The father of one of 20 pastors ambushed in eastern India last month was soaked in blood from the attack as he told his son, “I don’t think I will make it. I just want you to know that I will be with my Maker, and you should not worry for me.”
He then collapsed, unconscious. The 52-year-old Sukra Madi was one of 10 Christians hospitalized and 30 injured in the attack as the pastors were returning from an event to bless farm crops in Kotamateru village, in Odisha state’s Malkangiri District, on June 21.
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Madi is still struggling to recover from the attack by 30 to 40 villagers who practice tribal religion, said his son, Pastor Manglu Madi, who had tried to rescue him from the assailants armed with spades, axes and wooden sticks.
“I was trying to escape but saw they had caught my father – how could I desert him?” Pastor Madi told Morning Star News. “I somehow pulled him into a nearby house. Blood was oozing from his head and his clothes were soaked.”
Local tradition calls for an annual chicken sacrifice to bless agricultural produce in what is known as a “seed blessing,” but the 11 Christian families of Kotamateru had opted instead to hold a Christian form of the ceremony, inviting pastors from about 15 villages to bless their seed and partake in a meal.
They had obtained verbal permission from police, who promised they would handle any potential trouble, said Pastor Somru Muchaki.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by Morning Star News.
