the dirt. Pastor Ojih and a number of other Christians had been captured by radical Islamists. Bound and left for hours to contemplate their fate under the scorching heat of Nigeria’s sun, they would now be required to make a choice.

“If you want to go for Christ, go to this side.” A crude motion of his captor’s hand directed the pastor’s gaze to a man dressed in white who stood apart from the rest of the captives. “If you want to go for Muhammad, remain where you are.”

With a song of praise returning to his lips, Pastor Ojih led seven other men away to join the first who stood for Christ. For a moment, he watched with tears in his eyes as the men who remained began to recite the Arabic vows to convert to Islam in order to save their lives and the lives of their families. When the time came for Ojih and the men around him to embrace Islam or die for their faith, the husband and father of four turned to his companions and spoke his last words, “If you survive, tell my family that I died well and living with Christ. And if we all die, we know that we died for the Lord.”

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“If you survive, tell my family that I died well and living with Christ. And if we all die, we know that we died for the Lord.” - Martyred Pastor Ojih I died well and living with Christ. Would you be able to sacrifice your life as a faithful martyr given the choice that Pastor Ojih and his companions faced? What did Ojih possess that enabled him to make such a choice while many of his Christian companions could not?

These are questions that many people ask themselves as they read the stories of the persecuted church. Before we attempt to tackle these questions, let’s look at the word “martyr.”

You Will Be My Witnesses In modern terms, most of us understand that a martyr is someone who has been killed for their faith, cause or conviction. But did you know that the word is actually derived from the Greek word for witness? There’s no better place to trace the word’s evolution from witness to martyr than in the book of Acts, beginning with the resurrected Jesus promising his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

To be a witness means that you bear testimony to what you have seen. When the Holy Spirit was poured out and Peter began to preach to the multitudes, his testimony was this: “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32). Peter professed then what would become the hallmark of the apostles — they were witnesses of the resurrection.

It is for this testimony — the testimony that in Jesus is eternal, resurrection life — that most of the apostles ultimately gave their lives as martyrs. They had witnessed Jesus lay down his life that “through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death… and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15). As the first partakers of this Life in the power of the Holy Spirit, they went everywhere upsetting the powers of darkness by proclaiming their defeat in the resurrected Messiah.

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At Pentecost alone, three thousand souls once held captive by the fear of death, love of money and love of self were snatched from slavery into life where they freely sold their possessions to provide for one another as any had need.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, the earliest believers followed the example of Christ in embracing a death to their natural desires and ambitions that allowed them to give sacrificially of their wealth and time, to patiently endure scorn and reproach at the hands of family and friends, and finally to suffer imprisonment and persecution.

sought the accolades of man, the church endured humiliation and received an eternal weight of glory.

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Where the world coveted and hoarded their wealth for fear of want, the church gave it all away and lacked nothing.

Where the world sought the accolades of man, the church endured humiliation and received an eternal weight of glory. This is the real work of the true church that has been

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left as a witness of Christ in the the persecuted church is earth. The persecuted church prepared for martyrdom is prepared for martyrdom because she knows the God because she knows the who raises the dead. The god who raises the dead. persecution the Church faces in some areas of the world requires that they count the cost well before they ever come to Christ. Many give up social status, wealth, freedom, and even relationship with their unsaved friends and families, and yet God meets them in their sacrifice to bring life and peace that surpasses understanding.

When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples at Pentecost, He brought all things to nothing before the immeasurable worth of Christ. In the same manner, the Holy Spirit enabled Pastor Ojih to suffer a martyr’s death and daily enables the persecuted church to live life abundant in the midst of their suffering and sacrifice.

Living With Christ

A martyr’s widow rejoices in the new life of her daughter after her husband was killed by radical Muslims in Ethiopia.

And while they may not be martyrs in the traditional sense of the word, the families of the martyrs live on to bear testimony of the resurrection in how they choose to live and love in the face of such tragedy. Birtukan (left), the wife of a martyred evangelist, named her infant daughter the Amharic word for “light” due to the light of the gospel that spread in their village after her father’s martyrdom.

The testimony of Pauline Ayyad (next page), the widow of a Christian worker who was murdered in the Gaza strip, is that after the Father helped her overcome her grief, she is now able to say with joy, “It’s not everyone who gets to be called a martyr’s wife.”

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Pauline, a martyr’s widow, holds her family after learning to say with joy, “It’s not everyone who gets to be called a martyr’s wife.”

Their stories are just a few of the countless ways that the persecuted church is spreading life where there should be death, saying with Paul, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11).

The Way of the Martyr Most of us won’t be facing real martyrdom, but in some ways, the harder road is to walk in the way of a martyr every day. To do that, we can choose daily in the Spirit to offer up our lives as a “living sacrifice,” to love instead of hate, and to be patient, kind and bold, pointing our friends as well as our enemies to Jesus.

Can you say with Paul and the persecuted church that you are always carrying in your body the death of Jesus so that His life might shine in you? Can people smell the aroma of Christ when they meet you? Be encouraged today to walk in the way of the martyr — the way of everlasting life — by remembering the words of Jesus to fretting Martha at the tomb of her brother Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live” John 11:25.

“I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

- Jesus Christ, the faithful witness

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Sonadei’s Story: A God Who Redeems

Losing a child is a heartbreaking experience for any parent, but can you imagine the torture of losing two children within days of each other? That is exactly what happened to Sonadei, a Christian mother in Orissa, India. Three years after Hindu radicals slaughtered more than 100 Christians and forced 55,000 to flee their homes, Christians in Orissa continue to pay the ultimate price for their faith.

This time, it was a three-day-old baby who paid the price.

Sonadei’s nightmare started on October 27, 2010, when she lost her 18-month-old daughter to sickness.

The next day, the heartbroken mother and the Christians in her village of Bendaguda in Orissa came out together to mourn the loss and bury Sonadei’s daughter.

Unfortunately, Sonadei would never be able to bury her child with dignity. Hindu radicals surrounded the procession of mourners and put a stop to the funeral by attacking the mourners — after all, India is a Hindu land and Christians have no right to bury their dead on Hindu land.

Sonadei thanks ICC for helping her after she was attacked by Hindu radicals.

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Within moments, a child’s funeral had turned into a scene of violence.

Even the bereaved Sonadei was not spared, despite being eight months pregnant at the time. Sonadei suffered severely from the attack, but the injuries to her unborn child would prove fatal.

“I thank you in the name of Jesus. I didn’t have any hope that I would live again. At that point, God helped me through ICC for my medical treatment.”

Though Sonadei had begun to bleed profusely, she and the other Christian villagers were forced to flee into hiding to escape the Hindu radicals. Because there was no hospital in the village and it had already grown dark, Sonadei was forced to spend the night in hiding, still carrying the decomposing body of her 18-month-old daughter. Terrified that the Hindu radicals would kill them if they tried to escape the village and worried that Sonadei might not make it through the night, the Christians spent the night in fear. Sonadei was losing blood rapidly, and her deceased daughter had yet to be buried.

That same night, we issued a press release asking Christians around the world to pray for Sonadei and the other Christians in hiding with her. We also asked our supporters to call Indian embassies in their countries and ask the officials to send the police to protect the Christians. We talked to Pastor Vijay Kumar, one of the Christians in hiding with Sonadei who was also attacked at the funeral. He expressed how panicked they were and asked for your prayers.

The Lord heard the prayers of his saints around the world and the night passed without incident.

The next day, the Christians took Sonadei to another village for medical treatment, which ICC was blessed to be able to pay for thanks to the generous gifts of our donors. Sonadei survived despite the brutal assault on her and her unborn child. She gave birth to a baby girl on November 4th. Tragically, her infant daughter only lived three days due to the head injuries she sustained in her mother’s womb during the attack. Sonadei’s little girl was a martyr who was killed for the faith of her parents.

In a letter she wrote to ICC, Sonadei was thankful for the protection of God over her life and the help she received for the medical treatment. She said: I thank you in the name of Jesus Christ. I didn’t have any hope that I would live again. At that point, God helped me through ICC for my medical treatment. I want to thank you for your timely help and thank God for using you. I covet your continued prayers for the protection of our congregation.

Please pray that God would strengthen us, increase our faith and help us continue to walk in faith.

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The men (not shown here) who attacked Sonadei and were responsible for the death of her child have miraculously come to Christ and entered the waters of baptism!

Mercy and Redemption The life of Sonadei’s child and the suffering that she has endured as a mother has not been wasted. The Lord has brought forth life out of her tragic losses.

We have learned that the Hindu radicals who assaulted Sonadei and were responsible for the death of her child have come to Christ in an amazing story of redemption! Remember the Apostle Paul’s story in the Bible? He was known for persecuting Christians before he became one of the most devout followers of Jesus. In fact, Paul was one of the people who participated in the killing of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. In his own words, Paul described his role in the killing of Stephen: “And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him” Acts 22:20.

That is exactly how the Lord used the martyrdom of Sonadei’s daughter. The Hindu radicals who caused her death have now decided to follow Jesus and have already been baptized. Today, the believers are building a new church in the village. This has opened a wide door for the gospel in the Hindudominated village.

The Lord has also continued to bless Sonadei, and she is now pregnant with another child. When we are willing to lay down our lives for Him, the Lord knows how to use our situations to advance His kingdom. Glory be to God. 11 | You can help today! www.persecution.org

China: persecution rising Imagine you attend a large church in your nation’s capital and you’ve been openly holding worship services for years. But six months ago, the government closed your church with no warning. Every Sunday, members of your church show up at the chained doors of the building to hold services outside in spite of the fact that the government has already arrested almost half of your congregation for just showing up on a Sunday morning. Would you continue to show up every week, knowing that you could be the next to be arrested, to lose your home, or your job?

Or would you choose instead to attend another church, one that is on the government’s good side?

This is reality for members of the Shouwang Church in Beijing, who have been barred from their building and forced to worship outdoors since April 10th, 2011. Every Sunday, they faithfully turn up for worship services, knowing that arrest is imminent. More than 480 pastors, leaders, and congregants from this church of over 1,000 members have already been arrested for their subversive actions against the Chinese government.

Persecution in the World’s Most Populous Nation The Shouwang Church is perhaps the most prominent example of China’s recent crackdown on underground churches. While churches not officially

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affiliated with the government-sanctioned Three-Self Church or the Patriotic Catholic Association have been illegal for the past sixty years, in recent years they had largely been left alone. This year, however, we have seen dozens of church leaders kidnapped, arrested, and sent to China’s prisons and labor camps where they suffer physical torture, solitary confinement, heavy labor, and political re-education.

So why does a nation that is establishing itself as a political superpower, that is growing by leaps and bounds economically, and that has signed human rights charters vowing to uphold the religious freedom of its citizens, have the desire to openly oppress Christians, despite global disapproval? And considering that China, over the decades, has significantly decreased overall persecution and has given the Church more and more freedom — why the recent rebirth of persecution?

The obvious discord between these two opposing trends is puzzling until you understand the history of Christianity in China.

The Official Establishment of Christianity under Communist Rule Christianity first arrived in China in 685 AD, and the Chinese Church experienced waves of growth, acceptance, and persecution for the next 1200 years. At the end of World War II, when China became a communist nation, organized Christianity was targeted and essentially wiped out by the regime, resulting in the State takeover of all mission institutions, the expulsion of all foreign missionaries, the killing of thousands of clergy, and the imprisonment of Christians in labor camps for decades-long sentences. To the new ruling socialist party, religion was seen as a threat to their rule, and Christianity was especially associated with Western imperialism and thus particularly targeted to be wiped out.

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Members of the Shouwang Church protest as police attempt toPERSECU prevent theION believers from meeting outdoors after forcefully shutting down their church.

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The office of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in Shanghai.

Any Chinese church that is not a member of this governmentcontrolled body is considered illegal and is persecuted.

The Birth of the Communist Controlled Church Soon after in 1954, the Chinese government established the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, or the Three-Self Church, which became the only legally-recognized Protestant form of Christianity in the communist nation. The Three-Self Church promoted an ideology of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation (the three-selfs) which removed all foreign influence and seemingly assured control of the Church by the newly-formed communist government. Three years later, the government formed the Patriotic Catholic Association and made it the only legally recognized form of Chinese Catholicism to usurp control of China’s Catholics from Rome.

Both the Protestant and Catholic structures were, and still are, strictly controlled by the Chinese regime. The baptism of minors is forbidden, sermons must be pre-approved by the governing institutions, theological teachings are focused on mostly the social rather than spiritual aspects of Christianity, and evangelism is limited to church property. These controls created stagnant churches that slowly faded from Chinese society.

Sixty years later, in a nation with almost 1.4 billion people, there are an estimated 4 million Catholics and 10 million Protestants who are a part of “legal” Christianity – a mere 1% of the population.

The Spread of “Illegal” Christianity Despite the government’s efforts to control and strangle Christianity over the past six decades, a movement of underground churches has

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exploded. The government’s control of the official churches has had its intended effect. These churches have stagnated in contrast to the illegal house churches which have spread like wildfire. Though exact numbers are impossible to cite, some estimate that as many as 120 million Christians are part of the underground movement in China.

House churches are easily established, grow quickly, and split and multiply as they outgrow their capacity to operate below the radar.

However, this has also fostered an unfortunate environment where many Christians have received limited theological training and where heretical teachings are easily accepted and spread. As a response, for decades, concerned Christians around the globe have participated in activities to support these underground churches by providing theological training to pastors and smuggling in Bibles to believers desperate for the Word.

Persecution on the Rise For many years now, especially in large urban centers, these “illegal” churches have been allowed to gather openly despite government knowledge of their existence. They are usually left alone, but for Christians who choose to be a part of these churches, their decision is still a risky one. At any given time, the Chinese government can choose to actively persecute underground Christians – and attacks have been recently on the rise.

Members of the Shouwang Church gather in the rain to worship outside after police forcefully closed their church.

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“If a church joins an organization whose goal is to accomplish the tasks stipulated by the ruling party or secular agencies, then the very foundation for the meaningful existence of the church will be shaken.

The church’s very foundations might very well become dislocated...its position as a ...church founded upon Jesus Christ will be turned into that of a nation-state.”

- members of the persecuted Shouwang Church

After decades of hostile relations with the Vatican, China and the Pope were jointly appointing bishops and other Catholic leaders in the last few years, until recent months, when China suddenly shut down negotiations and began ordaining its own bishops and forcing priests faithful to the Pope to recant their allegiances.

This year alone, underground pastors and priests have been arrested and sentenced to years of hard labor in China’s re-education labor camps where physical torture and solitary confinement are commonplace.

Christian laypersons have been sentenced to house arrest where they are cut off from the outside world for months at a time, suffering with limited access to food and other basic necessities. Christians have been forced out of their rental homes by landlords coerced by the government to evict them, have lost their jobs with no reasonable explanation, have been detained for questioning at any given time, and have been kidnapped by the communist regime, never to be heard from again.

Despite the risks and growing incidences of attacks, underground Christians are remaining steadfast in their faith. In a public statement addressing the ongoing persecution they have been facing at the hands of the Chinese government, members of the Shouwang Church answered why they would not join the Three-Self Church and instead continually face violence, arrests, and labor camps:

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“If a church joins an organization whose goal is to accomplish the tasks stipulated by the ruling party or secular state agencies, then the very foundation for the meaningful existence of the church will be shaken.

The church’s very foundations might very well become dislocated; that is to say, its position as a universal [Christian] church founded upon Jesus Christ would be turned into that of a nation-state.”

So why has China’s stance on the underground Church changed? Some believe that this year’s revolutions in the Middle East have motivated the communist regime to preemptively strike against any potential prodemocracy groups, such as the perceived Western-aligned underground churches. Others cite China’s growing economic and political prestige as the source of the nation’s blatant disregard for its citizens’ freedoms and rights – believing that as China becomes more autonomous and powerful in the world, it will increasingly oppress its citizens and turn a deaf ear to the world’s cries against its actions.

ICC’s Support of the Persecuted Church Whether these are the reasons for the increasing attacks against Christians in China, or if there are other reasons to be discovered, what we do know is that the Church thrives under persecution and we must do everything we can to support those who are persecuted for their faith, and to help spread the Gospel of Christ in the world’s most populous nation. To that end, ICC is sending thousands of Bibles each month into China and providing for the legal and basic needs of families whose breadwinners have been arrested for leading underground churches.

What Can You Do? Take Action Today!

One thing you can do immediately is to contact the Chinese Embassy in your country and express your concern over the harassment, arrests, and persecution of the Shouwang Church. In the U.S., call 202-495-2266.

ICC is sending thousands of Bibles into China.

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YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK

A martyr’s widow celebrates the miraculous birth of her daughter after surviving the attack that killed her husband.

Sustaining the Widow and Orphan Last month, we told you about Birtukan, a Christian widow whose husband was brutally killed by Muslims in Ethiopia on April 21 for his efforts to evangelize the Muslims in his community.

Birtukan, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was also assaulted by her husband’s attackers, but she and her unborn child miraculously survived the attack.

Light is Born in Bethlehem!

On July 6, the Lord blessed Birtukan with a baby girl. We told you that she was named Berhane, the Amharic word for light, but we’ve learned that she has also been given the name Bethlehem. Birtukan gave her daughter this second name because she gave birth to her in a setting like a manger — a home she shares with cow and sheep.

Birtukan’s mother told us that the name Berhane reminds her that the light of the gospel is shining over the Muslim city where her son-inlaw was martyred. She told us that through his sacrifice, the Lord has opened the door for evangelism among the Muslims in the city. In fact, church leaders in the city are already preparing a large conference to reach out to Muslims and proclaim the gospel to the city.

When we asked Birtukan about her hopes for her daughter, she told us: I want to my daughter to grow up knowing about the word of God and getting an education. I also want her to be an evangelist like her father.

I want her to preach the gospel throughout the world. I want us to have a decent life. We need to move from this house which we are currently sharing with cows and sheep.

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Birtukan thanks ICC for the milking cows ICC provided to help sustain her and her new baby.

Answering the Petition of the Widow Birtukan is currently sharing an overcrowded home with her parents and other relatives, as well as livestock. We want to help answer her wish for her daughter to grow up in a home they can call their own, and so we are now in the process of building her a new house. Construction will begin soon!

In the meantime, we have purchased three cows (above) for Birtukan to use for milk. One of the cows is with a calf and ready for milking, another is pregnant and will be available for milking soon, and the third is not yet pregnant. We hope this will give Birtukan a sustainaable income for many years.

After receiving the cows, Birtukan told us: I am so grateful for ICC for the help that they provided. I pray for all the staff of ICC for giving me the assistance. I would have felt forgotten had it not been for help I got from ICC.

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Don’t forget that November 13th is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted! We have resources available to help you prepare your church or small group for this important day, just visit:

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November 13th, IDOP: Pray for the persecuted

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