Three monks and six students have taken refuge in the ancient monastery of Mar Mattai in northern Iraq, just 12 miles from the Islamic State-occupied Mosul City, not willing to flee, and expressing "their faith that this is a secure place."
Erbil's Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda said a small unit of the Kurdish military is protecting the nine Christians but that's not why they believe they are safe in the shrine, also known as St. Matthew's Monastery.
Sahar Karaikos, one of six students at the monastery, believes in the wisdom of his teachers. "We are not scared, because our teachers give us a feeling of peace here, but we know we are on the front lines, and in seconds the Islamic State could be here," he was quoted as saying. "I don't even want to think or speak about the destruction the Islamic State would cause if they took our monastery."