Children participate in a nativity scene at Mart Shmoni Church in the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq December 25, 2018. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Christians quietly celebrated Christmas on Tuesday amid improved security, more than a year after the country declared victory over Islamic State militants who threatened to end their 2,000-year history in Iraq.
Christianity in Iraq dates back to the first century of the Christian era, when the apostles Thomas and Thaddeus are believed to have preached the Gospel on the fertile flood plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
