Kristityt lisääntyneet Iranissa ja Afganistanissa huimasti

Iranin vallankumousvuonna heitä oli vain n. 500, nyt ehkä 370 000.

A very conservative estimate of
the number of Christians (both Assyrians
and Armenians) in Iran hovers
around 100,00, however, the generally-
accepted estimate is about
370,000. While others even claim
there are double that number.
Whatever the current number,
Christians have dramatically increased
since 1979 during the Islamic
revolution when there were no
more than 500. Today, despite the
difficulties, it is a growing and vibrant
community.
“When a country receives a new
translation of the Bible, the Church
is always strengthened”, explained
Sam Yeghnazar, founder and director
of Elam on 29 September, underlining
that “the Word of God is not
bound but remains eternal” and that
“no one can stop the Holy Spirit’s
action”. The Coordinator and Chief
Editor of the new Bible translation
Mehrdad Fatehi said: “This project
is like raising a child. It has been 18
years of hard work but worth it for
such an exciting day”. At the inauguration
of the Bible Mr Fatehi applauded
the work of the team of
more than 30 translators, exegetes
and specialists who examined every
single verse in order to ensure that
the text was faithful to the original
Hebrew and Greek.