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Image copyright Hugh Sykes Image caption Archbishop Bashar Warda was appaluaded by the congregation with hand clapping and ululating I first met Bashar Warda 11 years ago, when he was a parish priest in Baghdad, at the Church of St Ilya, right next to a Shia mosque. Muslim women were praying at a statue of the Virgin Mary in the church courtyard. Father Bashar showed me his primary school, for more than 400 Christian - and Muslim - children (60% and 40% respectively). There was no religious instruction, he told me, "just to learn to live together, study together, accepting each other." Father Bashar concluded his remarks with "it's the Iraqi way of living together." That was in 2005. The violent years that followed profoundly undermined that Iraqi way. Image copyright Hugh Sykes Image caption The Christian population in Iraq has fallen dramatically in recent years How big is the Christian community in Iraq? Before the 2003 invasion and occupation, there were approximately 1.5 million Christians in Iraq Now, they are believed to number between 200,000 and 400,000 About a million Iraqi Christians have either left the country or have been killed Prince Charles recently used his Thought For The Day message on BBC Radio 4 to highlight warnings of the end of Iraq's Christian community Several priests have been killed - one beheaded and dismembered. A previous archbishop of Mosul died after being kidnapped, and a priest in Baghdad was kidnapped and released only when a ransom was paid. Dozens of Christians have died in bomb attacks on their churches during Mass. Al-Qaeda in Iraq and its successor, IS, have killed hundreds of Christians, and menaced many more out of their homes. But this Christmas coincides with some relief, at last, for thousands of Iraqi Christians.