Iran’s Muslim and Christian martyrs were very similar to each other in their manners and personalities, said the minister of culture and Islamic guidance on Tuesday.
Abbas Salehi made the remarks in an address, via a live video connection, to the families of two prominent Christian martyrs of the northwestern Iranian city of Orumiyeh, Sako Majnoonians and Sargoon Akoians Balanji, who sacrificed their lives during the Iraqi-imposed war (1980-88) to defend their country, IRNA reported.
Honoring the revered families of Iran’s Christian martyrs, the minister added the relationship between Iranian people and the country’s religious minorities in different fields has been a tangible one.
“This is important because we all have roots in the same soil and are all Iranians.”
He added these common roots had been the reasons behind the services offered to Iran over the past centuries by the followers of other religions.
Part of Iranians’ cultural and civilizational heritages, which they are proud of, is an outcome of such efforts and services, Salehi said.
He said having a common language is the other part of this tangible relationship between Iranians and the country’s religious minorities.
“We speak a shared language. Everyone knows using a common language is tantamount to having similar thoughts.”
Commenting on the interactions and sympathy between Iran’s Muslim and Christian communities, the minister said in times of hardship, they have always stood together and supported each other.
During the past 150 years of the Iranian history, examples of such a sympathy and interactions were seen in the Constitutional Revolution of Iran (1905-11), the victory of the Islamic Revolution (1979) and the Iraqi-imposed war, he added.
Describing as significant the number of the country’s Christian, Armenian and Assyrian martyrs during the eight-year war, the minister said they fought shoulder to shoulder with their Muslim fellow countrymen during the imposed war.