BAGHDAD (Ruptly) — Dozens of Orthodox Christians attended an Easter Sunday ceremony at the Orthodox Church of Bartella.

Footage shows a large number of residents inside the church, carrying candles during prayer, amid tightened preventive measures to avoid the risk of infection with coronavirus.

At the end of the celebration, Easter eggs and gifts were distributed to the attendees.

Translations
Bassam Saeed, local (Arabic):

Frankly, the situation in the region is tense, I mean, because of the presence of the Coronavirus, but this year is better than last year, because last year people couldn’t attend the church, the churches were closed, but now they opened the churches. Happy Holidays.

Father Daoud Suleiman, priest of the Mart Shmoni Church in Bartella (Arabic):

We, as children of peace, want to convey the message of peace to the whole world, wishing the whole world peace, in any country, for wars to be ended, for conflicts and quarrels to be abolished, and We hope that the Lord God will lift this ordeal from the whole world, especially the dreaded Corona pandemic.

Priest Quriaqous (Arabic):

Although a lot was lost, we must not forget this thing, as we say, what was defeated is defeated, what died had died, and what is gone is gone, but we thank our Lord for what remains until now. Some of the people of the region returned, and the other part remained in Ainkawa, and another part emigrated and left the homeland. This is wrong of course because we do not want the people to be displaced in the world and this is a big problem because, first of all, we do not want them to forget our homeland, because one’s homeland is greater than anything in the world, despite everything, our Iraq is the best and the greatest of all.