A member of our St Mary’s church family has written the following account of the humanitarian catastrophe in his homeland Iran so that we can be informed and prayerful for our brothers and sisters in Christ and all the people of that country. Please be aware that it is a distressing account to read. We are so thankful to have church family members at St Mary’s from such a range of nations. It’s important that we are aware of the griefs and concerns each other are bearing so that we can pray for and love one another. If you would like to write an account of your homeland and how we can pray for it please click here to contact the blog editor.
With love in Christ,
Jon Drake
A Plea for Prayer and Witness
To my brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am writing to you because I cannot remain silent while a humanitarian catastrophe of historic proportions unfolds. In our faith, we cherish the God-given dignity of every soul and the call to seek justice, but right now, those sacred values are being systematically annihilated in my motherland, Iran.
What we are witnessing is not just a crackdown; it is a campaign of mass murder so calculated and cruel that it defies modern comparison.
The Scale of the Atrocity
The reports emerging from the current communication blackouts are devastating. While the regime officially acknowledged 3,000 deaths since early January, independent monitors have documented a slaughter that experts believe has claimed upwards of 36,000 lives. Sadly, the numbers are still growing. In its systematic nature and the speed of the killing, we are seeing a crime against humanity that carries the weight and horror of the darkest genocides in history.
On social media, we have seen thousands of videos of people trapped in the streets and hunted down. But perhaps most heartbreaking is the viral video of a father wandering through a sea of corpses in body bags, moaning: “My son, where are you?” That cry, “where are you?” is now the sound of a broken nation.
What makes this even more unbearable is the sheer depravity of the state’s response to grieving families. There are verified accounts of the government charging families for the bullets used to kill their children or desecrating the bodies in front of their loved ones. This is a level of dehumanisation and evil that should shake every one of us to our core.
A Request for Christian Solidarity
As a member of this congregation, I believe we cannot remain indifferent while a generation is being erased. In Hebrews 13:3 we are called to feel the pain of those being mistreated as if it were our own bodies being broken, and to remember those in prison as if we were locked in the cells beside them.
Our Lord Jesus Christ warned us in Matthew 25:40, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” He was himself a victim of injustice, state violence, and false accusation, and he taught us that when the innocent are imprisoned or oppressed, he is there among them.
If we believe that Christ is present in the midst of “the least of these,” then looking toward the people of Iran becomes a way for us to practice the mercy he taught us. For me, to remember these victims is a quiet way to honour the heart of Christ. In a world where so many are suffering for the sake of their dignity, we can choose to hold them in our prayers as an act of faith, standing in spirit with those whose voices have been silenced.
I am humbly asking that we, as a church family, acknowledge this pain. Please keep the people of Iran in your prayers. Please pray for the grieving families, for those still in detention, and especially for our Iranian Christian brothers and sisters who face double the pressure of persecution for both their faith and their heritage.
We are called to weep with those who weep and to be a light in the darkness.
In faith and solidarity,
Your brother,
Minoosh