The lay pastor of St. George’s Memorial Church in Baghdad has been released unharmed upon payment of a $40,000 ransom by the church, reported its vicar, Canon Andrew White.

However, “the complexities have just begun,” Canon White wrote on April 26. He said the church was “told by the kidnappers that if [the lay pastor] returns to his house, or removes his furniture he will be killed. Sadly we know this is true, it happens so often in Iraq.”

Seized by a criminal gang on April 25, the parish and the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East were given one day to pay the ransom for the lay pastor, Majid. In 2005, the vestry of St. George’s disappeared while traveling by car through the Sunni triangle while returning from a diocesan conference in Jordan. They are presumed dead.

“Thank you for your prayers; they worked!,” Canon White told supporters. The parish was able to raise the funds in Baghdad to pay the kidnappers, and forwarded the cash to Jordan where it was paid to the kidnappers. “We did not have enough money but this morning we had a gift from God which exactly covered the cost,” he wrote.

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