CWN - In a message to the Western world, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Iraq, has said that Christians who are free to practice their faith have obligations to their persecuted co-religionists.

“You in the West are living in a way that persecuted Christians cannot,” wrote Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona, in a message posted by National Review. He continued:

Since they do not have freedom, you must live out the true meaning of freedom; since they cannot publicly celebrate their faith, you must give public witness of your faith in your own societies; since the women in our countries do not have the possibility of freely choosing to go outside their houses, women in the West should become witnesses to true Christian freedom.

Reflecting on the persecution that Christians face in the Middle East, the Iraqi prelate said that he reminds his flock of the danger of responding to violence with violence. He said “that because of being persecuted, we can, with the passing of time, end up becoming persecutors ourselves — turning to violence in our way of thinking, in treating our neighbor, in our way of living.”