Today I came across an account about the life and martyrdom of Mona Mahmudnizhad, a 16 year old Iranian girl who refused to deny her faith.
Because of her youth and conspicuous innocence, she became, in a sense, a symbol of the group of 9 other women who were also executed. In prison, she was lashed on the soles of her feet with a cable and forced to walk on bleeding feet. Yet she never waivered in her faith, even to the point of kissing the hands of her executioner, and then the rope, before putting it around her own throat.
What was her crime? Teaching her faith to children.
Her life and faith were that important to her. She was perhaps the last to be hanged, and the Iranian government was hoping to get her to denounce her faith by forcing her to watch the others hanged one by one. What did she believe that kept her going on so strong and yet without bitterness and even with love for her murderers and torturers? She believed that the One True God loves everyone regardless of race or religion, and she was opposed entirely to violence. She believed in the Unity of all religions and was a quintessential ecumenist.
What was her religion that enabled her at her tender age and disposition to face down and conquer such fearful odds? She was not an Orthodox Christian. She was in fact not any kind of Christian. She was from a breakaway cult from Islam. She was a Bahai.
I am not posting this to glorify Bahais. No. They are heretics and their religion serves to ensnare the precious souls that fall into this cult. But I post this because, in my desire to fight against the great temptations, errors, and to stand up for True Orthodoxy and to expose the heresy of the hour, I can see ecumenists, Muslims, or what have you, as being evil agents of the devil. But Mona reminds us that they are also people made in God's Image and they, though not filled with the true grace of God, can have a genuine, exemplary yearning for Love and God. I hope that by reading about her and watching her video below, we will be reminded how beautiful God's creation, Humanity, is, despite the fall, and that we will love them and pray for them and reach out to them more easily as a result. Let us shine brightly with Love for our blessed Saviour and draw all men unto Him.
A Touching Video Tribute to Mona. Very good to watch.