The leaders of the churches in England used their sermons for Easter to reflect on the brutal persecution of Christians across the world.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told a congregation at Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday morning that Christians must not to resort to violence in the face of persecution.
Speaking days after some 150 students were slaughtered by Islamic militants because of their faith at Garissa University in Kenya in east Africa, Archbishop Welby said: “To witness is to be a martyr.”
He said that there had been “so many” martyrs in the last year, including in Libya, where 21 of Coptic Christians were killed in March.
But he warned: “Christians must resist without violence the persecution they suffer and support persecuted communities, with love and goodness and generosity.”
His words echoed those of Pope Francis who in his Urbi et Orbi message on Sunday said of those who suffer injustice and violence: “There are so many of them."
Archbishop Welby said on Sunday that these martyrs were “caught up in the resurrection.”
The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, also reflected on persecution of Christians in his Easter Vigil homily.
“Our Vigil this evening started in a very deep darkness, and in many ways that is a harsh reality because there is much darkness in our lives. With the violence in Kenya, the wretchedness of those who have been forced away from their homes, and now in Northern Iraq, millions of displaced people,” he said at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday night.
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