Coptic Orthodox

Muslim Slow-motion Genocide on indiginous Coptic

2011-10-13T19:49:00.004+02:00

More Films on muslim Persecution of Copts here
http://kitmantv.blogspot.com/2008/12/egypts-rubbish-people.html
http://kitmantv.blogspot.com/2009/11/fear-and-faith.html
And a lecture
http://kitmantv.blogspot.com/2009/12/egypts-copts-and-myth-of-islamic.html
original swiss S F (Schweizer Ferhsehen) version here "Menschen zweiter Klasse" http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=239d4fc9-7fee-48e2-a35a-be2c704cd781

If any broadcasters are watching - Please consider buying theis program from SF, this issue is hopelessly underreported

H.H. Pope Shenouda III comment about Maspero incident

2011-10-13T19:44:00.000+02:00

H.H. Pope Shenouda III comment about Maspero incident during the weekly sermon - 12/10/2011

Prime minister says Egypt 'scrambling' after at least 23 killed in clashes

2011-10-13T17:27:00.003+02:00

From Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, for CNN

October 10, 2011 -- Updated 0855 GMT (1655 HKT)

Cairo (CNN) -- Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said Monday that clashes hours earlier between army forces and pro-Coptic Christian protesters had "brought us back" to the tense, violent period at the onset of the recent revolution.

"Instead of going forward, we found ourselves scrambling for security," Sharaf said on state television in an early morning speech, noting that the incident had produced "martyrs, both civilian and from the military."

The bloodshed in Cairo occurred just over a week after the burning of a Coptic Christian church in southern Egypt. The burning prompted the Sunday protest demanding equality and protection of Coptic places of worship.

Dr. Sheriff Doss, the head of Egypt's chief association of Coptics, said 17 civilians died and 40 were injured.

An additional 12 army troops were killed and over 50 were injured, according to Lt. Col. Amr Imam, an army spokesman.

Meanwhile, health ministry spokesman Adel Al Dawi said late Sunday that there were a total of 23 people dead and more than 180 injured.

The protesters -- many of them Coptics or supportive of their cause -- said they had been marching peacefully toward the Egyptian state television building when the violence erupted.

"Suddenly, we were attacked by thugs carrying swords and clubs," one protester, Magdi Hanna, told CNN.

According to Alla Mahmoud, an interior ministry spokesman, some protesters began "firing live ammunition at the army."

"This is the first time protesters fired at the army," added Imam, the military spokesman. "There must be a hidden hand behind this. Egyptians don't do that."

Mohammed Abdel Jabaar, a spokesman for the Egyptian Rebels Coalition that claims to have been part of the movement that led to former President Hosni Mubarak's ouster, blamed "interference from outside" for spurring the violent chain of events.

The January 25 youth revolution coalition, which has been involved in various anti-government protests including Sunday's demonstration, denied that any participants shot at the Egyptian forces.

Samir Bolos, one of the demonstrators, added Sunday that "some unknown people may have fired at the army, but not us."

Witnesses said the army forces fired on the protesters near the state television headquarters. Meanwhile, military trucks could be seen burning on the street.

Hundreds of demonstrators also went to Tahrir Square, the hub of the revolutionary movement earlier this year, according to Bolos. He claimed military police stormed the square with sticks, while protesters fought back with rocks.

A curfew has been imposed for between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. Monday around Tahrir Square and central Cairo, said Imam.

Egypt's National Justice Committee also plans to hold an emergency meeting Monday involving representatives from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the al-Azhar mosque and the Coptic church to discuss the developments, prime ministry spokesman Mohamed Hegazy said. Those talks will be held in the prime minister's building.

Meanwhile, state TV reported Sunday night that Ahmed al-Tayyeb, a prominent Egyptian Muslim leader and grand imam of Al-Azhar, has been reaching out to Coptic church leaders in hopes of containing the crisis.

The protests and clashes follow the September 30 burning of the Mar Girgis church in Edfu, a city in Aswan governorate in southern Egypt.

That attack marked the latest of several examples in which Coptic Christians have been targeted in the North African nation.

About 9% of Egypt's 80 million residents are Coptic Christians. They base their theology on the teachings of the Apostle Mark, who introduced Christianity to Egypt, according to St. Takla Church in Alexandria, the capital of Coptic Christianity.

The religion split with other Christians in the 5th century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

In Egypt, they have been targeted of late, including the New Year's Day bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria that left 23 people dead. There have also been sectarian clashes, including one in Cairo on May 7 in which at least 12 people were killed.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent bipartisan federal agency, earlier this year added Egypt to a list of countries named as the worst violators of religious freedom.

Sunday's incident also marks the latest skirmish between protesters and government forces.

An incident last Tuesday outside a military court in Nasr City resulted in the arrests of two protesters. Journalists covering the demonstration were assaulted, according to witnesses.

The same day, military police fired shots into the air to disperse about 400 pro-Coptic demonstrators who had attempted to stage a sit-in in front of the state television building after marching through the streets of Cairo.

http://edition.cnn.com/
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/09/world/meast/egypt-protest-clashes/index.html

Cairo clashes claim more victims

2011-10-13T17:09:00.000+02:00

Updated October 10, 2011 14:27:00

Source: The World Today | Duration: 7min 19sec

ELEANOR HALL: But we go first today to Egypt's capital Cairo which is in the midst of some of the worst violence since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in February.

At least 24 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in clashes between Coptic Christians and security forces. And as we'll hear, many died from horrific injuries that suggest they were run over by armoured vehicles.

The Christians had been demonstrating about a recent attack on one of their churches by Islamic extremists.

The Egyptian cabinet has now called an emergency meeting for tomorrow, vowing the violence won't derail next month's parliamentary elections.

I spoke a short time ago to our Middle East correspondent Ben Knight who's in Cairo.

Ben, just update us on the situation there now. The government has imposed a curfew. Has that calmed the violence?

BEN KNIGHT: Well, yeah. The violence did calm down probably about an hour or so before that although as we were making our way back from the Coptic hospital towards the hotel, it was a pretty long trip because the roads were being blocked by sometimes by police other times in one instance by a very large mob of young men carrying homemade weapons.

So look, it is calm but it is certainly still very tense.

ELEANOR HALL: We're hearing reports of horrific injuries suggesting that some people were crushed by tanks. When you were at the hospital earlier, from what you saw, was that possible?

BEN KNIGHT: I would say it was very possible. We went inside the morgue at the hospital where I saw 17 bodies and I saw the injuries and without getting too graphic, the faces that were caved in, trauma to the body that was caused by not just a blunt instrument but a very large blunt instrument.

Now it is not my place to speculate but before we actually went down to see the protest for ourselves we were watching live pictures on Arab TV of military vehicles, police or army vehicles driving through the crowd of protesters.

ELEANOR HALL: Why do you think the army has cracked down so heavily on these protests?

BEN KNIGHT: Well, there is a bunch of conspiracy theories running around Cairo at the moment. First of all the army promised that it would maintain the security and the safety of Egyptians. You know, the safety and security of the country while it oversaw the transition to democracy. So any kind of protest is a challenge to that and it doesn't like them.

Now having said that there are a number of protests going on pretty much every day around this city but this was a protest by an extremely angry group of Coptic Christians for the attacks at their churches and that their members have come under.

So not only that but it was a march on the offices of state television. Now that's significant because this is seen as a real symbol of the old regime and also of the new one. State television is still functioning as state television and still operating very much in the mould that it was under Hosni Mubarak. It is still toes very much what the government tells it to.

I was watching state television as the protests were going on and it was talking about the number of security forces that had been killed - three at that time. Not a single mention of any injuries, not a single mention of any deaths among the protesters and the broadcasters blaming foreign provocateurs and all those sorts of things.

So the march on state television was significant and that is a building that the Mubarak regime and the army have been very, very careful to protect all the way through.

There aren't many buildings in Cairo that are still surrounded by machine guns but that's one of them.

ELEANOR HALL: Now you say that state television was reporting that three soldiers were killed. What have you been able to confirm about the casualties?

BEN KNIGHT: Nothing on the police or the military side but when I was at that hospital there were 17 bodies in that morgue and I don't know how many people were injured in the emergency room and other parts of that hospital.

Now I don't know if that is the extent of the casualties because while we were there the military came to the hospital and it was impossible for anyone to get in or out and there were clashes going on in the streets outside the hospital.

Now I should point out that this hospital is not near where the protests were. It is about four or five kilometres away, a different part of Cairo so the injured and the dead were taken there then the army went to, it went to the hospital.

So before that happened there were 17 bodies in that morgue that I saw myself. I don't know if there will be any more turning up.

ELEANOR HALL: How destabilising is this sort of thing for the government as it prepares Egypt for its first post Arab Spring parliamentary elections next month?

BEN KNIGHT: Well, look there are some people who would argue that this was in fact instigated by the government. As I said there are a lot of conspiracy theories running around and while I don't normally entertain those, that is something that is very much being discussed here. There is a view that the military does not want to pass on power. It is not serious about taking the country to elections and that this kind of instability is being ignited by the military itself so it has an excuse to crack down and to hang onto power and to push the elections out.

Now there is no evidence of that but that is something that a lot of people here are talking about. Now it has to be pointed out that this is not necessarily violence between Muslims and Christians in Cairo itself although that is not unheard of but this sort of thing tends to happen in the more rural areas but what the Christians have been saying is that it has been incited, that particularly the governor of the province of Aswan has been inciting this violence against them and the military council is doing nothing to stop it.

They want the governor removed, they want the military council to protect them and they say that they are not doing that and that's why you are seeing these very angry protests this week. One of the churches was burnt down last week and that's what sparked this.

ELEANOR HALL: Well, the Egyptian cabinet has called an emergency meeting. If what you're suggesting is that there is a lot of concern that it is the government in fact inciting this violence, what is that emergency meeting likely to achieve?

BEN KNIGHT: Well, I don't know but I think it will be very interesting to see what happens on the streets of Cairo tomorrow morning local time which is some hours from now. Are there going to be more Coptic Christians out there protesting on the streets? I wouldn't be surprised. There was a lot of anger at the hospital that I was at.

I think you are going to find a very strong security presence but also, it will be I think, don't be surprised to see Egyptian Muslims out there marching alongside the Christians as well because that is certainly what we saw earlier in the week at the other protest.

There are a lot of people in this country who don't like the sectarian violence, don't like the sectarian divisions that are sort of bubbling to the surface at the moment. Look, it is impossible to tell but I can tell you that there are going to be a lot more police and military police on the streets tomorrow than there were today.

ELEANOR HALL: Ben Knight in Cairo, thank you. That's the ABC's Middle East correspondent Ben Knight speaking at about 2am his time.

http://www.abc.net.au/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-10/cairo-clashes-claim-more-victims/3459396?section=world

Islam's war on the Cross: Egypt's move to democracy under threat after latest attack on Coptic community

2011-10-12T19:01:00.003+02:00

Christians in Egypt are used to persecution, but this week's deadly attacks on a Copt demonstration threaten the country’s move from military rule to democracy.

By Con Coughlin

9:17PM BST 11 Oct 2011

In the 19 or so centuries since Christianity first took root in Egypt, the ritual of mourning has become an all-too-familiar experience for the majority of the country’s Coptic community. Egypt’s eight million Copts may claim to be their nation’s oldest surviving indigenous faith, but that has not spared them from prolonged periods of persecution, most recently at the hands of Islamist militants.

In many respects, the tone was set for nearly two millennia of oppression of the Copts, one of the world’s oldest Christian sects, by the martyrdom of St Mark the Evangelist, the disciple who established the Christian faith in Alexandria just a few years after the ascension of Christ.

The establishment of a new religion was bitterly resented by the city’s pagan population, who feared it would turn Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods. They exacted their revenge on Easter Monday in 68 AD when Roman soldiers put a rope around St Mark’s neck and dragged him through the streets of Alexandria until he was dead.

These days the methods used to persecute Egypt’s Copts might not be so primitive, but their overall effect is no less barbaric. During the latest outbreak of Coptic-related violence in Cairo on Sunday night, several Copts are reported to have been crushed to death by the tracks of an armoured military vehicle that ploughed into a group of protesters as they sang hymns and held aloft the Cross.

The roots of the current wave of anti-Coptic violence are murky. At first it was assumed that Islamist militants, who have waged a vicious campaign of intimidation, sparked the unrest by burning down a church in the southern province of Aswan. This attack was the latest in a series of clashes between Muslims and Christians, which began when 21 worshippers were killed as they left mass at a Coptic church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve.

Thousands of Copts descended on the state TV building in Cairo on Sunday to protest against what many Christians regard as the growing strength of ultra-conservative Islamists since the overthrow of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in February. But the uncompromising response of the Egyptian authorities, which resulted in government forces firing live rounds at stone-throwing protesters, has prompted accusations that the army, which has interim control of the country, is deliberately fostering sectarian hatred in order to disguise its own plans to maintain control of the country.

Following the high-profile protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square earlier this year – during which Muslim and Coptic protesters joined forces to demand the overthrow of President Mubarak – the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed responsibility for creating a modern, pluralistic democratic state following decades of authoritarian rule.

But the delays that have hindered plans to hold fresh parliamentary and presidential elections – they are now due to start at the end of next month – have led many to conclude that the military, which effectively ran the country during the Mubarak era, has no real interest in establishing democratic institutions. And what better way to abort the transition from military to democratic rule than to instigate nationwide sectarian violence?

As one Coptic protester commented in Cairo yesterday: “This is not about Muslim-Christian hatred. It is about the army trying to start a civil conflict for its own reasons, and we all know what those reasons are.”

Certainly the vitriolic language used by state-controlled broadcasters during coverage of the protests undermined the interim government’s claim to represent the interests of all Egyptians, Christians and Muslims alike.Newsreaders appealed for “honest Egyptians” to protect their soldiers against Christian “mobs”, while the Copts were denounced as “sons of dogs”, despite the fact many moderate Muslims, who want Egypt to be free of sectarian divisions, supported the protesters.

But then Egypt’s Copts are used to state-sponsored persecution. Tens of thousands of Copts fled the country in the 1950s after Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser nationalised Egypt’s private businesses, most of which were owned by Christians. Today it is estimated that two out of three Egyptians living in Britain are from Christian families. Egyptian communities in northern Europe, North America and Australia are also disproportionately Christian.

Nor is the persecution of religious minorities in the Middle East confined to Egypt’s Copts. One of the more alarming trends of recent years has been the violent persecution of Christians throughout the region.

In Iraq, for example, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003 was supposed to herald a new era of sectarian harmony. Instead a wave of al-Qaeda-related attacks has had a devastating impact on Iraq’s once-thriving Christian community, which numbered around 1.4 million 10 years ago, but has now declined to around 400,000.

As in Egypt, the exodus was hastened by a series of grotesque attacks on Iraqi churches, the worst of which was the suicide bomb attack on the Church of our Salvation in Baghdad at the end of last year, which killed 58 people. To mark their contempt for the Christian faith, the al-Qaeda bombers blew themselves up on the altar, together with a child hostage.

Not all the persecution of Christian minorities is as violent as that experienced in Iraq, but the refusal of even pro-Western countries such as Saudi Arabia to tolerate any expression of Christianity has forced believers to practise their faith in private. There are an estimated one million Catholics in Saudi Arabia, most of them guest-workers from the Philippines, but they risk immediate expulsion if they are found observing their religion.

In Iran, meanwhile, the persecution of Christians that began with the 1979 Islamic revolution resulted in a Christian pastor being sentenced to death in the provincial town of Rasht earlier this month for refusing to renounce his faith. The ayatollahs’ refusal to countenance any other faith has also resulted in an upsurge in the persecution of the country’s Baha’i sect, the world’s youngest monotheistic faith.

Much of the blame for the deterioration in relations between Islam and Christianity in the region can be laid at the door of the growing legions of Islamist militants who refuse to acknowledge the other main monotheistic faiths. They point to the comment made by the Prophet himself on his deathbed, when he instructed his followers that only one faith – Islam – could be tolerated in Arabia.

This interpretation is disputed by moderate Muslims – such as those who joined the Copts for Sunday night’s protest in Cairo – who argue that Islam is a tolerant faith, which allows for peaceful co-existence with other religions.

Unfortunately for Christians in the Middle East, this is increasingly the minority view among the region’s ruling elites, which are no longer prepared to recognise basic rights of their citizens, such as freedom of worship.

Arguably the most extreme example of this intolerance has been seen in Sudan, where decades of mistreatment of non-Muslims by the conservative Islamic government in Khartoum resulted earlier this year in the secession of the country’s Christian population to form South Sudan. The new state, which is the size of France but has just 38 miles of paved roads, is the world’s poorest, but simply to be free of the tyranny of their former Islamic rulers is reward enough for the new country’s four million Christian inhabitants.

The break-up of neighbouring Sudan will serve as a warning to the military authorities in Cairo, who should be mindful of St Mark’s remark that “Every affliction tests our will”. The current wave of persecution directed at Egypt’s Coptic community constitutes not only a major test of the interim government’s ability to maintain order, but also of its desire to establish a government that represents the interests of all Egyptians, irrespective of their creed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8820550/Islams-war-on-the-Cross-Egypts-move-to-democracy-under-threat-after-latest-attack-on-Coptic-community.html

Egypt: army faces crisis over killing of Christian protesters as deputy prime minister resigns in protest

2011-10-12T18:48:00.002+02:00

As violence raged across the Egyptian capital on Sunday night, the photograph of a woman clutching the hand of her dead fiance in a Cairo morgue was the most striking of many portraits of the perils facing the country's Christian minority.

By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent

6:48PM BST 11 Oct 2011

By on Tuesday, the internet and the social networking site Twitter were circulating before-and-after images of the couple, comparing the picture taken in the morgue with one taken on the day just two months ago when they announced their engagement.

"They were going to get married in two months' time," said Noov Senary, a friend of the couple who identified them to The Daily Telegraph as Michael Mosaad and Viviane Magdy, both Coptic Christians. "Michael died on Sunday. When I got to the morgue, Viviane was already there."

The army, which has run Egypt since the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak, is facing its worst crisis yet over its role in the violence, which began when Christians staged a march to the state television station in the centre of the city.

The station initially broadcast appeals for help for the army, saying it had come under attack from an armed mob of Christians who had killed three soldiers.

Almost immediately that story began to unravel, as it became clear that it was the Christians, protesting peacefully, who had first been attacked by a mob many accuse of being instigated by either the army or supporters of Mr Mubarak.

The army then over-reacted dramatically, shooting at protesters and driving army vehicles over them, scenes caught on video posted online. At least 25 people, mostly Christians, were killed.

On Tuesday, Hazem el-Beblawi, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, resigned in protest at what had happened. The army said it would use the "full weight of the law" against trouble-makers without responding to criticism of its own role.

The violence has outraged the country's Coptic minority. Its head, Pope Shenouda, issued a rare statement condemning the government, while after a midnight funeral attended by 20,000 people mourners marched to Tahrir Square with the body of Mina Danial, an activist who had taken part in the anti-Mubarak protests earlier this year.

He had told friends that he wanted to be buried on the square, the most redolent single symbol of the "Arab Spring".

Mr Mosaad and Miss Magdy were researchers on a project run by the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights monitoring media coverage of next month's parliamentary elections.

Miss Senary, who works for the same organisation, said she and Mr Mosaad were taking part in the march on Sunday, which was being staged in protest at the burning of a new church in southern Egypt.

"I was told on my phone by my manager that Michael had been killed," she said. "I went to the hospital and saw Viviane there." Both he and Mr Danial had been hit by an army patrol vehicle.

Other witnesses said that as the photographers took her picture, Miss Magdy, weeping in a room that held the bodies of five other dead Christians, refused to leave. Yesterday she posted an entry on one of several Facebook pages dedicated to the memories of Mr Danial and her fiance.

"They had known each other for a long time, but they were still so young," Miss Senary said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8820786/Egypt-army-faces-crisis-over-killing-of-Christian-protesters-as-deputy-prime-minister-resigns-in-protest.html

Cairo witnesses blame security forces for bloodshed at Coptic march

2011-10-11T22:10:00.000+02:00

Four witnesses give their accounts of the violence that left 26 people dead and 500 injured after a march by Coptic Christians

Haroon Siddique

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 October 2011 17.21 BST

Eyewitness testimonies have been emerging that contradict the official accounts of the violence at a march of Coptic Christians in Cairo that left 26 dead and more than 500 injured.

Egyptian state television initially blamed the bloodshed on protesters, who it said had attacked security forces. There were also attempts to portray the violence as sectarian in nature.

But more and more people who were caught up in the violence have been coming forward to point the finger of blame squarely at the security forces, who they say employed brutal tactics to suppress the protest.

Here is the testimony of four people who were involved.

Sherief Gaber, 27, recent graduate

I joined the march because I absolutely agreed with what it was asking for – at the bare minimum some sort of recognition for the church that had been burned and some real action from the government that is claiming to have an interest in protecting minorities – and so I couldn't sit by and watch this get covered up like the last however many incidents of church burning and the like …

The vast majority were Coptic Christians protesting but there were Muslims and others there for sure, especially once the march got into downtown and once the events started to unfold …

It [the mood] was a mix both of excitement and anger. People were emboldened by the turnout. It was a very large march but they were also, you have to understand, incredibly upset – a church had been burned with kind of no recognition and furthermore the first protest that set itself in front of the TV building had been violently dispersed in a matter of hours by the army.

So people were upset but also felt encouraged by the numbers … and what these kind of numbers could bring as far as a result, pressure-wise … We were actually accosted briefly going through an underpass at the beginning of the march.

There were some stones thrown but it resolved itself fairly quickly. It seemed that wasn't a concerted effort to stop the march … We arrived in the area of the state TV building and in order to get there, there were two routes the march could take and in fact did [take], around the Ramses Hilton to get to the state TV building.

There was a short side street behind the hotel that leads to the TV building so I went with some friends. We decided to walk that route and go with the contingent of the marchers there to see the people who were already standing in front of the building.

But we hadn't even reached the building before screaming began and soldiers just came rushing at us with riot shields and batons. It was completely unprovoked from what I saw.

There were dozens of families there. There were women, children, grandparents. These were families coming out [to protest] so it was just bedlam at the beginning.

Many people were screaming, women were crying and running almost immediately and add to that the fact once the beating started with sticks, within a few minutes we started hearing gunfire which it seems like – from some of the casualties I saw – were not blank rounds.

They were live rounds being used very, very quickly. It was an incredibly violent show of force … it was chaos for a while.

It was absolutely enraging. Within a few more minutes people had moved backwards towards the Ramses Hilton, the large street in front of it and were setting up some barricades there to stay there.

But all of a sudden several of those sort of armoured personnel carriers driven by military personnel started running up and down the streets through the crowds, deliberately zigzagging and aiming at the people, which was probably one of the most horrific things I've seen, if not the most horrific thing I have seen, in this revolution so far.

At one point I saw some young kids running behind a car to avoid the armoured car which then ploughed over the private automobile to hit these people. It was barbaric. It was really, really disgusting.

It lasted for hours and hours. What brought it to an end was just [a] complete crackdown on the entire downtown area. The state TV, in addition to spreading their normal lies and propaganda, was actually calling on citizens to come down and defend the army so at one point we had a mix of army and central security forces and these "citizens", so to speak, coming and attacking us with stones, weapons, teargas.

This lasted until attrition took over and people couldn't do it any more, until everyone had been beaten out of the area.

Mos'ab Elshamy, 21, pharmacy student and freelance photographer

I joined the march as a Muslim who went in support of the Christians who were peacefully protesting against the recent destruction of a church in Aswan, which wasn't the first time in Egypt [that this had happened].

It was a very friendly and peaceful march and I went there along with a lot of Muslims to be in support of the march and what I saw was [the] army lose control and dispersing the march with horrific brutality.

I saw the army shoot at people and chase them and run over them [with] APCs [armoured personnel carriers] and their vehicles and turn a really beautifully peaceful march into a horrific massacre …

What I saw was, all of a sudden, people running away and I heard loud gunshots in the air with the army and police chasing them [protesters] in the alleyways and side streets.

Then, when we came back to the scene, they were lying on the ground and blood had been spilled and people were trying to defend themselves by throwing rocks back [at the police and army] …

The [only] … violence [by protesters] was just like … normal … just a couple … of troublemakers … But no one – as the army claimed – had machine guns or started shooting as they claimed and no one shot at the police as the state TV claimed …

It was absolutely horrific. It was something I have never seen in my life in Egypt and, to be honest, I never thought I would see such things.

Steve Nabeel, 22, computer engineering student

I started to walk from Shubra. I was not alone. I had some of my friends with me. We walked through Shubra and then we reached Maspero [the building that houses state TV].

When we reached Maspero there were 2,000 activists waiting there. We started to shout and just when we arrived we saw stones thrown. The stones were coming from the army side. After that the army started to hit protesters with sticks.

The protesters started to run away. Then it started to be like a battle. Protesters started to throw back the stones and rocks and people were running away. The army started the violence. I saw it with my own eyes.

Then two army APCs started to hit protesters, running over them. People were very scared. Then I heard that the army said on the TV that Coptics were attacking the army with guns and asked people to come down and help defend the army …

Some people came to help the army so it was people against the people and the attackers thought they were attacking only Christians but there were a lot of Muslims fighting with the Coptics against the people that the army brought … I carried bodies into a building. There were very bad injuries. There were dead people.

Hossam Bahgat, 32, NGO worker for the Egyptian Institute of Personal Rights

Colleagues from my organisation, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, had already been on the scene and started calling me to alert me there were a large number of fatalities …

By the time I arrived most of the killings through shooting and through armoured vehicles of the armed forces running over protesters had already happened but there were still clashes between the military police members from one side as well as some Muslim men who were seemingly incited by, instigated by, the state television coverage to come out and defend the Egyptian army as that's what was being said on state TV.

They were firing teargas excessively at us and both sides were also pelting stones at each other. And at different points there were some clashes between Muslims and Christians on the scene, using batons and iron pipes, and, at least in one case, a sword.

I then left the scene and went to a nearby hospital, the Coptic hospital, where we were told that most of the bodies of those killed had been sent, and we were given access to the morgue of the hospital and we counted 17 bodies.

Many of them were uncovered and clearly showed the victims had been run over by vehicles. Some of them were body parts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/11/cairo-witnesses-security-forces-bloodshed

Coptic Massacre Shows Dangers of Egypt’s New Order

2011-10-11T21:24:00.001+02:00

Coptic Massacre Shows Dangers of Egypt’s New Order

Tuesday, 11 Oct 2011 01:58 PM

By Walid Phares

The credibility of the Arab Spring took a bloody hit on Sunday, Oct. 9, when Egyptian army forces shot dead more than 30 Christian Copts and wounded scores of them. In addition, the action by the army was paralleled by armed men, described as Salafi jihadists by Coptic sources, seen also shooting and hitting demonstrators with knives.

Having happened a few weeks from the legislative elections in Egypt, this violence impacts the debate about the Spring of Egypt but also challenges U.S. and European policies toward the current and perhaps the forthcoming government.

Can the West support — and fund — a regime that kills members of the weakest community in Egypt, months after the fall of Mubarak?

International news agencies, including The Associated Press, were late in reporting the real casualties, as Coptic sources have identified more than 30 bodies seen on the streets at the time this article was filed (40 by the latest unconfirmed account).

Hundreds of demonstrators who were protesting against the attacks on Christian churches in the south of the country were also wounded and dozens were taken to the hospitals.

According to Coptic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Egyptian observers, the demonstrators were marching peacefully toward the TV central building when armored vehicles from the Egyptian military deployed in the streets, and soldiers fired against the unarmed civilians. A number of demonstrators, mostly youth, burned a few military vehicles after the shootings.

The army was not alone in its suppression of the demonstrations. On the sides of the streets, bands of thugs were seen striking at the marchers with sticks and blades. In some instances, according to Coptic NGOs, armed elements described as Salafists or jihadists shot also against the civilians.

It will take a few days before arriving at an accurate number of how many were killed in the Cairo massacre, but what is clear after today is that the Copts of Egypt, about 15 million of them, are now under siege.

Persecuted historically for centuries, they have been subjected to pressures since the mid-1950s without interruption. Their churches were bombed and torched at the end of last year and even after the revolution crumbled Mubarak's regime.

It sounds as if the Arab Spring is ignoring the weakest communities in the Arab world.

Over the past few months, Copts, secular, and liberal Egyptians were outmaneuvered by the well-organized and well-funded Muslim Brotherhood and their Salafi allies.

Instead of recognizing the identity of minorities in their constitution's preamble, the Ikhwan (Brotherhood) rushed the process with the support of the ruling military council, ignoring the rights of the Copts, and set the path to so-called fast elections, ensuring an Islamist political blitzkrieg.

In addition, the jihadists, emboldened by the Muslim Brotherhood expanding influence in the country versus the seculars and civil society forces, resumed their violence against the Copts and their churches.

Ironically, the military authorities and the government they've appointed are claiming that "an outside conspiracy against the state is behind the events." Hints such as these usually mean either Israel or even the United States.

Cairo's present regime, which has sidelined the initial forces of the revolution — youth, women, liberals, and Christian Copts — doesn't want to recognize that there is a Coptic problem in Egypt. The latter would ruin the chances for the Muslim Brotherhood to seize power with international recognition but also open the files of international support to Egypt and its militaries.

The INGO Coptic Solidarity International’s leaders said "these were direct attacks against the liberty of expression of the Christian Copts in Egypt and this is unacceptable after Mubarak's fall." The Coptic INGO officials said "Egypt's spring is in the balance as the army and Islamists are killing Copts in the streets of Cairo."

Coptic activists in Egypt, as the events were taking place, expressed their frustration that the "regime, now heavily influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, is rapidly becoming authoritarian but only against the Copts and the seculars."

In a sense this is the most dangerous event in Egypt since the fall of Mubarak, as developments are showing that the government's institutions are turning away from the liberties they've promised. It is to be expected that the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament will request and receive reports on these killings, and then have to deal with all the effects this could have on the administration's policy in Egypt.

Indeed, over the past few months, Washington has been engaging with Muslim Brotherhood representatives and preparing U.S. public opinion to accept the idea of an Islamist government in Egypt after the "rushed elections." President Barack Obama mentioned the Copts in his famous Cairo speech but the Copts are nowhere to be seen in the policies of his administration.

It looks like the administration has settled for an Egypt shared between the military and the Islamists, while civil society, bloggers, youth, and Copts will fall to a second-class citizens’ category.

But things won't be that easy and may not go as Muslim Brotherhood planners, both in Egypt and in the West, wish. Because a younger generation of Copts, there at the onset of the Egyptian Spring and, along with the solidarity of a liberal Muslim youth, this younger generation may fight for the achievements of the early Spring, refusing the military Islamists’ deal.

Shooting Coptic demonstrators on the streets of Cairo at the hands of the military who receive billions from the U.S. taxpayers will not go unnoticed. The future is open to many possibilities, "but they are all bleak" as Essam Iskandar told me.

Eskandar, a member of the revolutionary council during the uprising earlier in the year, fears the Copts and the liberals are caught between two nightmares: "either a new military order, read dictatorship, or an Islamist regime." The Arab Spring of Egypt seems falling on the heads of the Copts.

Dr. Walid Phares is the author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War Against Future Jihad," and "The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East." He advises members of Congress and the European parliament. www.walidphares.com

http://www.newsmax.com/

http://www.newsmax.com/WalidPhares/Coptic-Egypt-Arab-Spring/2011/10/11/id/414009

Give us aid

2011-10-11T20:21:00.001+02:00

Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless.

Psalm 60: 11 NIV

The Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod Statement

2011-10-11T02:10:00.000+02:00

The Coptic Orthodox Holy Synod Statement towards Maspiro's clashes between the Egyptian Army forces and Copts - 10 October 2011

The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church under the leadership of Pope Shenouda III met with seventy in attendance on Monday October 10, 2011 in the Papal residence in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the events of the prior day in front of Maspiro where at least 24 of our beloved children have been killed and at least 200 have been injured. We ascertain that our Christian faith doesn't allow us to use violence of any kind. But we also know that strangers implanted themselves among our children and committed acts that are more suited to their morals. Coptic Christians feel that their problems are always being repeated without accountability and without the due justice of the law. The Holy Synod invites all Coptic Christians to fast and pray for three days beginning Tuesday October 12, 2011 that God may bring his peace to our beloved country of Egypt.

US-funded Egyptian Military Kills Civilians

2011-10-10T09:30:00.001+02:00

970 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

Today, October 9, 2011, the Egyptian Army brutally attacked a peaceful protest in Cairo, Egypt, killing at least 24 civilians and injuring at least 300. In one case, a military tank ran over a protester's head, smashing it to pieces. Mina Daniel, a youth activist who protested in Tahrir for the 18 days of the January 25th Revolution and survived, was among those killed during today's protest. Thugs have also attacked the Coptic Hospital in El-Daher, Cairo, where the injured are being treated. The protesters were made up of Muslims and Christians protesting the burning of a church in Aswan, Egypt.

During this violence, three members of the military were also allegedly killed. It is not clear who was responsible for their deaths, but SCAF has tried to pin these deaths on the Copts who were protesting. Eyewitnesses have confirmed that no protester was armed, and yet SCAF has now used this as an opportunity to pit Egyptian against Egyptian, using state television to call upon Egyptians to "protect" the army from these attacks!

Under the rule of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), 12,000 Egyptians were sentenced to military court since last January. During Mubarak's rule, only 500 Egyptians were sentenced by military court. More churches were burned and the perpetrators un-sentenced under this military rule. The hated Emergency Law has been renewed, and heavy-handed censorship has brought upon the arrest of journalists and the storming of the offices of independent news media.

In the meantime, lawlessness rules the streets in Egypt, and it seems that SCAF is only uses its security forces to attack protesters and independent media, rather than to do its job to protect its citizens.

Every year, the US government gives $1.3 billion to SCAF. My tax dollars are being used to fund a ruling army that is attacking, killing and oppressing the citizens of its own country. This same army, while on one hand accepting all military aid from the US, has refused any US aid that would help build a truly free, fair and democratic country that respects the rights of all its citizens--and that could hold SCAF accountable.

SCAF has proven itself incapable of ruling Egypt and presiding over elections planned in November. It is trying to incite a civil war in Egypt, and is using the Egyptian state media to spread this message of hatred.

Do not use my tax dollars to support this regime. Use your influence and stand with the Egyptian people, not their oppressive military government. Call for a complete investigation of these criminal acts and full prosecution of those responsible at the highest levels. Egypt needs a transitional, secular civilian government that is capable of presiding over free and fair elections and legitimate constitutional changes.

The over 800 Egyptians who died during the January 25th Revolution did not die for this. Enough is enough.

http://www.petition2congress.com/
http://www.petition2congress.com/5297/us-funded-egyptian-military-kills-civilians/

Cairo clashes leave 24 dead after Coptic church protest

2011-10-10T04:42:00.000+02:00

Yolande Knell describes the scene in Cairo as Coptic Christians mount further protests

At least 24 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded in the worst violence since Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.

Clashes broke out after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a church in Aswan province last week which Coptic Christians blame on Muslim radicals.

Egyptian TV showed protesters clashing with security forces as army vehicles burned outside the state TV building.

A curfew is in force. The cabinet is to hold an emergency meeting on Monday.

Sectarian tensions have increased in recent months in Egypt.

The Copts - who make up about 10% of the population - accuse the governing military council of being too lenient on the perpetrators of a string of anti-Christian attacks.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf appealed to Egyptians not to give in to sectarian strife.

"What is taking place are not clashes between Muslims and Christians but attempts to provoke chaos and dissent," he said on his Facebook page.

State TV has announce a curfew in some parts of Cairo from 02:00 to 07:00 local time (00:00 to 05:00 GMT).

"I saw civilians running past my window as troops fired wildly into the crowds”

Nigel Hetherington Eyewitness

Stones hurled

Thousands - mainly but not exclusively Christians - joined the initial march from the Shubra district of northern Cairo to the state TV building in Maspero Square where they intended to hold a sit-in.

They were calling on the military council to sack the governor of Aswan province. They also accused state TV of fanning the flames of anti-Christian agitation.

But the demonstrators said they were assaulted by attackers in plain clothes before the clashes with the security forces broke out.

The clashes began outside the state TV building but soon spread to Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the demonstrations which led to President Mubarak's resignation.

Thousands joined in the street violence, hurling stones and tearing up the pavement for ammunition.

Smoke from tear gas and burning military vehicles filled the air in Maspero Square. Some protesters reported hearing gunfire.

Eyewitness Nigel Hetherington says troops fired rubber bullets and teargas into crowds. "I saw civilians running past my window as troops fired wildly into the crowds," he told the BBC.

The ministry of health said that at least 24 people had died killed and 212 had been wounded in the violence.

Of this number, 107 were civilians and 86 were security forces, ministry spokesman Hisham Shiha told the BBC.

Simmering tensions

Protesters also called for the resignation of the military council, in particular its chairman, Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi.

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says sectarian tensions have simmered in the political and security vacuum that has developed in the past couple of months.

As well as the clashes between police and protesters, other groups of thugs were also involved, our correspondent says - part of the pattern of sectarian violence in Egypt.

Christians have been worried by the increasing show of strength by ultra-conservative Islamists.

In May, 12 people died in attacks on Coptic churches. In March, 13 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Copts in Tahrir Square.

This latest violence comes ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 28 November, the first such vote since President Mubarak stepped down.

The Copts, the largest minority in Egypt, complain of discrimination, including a law requiring presidential permission for churches to be built. Egypt only recognises conversions from Christianity to Islam, not the other way.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15235212

Not only so

2011-10-10T02:59:00.001+02:00

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.

Romans 5: 3 NIV

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-09-11T11:50:00.003+02:00

The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Ecc. 7: 8

Mar. Issac the Syrian Saying

What salt is for any food,
humility is for every virtue.

Mar. Issac the Syrian

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-09-08T23:07:00.000+02:00

But as for you, brethren,
do not grow weary in doing good.
2 Thess. 3: 13

St. Jerome Saying

But it is one thing not to sin, another to do well.
"Depart from evil," he says, "and do good." The former we forsake, the latter we follow.
In this last lies perfection.

St. Jerome

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-09-07T14:27:00.001+02:00

They will fight against you, but they
shall not prevail against you. For I am
with you, says the LORD, "to deliver you."
Jer. 1: 19

Mar. John Saba Saying

The courageous believer is confronted by all the creation, fighting him with noise and clouds, he would not be overcome…

Mar. John Saba

The Practical Atheist I believe in God, but i still trust in things in this world

2011-09-07T14:09:00.001+02:00

The Practical Atheist I believe in God, but i still trust in things in this world

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-31T20:33:00.005+02:00

If anyone desires to be first,
he shall be last of all and servant of all.
Mark 9: 35

St. John Chrysostom Saying

For nothing is so acceptable to God as to
number one's self with the last. This is a
first principle of all practical wisdom.

St. John Chrysostom

Psalms 148

2011-08-30T22:36:00.003+02:00

Chapter 148

1. Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights!

2. Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!

3. Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!

4. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens!

5. Let them praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created.

6. He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away.

7. Praise the LORD from the earth, You great sea creatures and all the depths;

8. Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;

9. Mountains and all hills; Fruitful trees and all cedars;

10. Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and flying fowl;

11. Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth;

12. Both young men and maidens; Old men and children.

13. Let them praise the name of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven.

14. And He has exalted the horn of His people, The praise of all His saints--Of the children of Israel, A people near to Him. Praise the LORD!

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-30T21:56:00.004+02:00

I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Jer. 31: 3

St. John Chrysostom Saying

He then who is so anxious to be loved by us...
and did not spare even His only begotten Son
on account of His love towards us... how shall He
not welcome and love us when we repent?

St. John Chrysostom

Psalms 149

2011-08-29T01:06:00.003+02:00

Chapter 149

1. Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints.

2. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3. Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

4. For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.

5. Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds.

6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,

7. To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples;

8. To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron;

9. To execute on them the written judgment--This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!

Coptic Church renews calls to investigate Alexandria church bombing

2011-08-28T23:59:00.004+02:00

Coptic Church renews calls to investigate Alexandria church bombing

Photographed by Steven Viney

Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria renewed demands Saturday for authorities to reveal who planned the bombing of the Two Saints Church that left 23 Copts dead on 1 January.

Nader Morcos of the Coptic Ecclesiastical Council in Alexandria criticized the slow pace of the investigation and lack of steps taken to compensate the families of those killed, eight months after the attack took place.

He said the Coptic Orthodox Church is demanding the intervention of the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Hussein Tantawi, and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to speed up the process of providing redress for the murders.

Morcos added that a lawyer has been assigned to request the attorney general call for expediting the investigation.

The lawyer for the church and the families of those killed, Joseph Malak, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that several legal procedures will be undertaken to address what he described as the deliberate slowness of the investigation.

Malak said Copts are wondering why the investigation into the killings is taking so long, and that many of them believe that religious discrimination is continuing after the revolution.

News reports have said that documents seized from the now-disbanded State Security Investigation Services after the revolution implicated ex-Interiror Minister Habib al-Adly in the attack. This information, however, has not been confirmed by any official source.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/490463

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-28T23:31:00.001+02:00

But as for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause.
Job 5: 8

St. John Chrysostom Saying

Let us apply ourselves to Prayer. It is a
mighty weapon.... It has turned back wars
.… It is itself a saving medicine, and has
power to prevent sins, and to heal misdeeds.

St. John Chrysostom

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-27T23:17:00.002+02:00

Let not mercy and truth forsake you
Pro. 3: 3

St. John Chrysostom Saying

For mercifulness is… a protector of those
who labor at it. For it is dear to God,
and ever stands near Him readily asking
favor for whomsoever it will

St. John Chrysostom

The Transfiguration

2011-08-27T22:04:00.004+02:00

The Transfiguration
By His Holiness Pope Shenouda III

The first transfiguration of our nature is that God created us in his own image and likeness.

The second transfiguration is what took place on the Mount of Tabor. During the transfiguration, the Lord Jesus Christ did not appear alone, but Moses and Elijah were with Him, representing humanity. It is the transfiguration with which our nature will be crowned in glory.

The third transfiguration is the forthcoming resurrection, when we rise in spiritual bodies of light, like the Lord's body of glory! We will be like God's angels in Heaven. The feast of the transfiguration reminds us of the glory that our nature will receive.

God has not deprived us from glory. He has taken us from one glory to another, "For whom he foreknew, he also pre-destined to be conformed to the image of His Son ... He also glorified." Rom 8 : 29-30

In the transfiguration that is to come, we will be completely free from sin and from spiritual combats. We will be free from the material, as we take off this body and leave the whole materialistic world. The corruptible will be clothed in incorruption, "because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God," and, "... eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." Rom 8: 21 & 23. "We will be free from sin when we receive the crown of righteousness". 2 Tim 4: 8

This righteousness will make us forget whatever relates to sin. There would not be sin and we would not know it, remember it or fight against it. We will be completely free from it and we will live in righteousness, "in the glorious liberty of the children of God."

That illustrates accurately the saying that, "Whoever is born of God does not sin, and the wicked one does not touch him." 1 John 5: 18. We are not going to transfigure alone, but the whole city if God’s Heavenly Jerusalem that had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, "for the glory of God illuminated it." Rev 22: 5.

Permanent joy is the characteristic of this transfiguration. Sorrow, pain and fear, the effects of sin, will all disappear.

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-26T12:09:00.002+02:00

For the love of Christ compels us.
2 Cor. 5: 14

ST. Augustine Saying

For your omnipotence is not far from us even when we are far from you.

ST. Augustine

First Coptic church in Hungary consecrated

2011-08-26T11:37:00.004+02:00

First Coptic church in Hungary consecrated
By: MTI
2011-08-23 13:20

Pope Shenouda III, the leader of the Coptic Christian community, consecrated the first Coptic church in Hungary on Sunday.

The Coptic Pope, as he is called in the Egyptian religious community, consecrated the church in a three-hour ceremony in the presence of five Coptic bishops and hundreds of faithful in Budapest's 18th district amid tight security measures.

The church was dedicated to Mother of God, the Holy Virgin Mary, and Archangel Michael.

The Coptic Pope prayed for the ill, those on the way, the air and the crops, the dead and the victims as well as for peace, the religious community and the president of Egypt, then consecrated all the three altars, the altar-cloths, the holy chalices, the icons and the paintings in the church.

Two hundred believers who failed to enter the crowded church followed the liturgy on a huge screen.

Pope Shenouda III, head of the Christian church which was founded, according to tradition, by Saint Mark, arrived in Hungary on Friday on the invitation of Deputy Premier Zsolt Semjen to attend celebrations on Saint Stephen's Day, Hungary's national holiday of August 20.

Pope Shenouda III met President Pal Schmitt and Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and held talks with Semjen.

The deputy prime minister described the Coptic Pope's visit as an outstanding event of dialogue between Eastern and Western churches.

Pope Shenouda III called the consecration an important milestone from the aspect of his church's presence in Eastern Europe.

Expressing pleasure over the warm welcome in Hungary, he said, "I would like to maintain friendly relations with Hungarians throughout my life."

http://www.caboodle.hu/
http://www.caboodle.hu/nc/news/news_archive/single_page/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9337

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-25T19:50:00.003+02:00

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy.
Ps. 33: 18

St. John Chrysostom Saying

The fear of the Lord excels everything;
fear God, and keep His commandments;
for this is the whole of man.

St. John Chrysostom

H. H. Pope Shenouda III Sermon - Hidden and Manifested Sins

2011-08-25T18:54:00.002+02:00

H. H. Pope Shenouda III Sermon 'Hidden and Manifested Sins'

http://coptorthodox.blogspot.com/2011/08/h-h-pope-shenouda-iii-sermon-hidden-and.html

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-24T16:17:00.003+02:00

Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel.
Ps. 73: 23, 24

St. John Cassian Saying

The believer is in need of the spirit of heavenly wisdom, and discernment, to keep on going; yet along the royal way, and with no diversion.
St. John Cassian

First Coptic church in Budapest

2011-08-24T14:46:00.004+02:00

WATANI International
Victor Salama
21 August 2011

Last Sunday, Pope Shenouda III inaugurated the first Coptic Orthodox Church in Hungary, in Budapest’s eighteenth district. The Pope presided over an evening service ceremony during which he anointed and consecrated the altar and the icons.

Pope Shenouda had arrived at Budapest two days earlier to a warm, resounding welcome by Europe’s Coptic community, some of whom had come to the city especially for the occasion. The Pope was accompanied by the bishops Anba Rweiss, Anba Boutros, Anba You’annis, Anba Ermiya, and Father Boutros Boutros Gayed.

On Friday 19 August, Pope Shenouda III was granted an honorary doctorate degree by Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest. The university president György Fodor was joined by Cardinal Péter Erdő in handing the degree to the Pope, for his outstanding academic work in humanities, especially in literature, philosophy and history of sciences.

Pope Shenouda had been invited by the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén to take part in the 20 August celebrations for the national day of Hungary. He participated in the official ceremony at the parliament building where he met President Pál Schmitt who decorated the Pope with the Hungarian medal of State. He then joined Zsolt Semjén to attend Mass in St Stephen's Basilica.

The Pope then headed to the Egyptian embassy in Budapest where a reception was held in his honour.

Mr Semjén, who is also responsible for religious affairs, said that the visit by Pope Shenouda III to Hungary was a landmark event in East-West religious dialogue.

Sunday saw the Pope’s visit to Budapest come to an end, following which he flew to the United States for a pastoral visit, as well as for medical consultations at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Earlier this year, the Pope was awarded Germany’s Augsburg Peace Prize for 2011. The prize is awarded every three years to individuals who contributed significantly to the cause of peaceful coexistence between different communities. Pope Shenouda was chosen for his role in building bridges between the Copts and Muslims in Egypt

http://www.wataninet.com/
http://www.wataninet.com/ArticleDetailsEX.aspx?A=651

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-23T17:07:00.002+02:00

I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, says the LORD.
Zechariah 2:10

St. John Chrysostom Saying

God is hastening now to us, so that being attached to him, we would know many things considered so far as secrets, and to enjoy the very blessed life and wisdom.

St. John Chrysostom

Coptic church leader, Pope Shenouda III received Honorary Doctorate Degree at Pázmány Péter Catholic University

2011-08-23T16:00:00.003+02:00

Coptic church leader, Pope Shenouda III received Honorary Doctorate Degree at Pázmány Péter Catholic University
Friday, August 19, 2011

Pázmány Péter Catholic University has granted Honorary Doctorate Degree to Coptic cleric Pope Shenouda III, on Friday in Budapest.

The Faculty of Arts degree has been handed over to Pope Shenouda III, by the president of the institution, György Fodor and Cardinal Péter Erdő. The doctorate degree has been granted to His Holiness for his outstanding academic work in humanities, especially in literature, philosophy and history of sciences.

The Coptic cleric has arrived to Hungary for the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén to take part in the August 20th national celebrations.

The Coptic church leader will view the August 20th official ceremonies from the parliament building then he meets President Pál Schmitt.

On August 20, His Holiness meets Zsolt Semjén and attend the holiday Mass in the St Stephen's Basilica.

Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén who is also responsible for religious affairs said that Pope Shenouda III and the five Coptic Bishop's visit to Hungary is a landmark event in East-West religious dialog.

On the last day of his tour, on Sunday Pope Shenouda III inaugurates the first Coptic Christian church in Budapest's eighteenth district.

Zsolt Semjén called the 88 year old leader of the Coptic church a highly educated man with knowledge of Western culture. Between 1956 and 1962 he lived as a hermit, and in 1971 he was elected as the leader of the Coptic church.

Pope Shenouda III, even today actively participates in Egyptian public life and often expresses strong opinions in national issues.

He visited Hungary the first time in 1996, and as a monk toured the Pannonhalma Abbey.

The Coptic Church was founded by Saint Mark, who was the bishop and the first martyr of Alexandria.

(MTI – hungarianambiace.com)

Posted by HungarianAmbiance at 5:53 PM

http://www.hungarianambiance.com/
http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2011/08/coptic-church-leader-pope-shenouda-iii.html

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-22T17:30:00.002+02:00

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Luke 1: 45

St. Cyril of Alexandria Saying

Hail to Mary, Mother of God,
majestic treasure of the whole world,
the lamp unquenchable, the crown of virginity,
the sceptre of Orthodoxy, the indestructible temple,
the dwelling of the Illimitable, Mother and Virgin.

St. Cyril of Alexandria

Verses and Fathers Sayings

2011-08-21T10:34:00.003+02:00

What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?
Ps. 116: 12

St. Augustine Saying

Seek not how to reward Him:
give back unto Him His own image:
He requires no more; He demands His own coin.

St. Augustine

EGYPT: Religious conflict becomes the revolution’s biggest enemy

2011-05-10T16:42:00.001+02:00

Churches burn in Egypt violence

Mobs set two churches on fire in western Cairo on Sunday as clashes broke out between Muslims and Christians, killing up to 12 people and injuring more than 200. May 8, 2011

The clashes between thousands of Muslim extremists and Coptic Christians that left 12 people dead, more than 200 injured and a burned church on Sunday rings yet another alarm to the threat Egypt faces over deepening religious animosity.

For decades, recrimination between Egypt’s Muslim majority and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of the population, has been taboo, with many Muslims refusing to acknowledge the lack of harmony. But the last few years have marked a notable rise in violence between the two sides, especially in southern Egypt, where large communities of Copts live next door to Muslims.

Former President Hosni Mubarak's regime relied on dividing Egyptians. Authorities carefully presided over a volatile status quo between Muslims and Copts, all the while pretending religious strife didn't exist. Tribal settlements to conflicts were preferred and supported by police officials, who often blamed disputes on individual grudges or foreign terrorists. Mubarak skillfully manipulated the threat of outside extremists to convince the West, which long criticized Egypt's human-rights record, that he was an ally in battling terrorism.

Nonetheless, Copts felt secure under Mubarak, who tightened his grip over Islamists -- the relatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood as well as the more extreme Salafis and jihadists. Copts worried that the 18-day revolution that overthrew Mubarak in February would unbottle ultraconservative Islamist voices and lead to greater problems. What has been unfolding recently justifies those fears.

In less than two months, two churches were set ablaze and more than 20 were killed in separate clashes between Copts and Muslims. Salafis, who had stayed away from politics and demonstrations during Mubarak’s reign, now protest regularly against what they call “the Christian abduction of three women by the church” after their alleged conversion to Islam, threatening to storm into churches where “those women are being locked up.”

Saturday’s bloodshed in Cairo was ignited after several thousand Muslims, led by Salifis, attempted to break into the Church of St. Mena, looking for a woman who converted to Islam from Christianity last year. With Mubarak's police state gone, it took hours for security forces to respond. Copts blame the military-led government for ignoring their fears, and many say the revolution to bring democracy and political freedoms to Egypt rings hollow for Christians.

Egypt' interim government has been preoccupied with economic and political problems, but sectarian tensions could prove the most pressing danger in the post-Mubarak era. Copts are losing faith in the revolution, and continuing religious unrest could have severe effects on the social, financial and political future of the country.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/05/egypt-sectarian-conflict-becomes-the-revolutions-biggest-enemy.html

Justice

2011-05-02T02:37:00.002+02:00

HH Pope Shenouda Sermon New The Resurrection 27-4-2011

2011-05-02T00:54:00.002+02:00

British Orthodox Churches Celebrate Holy Pascha

2011-04-28T04:03:00.002+02:00

British Orthodox Churches Celebrate Holy Pascha
Paschal Sermon - Abba Seraphim

As once again, the date for Holy Pascha was common to both East and West, there was a great sense of oneness among Christians in celebrating the Lord’s Resurrection. British Orthodox congregations observed the Holy Week services whilst at Charlton, Father Sergius Scott joined in an Ecumenical Procession of Witness on Good Friday. In all our churches the Paschal Vigil and Liturgy was celebrated on Pascha Eve (23 April), which also coincided with the traditional observance of St. George’s Day in England. The exceptionally fine weather and the fact that so many trees, shrubs and flowers had burst into bloom, added to the sense of the glory of the new life revealed in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because of its elderly congregation and the church being isolated in the countryside, St, Mary & St. Felix at Babingley in Norfolk began the Vigil service just before sunset. Abba Seraphim presided and was the first to proclaim, “Christ is Risen”. As there were a good number of Orthodox Christians from Moldova and Russia joining the regular congregation, they were also greeted in Russian. At the conclusion of the Liturgy when Abba Seraphim blessed and distributed dyed eggs, he also blessed their traditional festive foods of pascha and kullich, which they had brought to the church. Father Simon reports that the Bournemouth and Portsmouth congregations celebrated Holy Week and the feast at the Church of Christ the Saviour at Winton (Bournemnouth) and services were well supported. Following the Vigil and Liturgy on Pascha Eve, on the forenoon of Pascha, prayers for the departed were said at church and in a long-established local tradition their graves at Wimborne Road Cemetery were visited and the Resurrection hymn sung as eggs were placed on their graves. At Cusworth the local congregation were also joined by Orthodox Christians from Eastern Europe and the church was filled, whilst at Chatham a new catechumen was received during the evening and the joyous celebration concluded with an extensive buffet which continued into the early hours.

At the conclusion of the service at Babingley Abba Seraphim read the Paschal message from His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and all churches prayed with great fervour for Pope Shenouda and also Patriarch Mor Ignatius Zakka of Antioch, having a great burden of concern for their brothers and sisters in Egypt and Syria who are caught up in the civil disturbances in both countries.

Abba Seraphim returned to London at noon on Holy Pascha and went first to greet Father Michael Robson at Morden College, Blackheath, before visiting sick and housebound members of the church with Holy Communion.

http://britishorthodox.org/
http://britishorthodox.org/1738/british-orthodox-churches-celebrate-holy-pascha/

http://youtu.be/4gXyUj9octg

Paschal Message from Pope Shenouda III

2011-04-28T02:56:00.002+02:00

Easter Message

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III

Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark

April 2011

My beloved children in the lands of immigration, both clergy and laity.

I congratulate you for the Glorious Feast of the Resurrection, wishing you all that the Lord returns it upon you with all goodness and blessing.

The resurrection of the Lord Christ was distinguished with an amazing power. He is the only One who was victorious over death by Himself. In His resurrection, He crushed death, and arose with the power of His Divinity. Also, by His power, He came out of the closed tomb which had a great stone upon it, without anyone seeing Him. Also with the same power, He entered the upper room where the disciples were, while its doors were shut. After He spent forty days with them speaking to them about matters pertaining to the Kingdom of God, He ascended to the heavens with a great power, which is against all the laws of gravitational force. Of course, it is the power of His Divinity.

Therefore, St. Paul the Apostle said about Him, in the Epistle to the Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings...” This is why we also praised Him throughout the Holy Week, confessing His power and saying to Him: “To You is the power ... Thok te tee gom.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who arose with power, and ascended with power, also grants us power. The Church started its history with power, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the pure disciples. The Bible says: “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”

This power remained in the life of the Church. With great power, St. George was able to tear the decree of the emperor. Even all the martyrs received death with power, and they did not fear it. Instead, they reiterated the expression “...having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” (Philippians 1:23)

Therefore, my beloved children and brethren, always be powerful. I mean, that you have spiritual power by which you defeat Satan, all the power of the enemy, all the wars of the ego, and all evil desires.

And in your victory, do not attribute this to your own personal power, but to the power of God which works in you, now and always.

Lastly, be well and absolved from the Holy Spirit; and pray for me.

(Signed)

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III

Glorious Feast of Resurrection

April 2011

http://www.copticpope.org/
http://www.copticpope.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=67

At the conclusion of the service at Babingley Abba Seraphim read the Paschal message from His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and all churches prayed with great fervour for Pope Shenouda and also Patriarch Mor Ignatius Zakka of Antioch, having a great burden of concern for their brothers and sisters in Egypt and Syria who are caught up in the civil disturbances in both countries.

http://youtu.be/xZ7YtAShGwc

http://www.copticpope.org/
http://www.copticpope.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=67

http://youtu.be/xZ7YtAShGwc

An Act of Christ's Love and Care

2011-04-28T02:24:00.001+02:00

Feast of the Resurrection 2011

Feast of the Resurrection
24 April 2011
His Grace Bishop Suriel
Bishop of Melbourne and Affiliated Regions
The Resurrection: An Act of Christ's Love and Care

Ⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲁ̀ⲛⲉⲥⲧⲏ Ⲁⲗⲏⲑⲟⲥ ⲁ̀ⲛⲉⲥⲧⲏ

2011-04-23T20:26:00.003+02:00

Ⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲁ̀ⲛⲉⲥⲧⲏ Ⲁⲗⲏⲑⲟⲥ ⲁ̀ⲛⲉⲥⲧⲏ

Χριστός ἀνέστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!

Khristós Anésti! Alithós Anésti!

Christ Is Risen! Truly, He Is Risen!

اخرستوس انستي اليسوس انستي

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Sermon by Father Peter Farrington

2011-01-24T21:35:00.003+02:00

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Sermon by Father Peter Farrington
http://www.britishorthodox.org/
http://www.youtube.com/user/britishorthodoxtv

Six Christians shot, 1 fatally, in Egypt

2011-01-14T19:47:00.001+02:00

By the CNN Wire Staff
January 12, 2011

Samalut, Egypt (CNN) -- A policeman fatally shot a Christian man and wounded five other Christians Tuesday in an attack on a train in Egypt, officials said.

The incident occurred at about 5 p.m. when a man walked onto the train, which was stopped in the station at Samalut, about 200 kilometers south of Cairo, said Maryanne Nabil Thaki, 29, one of the victims.

She said she was seated with her sister, Maggie Nabil Thaki, 25, their 52-year-old mother, Sabah Sinot Suleiman, and Maggie's fiance, 26-year-old Ehab Ashraf Kamal. They were en route to Cairo to buy an engagement ring, Maggie Thaki said.

Seated near them was an older Christian couple, Maryanne Nabil Thaki said.

The gunman walked up and down the length of the train, then walked back to two groups of people who were seated near each other and were both Coptic Christians, she told a reporter at the Good Shepherd Hospital in Samalut, where she was being treated for gunshot wounds to the leg and the chest.

The man said in Arabic, "There is no God but God," and opened fire, she said.

The shooter fled the train, but was captured later, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. The suspect, a deputy policeman, was identified as Amer Ashoor Abdel-Zaher Hassan. He boarded the train in Asiut and was en route to Bani Mazar, Menya province, where he works.

The older man, Fathi Saeed Ebaid, 71, of Cairo, was killed, a local security source told the state-run Egyptian news agency MENA. His wife, Emily Hannah Tedly, 61, was in critical condition, as was the mother of the two younger women, said Dr. Petra Kamal.

All five were to be flown to Cairo for further treatment, a hospital employee said.

In front of the hospital, about a dozen Copts demonstrated in support of the victims but were dispersed by police who fired a tear gas canister that broke through a fifth-floor hospital window, said hospital employee Mina Farouk.

The attack comes 10 days after a bombing killed 23 Coptic Christians outside the Church of the Two Saints in Alexandria, Egypt, an attack that unnerved Christians and led to increased security.

Relations between the Christian minority and Muslim majority within Egypt have been tense since that New Year's Day bombing.

Those troubles were evident last Friday -- the day Coptic Christians, who follow the Julian calendar, celebrate Christmas -- when police staged a large-scale security operation outside the same church.

In a show of solidarity, some Egyptian Muslims attended the Christmas services.

Still, protests have erupted almost nightly in many Christian areas of Egypt since the bombing.

Egyptian authorities have released a sketch of a man they think was the suicide bomber in the church attack. The Interior Ministry used forensic technology to re-create the face.

About 9 percent of Egypt's 80 million residents are Coptic Christians. They base their theology on the teachings of the Apostle Mark, who introduced Christianity to Egypt, according to St. Takla Church in Alexandria, the capital of Coptic Christianity.

The religion is known for its rift with other Christians in the fifth century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

CNN's Ben Wedeman, Housam Ahmed and Amir Ahmed and Journalist Ian Lee contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/11/egypt.attack/index.html?iref=allsearch

Coptics Living in fear

2011-01-14T16:38:00.002+02:00

This article appeared in the Whitehorse Leader on page 5 on Wednesday 12 of January, 2011

Gathering for the Coptic Martyrs in Federation Square 7th January 2011

2011-01-12T19:51:00.001+02:00

Gathering for the Coptic Martyrs of Alexandria 1st January 2011,
Federation Square Melbourne 7th January 2011

European Parliament Discuss Copts Persecution إضطهاد الأقباط

2011-01-12T13:19:00.001+02:00

European Parliament Discuss Copts Persecution
Copts Persecution by muslims in Egypt

Copt killed and 5 others wounded in a train shooting in Samalout, Egypt

2011-01-12T12:13:00.003+02:00

A gunman boarded a train in Samalout (Southern Egypt) and opened fire on Tuesday, killing a Copt and wounding five others

A gunman boarded a train in Samalout, southern Egypt and opened fire on Tuesday, killing a Copt and wounding five others -- four women and a man, security officials told Ahram Online.

The gunman, who was in uniform and identified as policeman Amer Ashour Abdel-Zaher, entered one of the passenger carriages and started shooting with his police gun randomly before he was arrested in the train station. He is currently being interrogated.

No motive was immediately known for the shooting. Officials said the gunman boarded the Cairo-bound train number 979 at the town of Samalout in Egypt's central Minya province. He was heading to Beni Mazar town in Minya.

The victim was identified by security as Fathi Mosaad Ebeid, 71 years old. The injured are Emily Hanna, Sabah Senyod, Marianne Zaki, Maggie Labib and Nehad Ashraf.

Later, witnesses said hundreds of Copts rallied outside Salamut's Good Shepherd hospital, where the wounded had been taken, and clashed with police, who fired tear gas at them.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/3680/Egypt/Politics-/Copt-killed-and--others-wounded-in-a-train-shootin.aspx

Pope's call for Middle East to protect Christians sparks Egypt fury

2011-01-12T04:18:00.004+02:00

Cairo recalls ambassador to the Vatican after what it deems 'unacceptable interference' in foreign affairs

Pope Benedict XVI was tonight at the centre of a new diplomatic storm after Egypt recalled its ambassador to the Vatican in protest at the pontiff's call for Middle Eastern governments to do more to protect their Christian minorities.

Cairo's dramatic reaction came amid reports of a further attack in Egypt in which a Christian died. The interior ministry said an off-duty policeman boarded a train in southern Egypt and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old man and wounding five other Christians, including the dead man's wife. The attack raises fears of a new wave of rioting by Christians still mourning the deaths of at least 21 worshippers as they were leaving mass at a Coptic church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve.

In a statement, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said Cairo's ambassador had been called back for consultations "after the Vatican's new statements that touch on Egyptian affairs and which Egypt considers an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs".

In a speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See on Monday, the pope said the Alexandria bombing, coming after a string of attacks in Iraq, showed "the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities".

Quoting from a message agreed by a synod of bishops last year that discussed the situation of Christians in the Middle East, the pope said they were loyal citizens who were entitled to "enjoy all the rights of citizenship, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and freedom in education, teaching and the use of the mass media". He also praised European countries who had asked for action by the European Union to protect Middle Eastern Christians.

The foreign ministry's protest was echoed by Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyib, the imam of the Al-Azhar, the leading institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world. He said: "Protection of Christians is an internal affair and should be carried out by the governments as [Christians] are their citizens like other citizens." He added: "We reiterate our rejection of foreign interference in the internal affairs of Arab and Islamic countries under whatever pretexts."

In Rome, a senior Vatican official, said Egypt's reaction was "the proof that the things said by the pope have hit the mark". Monsignor Jean-Louis Bruguès, stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity.

John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 January 2011 20.34 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/pope-middle-east-christians-egypt

Egypt recalls Vatican ambassador over Pope's remarks

2011-01-12T03:35:00.004+02:00

Egypt has recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for consultation after Pope Benedict XVI urged the country to do more to protect its Christian minority.

In an address to ambassadors at the Vatican on Monday, the Pope cited recent attacks on Christians in Egypt and Iraq.

An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said the remarks were "unacceptable".

A bomb attack on a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve killed 23 people.

"Egypt asked its ambassador in the Vatican to come to Cairo for consultation after the Vatican's new statements that touch on Egyptian affairs, and which Egypt considers an unacceptable interference in its internal affairs," foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.

There was no immediate official response from the Vatican. However, a Vatican source told AFP news agency that the recall did not constitute "a break in diplomatic relations".

In his address on Monday, the Pope condemned anti-Christian attacks in Egypt and Iraq, saying they showed "the urgent need for governments of the region to adopt... effective measures for the protection of religious minorities".

He also called on Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws, which can carry a death sentence for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

It was not the first time the Pope had spoken out over the plight of Christian minorities in the Middle East.

In his traditional Christmas Day message - the Urbi et Orbi - he called for political leaders in the region to show solidarity with Christians.

And a day after the attack on the Coptic church in Alexandria, he appealed for the "concrete and constant engagement of leaders of nations" in what he called a "difficult mission".

On Sunday in an address in St Peter's Square, Rome, the Pope voiced solidarity with Egypt's Copts, saying: "I salute the Coptic faithful present here to whom I renew my expression of closeness."

Egypt's Coptic Christian minority makes up between 7% and 14% of Egypt's 80 million people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12164696

Egypt train attack: Man shot dead by off-duty policeman

2011-01-12T03:17:00.003+02:00

An off-duty policeman has opened fire on a train in Egypt, killing a Christian man, but it is unclear whether the attack was sectarian.

At least another five people were reported to have been injured in the shooting on a train between Assiut and Cairo.

Officials said at least four of those hurt were Coptic Christians.

Witnesses said hundreds of Christians later clashed with police outside the hospital where the wounded were taken.

Police fired teargas to disperse them, reports from Samalut, in Minya province, said.

Tensions between Muslims and Christians in Egypt have been high following a bomb attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria at the new year that killed 23 people.

The gunman, who officials said had boarded the train at Samalut, has been arrested.

The Egyptian interior ministry named him as police officer Amer Ashour Abdel-Zaher. Officials have not given a motive for Tuesday's shooting.

The ministry statement said the officer "opened fire on some train passengers from his pistol and ran away", adding that he was later arrested at his home.

One of those injured was reported to be the dead man's wife.

Egypt's Coptic Christian minority is estimated to make up about 10% of Egypt's 80 million people, who are mostly Muslim.

The BBC's Jon Leyne reports from Cairo that it is difficult to see how the gunmen would have known he could target Christians by boarding the train.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12165523

Ecumenical Prayer Service

2011-01-12T02:54:00.001+02:00

Ecumenical Prayer Service for the Coptic Martyrs of Alexandria 1st January 2011.
St, Paul Anglican Cathedral 7th January 2011

Copts celebrate but mourn

2011-01-12T02:49:00.001+02:00

Nativity Feast 2011 Divine Liturgy Sermon

2011-01-10T00:00:00.001+02:00

Fr. Daniel Hanna Reads the Nativity Papal Message from H.H. Pope Shenouda III, and gives a sermon about being Rooted in Prayer, about the Gift of Salvation, and seeking God's will in our life

http://www.smsv.ca/

Bishop Mousa Interview with Wounded

2011-01-09T14:03:00.001+02:00

Christian Youth Channel - CYC

http://www.cycnow.com/

Pope condemns Egypt church attack

2011-01-05T20:07:00.003+02:00

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his weekly Angelus blessing to the crowd gathered below in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican January 2, 2011

VATICAN CITY | Sun Jan 2, 2011 11:37am GMT

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday condemned the bomb attack outside a church in Egypt on Saturday that killed at least 21 people, the latest in a string of attacks against Christians in the Middle East and Africa.

"This vile gesture of death, like that of putting bombs near to the houses of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and all of humanity," the pope said after his angelus blessing.

Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Janet Lawrence

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6BU2X620110102?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a54:g12:r4:c0.386561:b40658884:z3

Factbox - Details on incidents involving Egypt's Christians

2011-01-05T19:27:00.001+02:00

Sat Jan 1, 2011 1:30pm GMT

(Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber attacked a church in Egypt's northern city of Alexandria, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens more as Christians in the Muslim-majority country marked the New Year. Although sectarian tensions often flare, analysts said this incident was on a much bigger scale than the kind of communal violence that can erupt over issues such as building churches or relationships between men and women of the two communities.

Below is list of recent developments related to violence involving Christians in Egypt:

January 1, 2011 -- A suspected suicide bomber hits a church in Alexandria, killing at least 17 and prompting Christians to take to the streets in protest. Some Christians and Muslims pelt each other with stones. Police fire tear gas to disperse protesters.

Nov 24, 2010 -- Clashes between riot police and hundreds of Christians protesting after construction of a church is halted in Cairo takes a sectarian turn as dozens of Muslims join the violence. Two Christians are killed by the violence, and more than 150 people are detained.

November 1, 2010 -- The Islamic State of Iraq, the al Qaeda-affiliated group which claimed responsibility for an attack on a Baghdad church, threatens attacks on the Christian church in Egypt over its treatment of women the group said the church was holding after they had converted to Islam.

April 11, 2010 -- Egyptian group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights issues a report saying the number of cases of sectarian violence rose between 2008 and 2009 and calls for the prosecution of offenders to prevent a further escalation.

January 6, 2010 -- Six Christians and a Muslim policeman are killed in a drive-by shooting on the eve of the Orthodox Coptic Christmas outside a church in the southern town of Nagaa Hamady. The shooting leads to protests. Some Christian and Muslim homes and shops are set a blaze in the violence.

May 10, 2009 -- A small homemade bomb explodes near a church in Cairo but no one is hurt, security sources say. The device damages a car and a second one is found and detonated by police in the same area in the northeast of the capital, sources say.

(Compiled by Edmund Blair in Cairo; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE7000Y520110101?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a54:g12:r1:c0.533249:b40658884:z3

Statement From His Grace Bishop Suriel‏

2011-01-05T18:55:00.002+02:00

Copts Massacred on New Years Day 2011

Coptics protesting bombing clash with Egypt police

2011-01-05T16:44:00.005+02:00

By Sarah Mikhail and Sherine El Madany

CAIRO | Sun Jan 2, 2011 11:01pm GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Angry Coptic Christians clashed with police on Sunday as they demanded more protection for Egypt's Christians following a New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21 of their brethren.

Hundreds of members of Egypt's large Christian minority protested in Cairo and Alexandria, the northern city where the presumed suicide bomber detonated a device outside a church during a midnight service.

A security source said Egypt was holding seven people for questioning over Saturday's bombing, which also wounded 97 people, and had released 10 others.

At Saint Mark's Cathedral, the Cairo base of Orthodox Pope Shenouda, several hundred young Copts fought police on Sunday as they tried to leave the cathedral grounds and take to the streets to demand more protection for Christians.

Their protest continued into the night, the crowd held back by a cordon of riot police nine men deep. A church official approached the crowd briefly to try to calm them down, without success.

"Security - are you with us or with them?" the men cried. "You government are cowards."

"Pope Shenouda, have a care. We are youth. We will protect you with our blood," the men shouted, many of them holding aloft makeshift wooden crosses. "Revolution, revolution in Egypt, in all churches of Egypt."

Earlier, protestors in Cairo had heckled government officials who visited the cathedral compound to offer condolences: "Where are you, Interior Minister, when they are killing our brothers before your eyes?"

Some protesters pelted a minister's car with stones when he left, witnesses said. Some visiting Christian officials had cars shaken by angry demonstrators, while other protesters scuffled with police outside the compound.

Extra police officers were posted outside several churches in Cairo and Alexandria on Sunday, preventing cars from parking next to the buildings, witnesses said.

Pope Benedict, head of the Roman Catholic church, condemned the bombing as a "vile gesture," the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in the Middle East and Africa.

Egyptian officials said there were indications that "foreign elements" were behind the blast and that it seemed to have been the work of a suicide bomber.

An Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda threatened in November to attack Egypt's Coptic Church. And about two weeks before the bombing, a statement on an Islamist website urged Muslims to attack churches in Egypt and elsewhere around Christmas, which for Orthodox denominations such as the Copts falls on January 7.

A statement on another Islamist website after the blast read: "This is the first drop of heavy rain, hand over our prisoners and turn to Islam." No group was named.

Islamist groups have accused the Church of trying to coerce Christian women who wanted to convert to Islam.

One protester, Nader Shenouda, said: "When there was a threat from al Qaeda a month or a month and a half ago, did the government have to wait till the disaster happened before protecting us?"

Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the head of al Azhar, Egypt's most prestigious seat of Sunni learning, visited the Muslim Orthodox Coptic Pope Shenouda to express condolences.

President Hosni Mubarak, 82, has pledged to track down the culprit. He made a televised address on Sunday calling for national unity, saying the attack was directed at all Egyptians, not just Christians.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 79 million people. Tensions often flare with the majority Muslims over issues such as building churches or close relationships between members of the two faiths.

Analysts said the attack was on a much bigger scale than typical sectarian flare-ups but said laws that make it easier to build a mosque than a church, and similar causes of Christian complaint, meant such an attack would fuel sectarian tension.

Angus Blair, head of research at investment bank Beltone Financial, said the blast was likely to be brushed off by investors in the bourse and was not likely to have a "material negative impact" on tourism, a major revenue source.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh, writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Jon Boyle)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE7010MG20110102?pageNumber=1

Egypt church blast death toll rises to 23

2011-01-05T16:01:00.005+02:00

CAIRO | Tue Jan 4, 2011 3:09pm GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) - The death toll from a New Year bombing outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria has risen by two to 23, the official news agency MENA said on Tuesday.

Dozens of people were wounded when a presumed suicide bomber detonated a device during a midnight service.

No clear official account has emerged of how the attack was carried out but political analysts point to a small cell, not a large militant group such as those behind an Islamist insurgency that flared more than a decade ago.

A Health Ministry official said 18 bodies had been identified but put the possible number of dead at 22, based on studies of body parts found at the scene.

Billionaire Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, one of Egypt's biggest listed companies, has offered 1 million Egyptian pounds ($172,500) for information on those behind the January 1 attack, a state newspaper said Tuesday.

The Dutch anti-terrorism agency NCTb has urged police to keep an eye on Coptic churches in three Dutch cities after they were included in Internet threats against Coptic churches in Europe, including France and Britain.

The bombing provoked protests and some clashes with police in Alexandria and the capital, Cairo, by young Christians calling for more protection.

Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 79 million, which is mostly Muslim. Sectarian violence is rare but disputes on issues from church building to religious conversions and divorce have grown in the past year.

Early last year, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in southern Egypt led to protests.

Egyptian officials have said there are indications "foreign elements" were behind the January 1 blast. An Iraqi group linked to al Qaeda threatened in November to attack Egyptian Christians.

(Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Additional reporting by Sherine El Madany and Amsterdam bureau; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE7032BY20110104?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a54:g12:r5:c0.384998:b40658884:z3

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt

2011-01-05T15:02:00.003+02:00

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt at New Year's Midnight Celebration

SBS News Report on Coptic Massacre 3

2011-01-05T13:18:00.002+02:00

Bomb Blast at Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria

2011-01-05T05:01:00.001+02:00

Snaps taken after the Bomb Blast at Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria, 230 km (140 miles) north of Cairo January 1, 2011. A car bombing outside the church killed 21 people as worshipers gathered to mark the New Year

Fox News

2011-01-05T03:36:00.001+02:00

Fox News - Christians, police clash after Egypt church bombing

Melbourne Grief - Australian News

2011-01-05T03:09:00.003+02:00

Police and Protesters Battle in Shubra (RAW VIDEO)

2011-01-05T01:54:00.001+02:00

Raw video of police and protesters squaring off in the Cairo district of Shubra for the third consecutive day. Demonstrators are angry over the New Year's Eve bombing of a church in Alexandria

Father Tadros Malaty Crying

2011-01-04T12:55:00.001+02:00

Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty Crying in Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral

2nd Group Funeral After Investigating in Mar Mina Monastery.
Extra 4 people delivered and declared DEAD

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt

2011-01-02T13:07:00.008+02:00

Church Attack in Alexandria Egypt at New Year's Midnight Celebration

Martyrs Blood Cross

Martyrs Blood on Church Walls

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral in Mar Mina Monastery

Fatal Bomb Hits a Church in Egypt

2011-01-02T12:37:00.004+02:00

A bomb, possibly worn by a suicide attacker, ripped through a throng of worshipers outside of a Coptic Christian church in the port city of Alexandria, Egypt, early Saturday, killing at least 21 people in the worst attack against Egypt’s Christian minority in recent memory.

Egypt’s Health Ministry said that at least 96 people were wounded in the blast, which occurred shortly after midnight outside the Saints Church as the New Year’s Mass was ending and congregants headed to the doors.

By Saturday evening, patches of blood were visible high on the front walls of the church, which was pockmarked with holes. Across the street, a mosque was also stained with blood.

“There were bodies on the streets,” said Sherif Ibrahim, who saw the blast’s aftermath. “Hands, legs, stomachs. Girls, women and men.”

Government officials quickly blamed foreign terrorists for the bombing and called for national unity. In a televised address hours after the bombing, President Hosni Mubarak said that the authorities had found evidence of “foreign fingers,” adding: “We are all in one trench. We will cut off the head of the snake, and confront terrorism and defeat it.”

But within hours of the explosion, clashes between angry Christians and the security forces outside the church were reminders of a long-simmering domestic conflict.

Periodic violence between members of Egypt’s Muslim majority and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country’s 80 million people, have led to accusations that the government ignores, and even exacerbates, a dangerous sectarian divide. Officials often blame local conflicts for such violence, dismissing talk of sectarian tension.

Over the last year, those tensions were repeatedly marked by violence. Last January, Muslim gunmen opened fire on worshipers leaving a church in southern Egypt, killing seven people. In November, Christians angered that the authorities stopped construction on a church clashed with the police in Cairo, leaving one person dead.

There was no clear indication on Saturday of who was behind the bombing, though it followed a warning of sorts from overseas. Last month, a threat appeared on a Web site that claimed to represent a militant group affiliated with Al Qaeda, called the Islamic State of Iraq. The group claimed responsibility for the siege of a Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad in October that left about 60 people dead.

The warning, which promised more violence, referred to a church in Egypt, which it said was holding two women because they had converted to Islam.

Several people who saw the explosion said it had come from a car bomb. Sameh Atallah said that around 12:15 a.m., a man got out of a car in front of the church. “He was talking on the phone for not even a minute and his car exploded,” Mr. Atallah said.

In a statement, the country’s Interior Ministry said a preliminary investigation pointed to a suicide bomber and not a car bomb. It said the investigation had found that a locally made explosive, filled with nails and ball bearings, was worn by a bomber who was killed in the attack.

There seemed to be some agreement that the attack, because of its ferocity and the possible involvement of a suicide bomber, represented something new. Diaa Rashwan of the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that while Al Qaeda has no presence in Egypt, “This is a new method. It has Al Qaeda features. I think it is a group of Egyptians who were planning this for a while.”

Outside the church late Saturday night, interviews revealed a fractured community. People who identified themselves as Christian were quick to say that Egyptians were behind the bombing, while Muslims said it was the work of outsiders.

“We’re going to die here,” said Mr. Ibrahim, who saw the bombing’s aftermath. “But our churches are here. Our lives are here. What will we do?”

Writing after the bombing on Ahram Online, its editor, Hani Shukrallah, criticized “supposedly moderate Muslims” for being “narrow-minded” and blamed the government for amplifying sectarian tensions.

It was time, he wrote, for Egyptians to face up to a hard reality: “The massacres continue, each more horrible than the one before, and the bigotry and intolerance spread deeper and wider into every nook and cranny of our society.”

An Egypt without Christians was no longer hard to imagine, he wrote, adding, “This will be an Egypt which I do not recognize and to which I have no desire to belong.”

Kareem Fahim reported from New York, and Liam Stack from Alexandria, Egypt. Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/world/middleeast/02egypt.html

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral

2011-01-02T02:01:00.002+02:00

Alexandria Church Martyrs Funeral

2011-01-01T23:30:00.002+02:00

Bomb hits Egypt church at New Year's Mass

2011-01-01T22:09:00.004+02:00

BY MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Maggie Michael, Associated Press – 1 hr 47 mins ago

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – A powerful bomb, possibly from a suicide attacker, exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church as a crowd of worshippers emerged from a New Years Mass early Saturday, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly 80 in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.

The attack came in the wake of threats by al-Qaida militants in Iraq to attack Egypt's Christians. A direct al-Qaida hand in the bombing would be a dramatic development, as the government of President Hosni Mubarak has long denied that the terror network has a significant presence in the country. Al-Qaida in Iraq has already been waging a campaign of violence against Christians in that country.

The bombing enraged Christians, who often complain of discrimination at the hands of Egypt's Muslim majority and accuse the government of covering up attacks on their community. In heavy clashes Saturday afternoon, crowds of Christian youths in the streets outside the church and a neighboring hospital hurled stones at riot police, who opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Egypt has seen growing tensions between its Muslim majority and Christian minority — and the attack raised a dangerous new worry, that al-Qaida or militants sympathetic to it could be aiming to stoke sectarian anger or exploit it to gain a foothold.

Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said Father Mena Adel, a priest at the church. The service had just ended, and some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half hour after midnight, he said.

"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over — legs and bits of flesh."

Blood splattered the facade of the church, as well as a mosque directly across the street. Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept inside the church overnight before they were taken away Saturday by ambulances for burial.

Some Christians carried white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on them with what appeared to be the blood of the victims.

Health Ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded. It was not immediately known if all the victims were Christians. It was the deadliest violence involving Christians in Egypt since at least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in sectarian clashes in a southern town in 1999.

Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed vehicle parked about four meters (yards) from the church.

But the Interior Ministry said later it was likely the blast was detonated by a suicide bomber and that the attack probably involved "foreign elements." It said there was no sign the epicenter of the blast was from a car. Around six severely damaged vehicles remained outside the church, but there was little sign of a crater that major car bombs usually cause. Bits of flesh were stuck to nearby walls.

Alexandria governor Adel Labib immediately blamed al-Qaida, pointing to recent threats by the terror group to attack Christians in Egypt. Both car bombs and suicide attackers are hallmark tactics of al-Qaida.

Whoever was behind it, the blast appeared qualitatively different from past attacks on Christians. Most recent anti-Christian violence has involved less sophisticated means, mainly shootings. Stabbings at three Alexandria churches in 2006 sparked three days of Muslim-Christian riots that left at least four dead.

Egypt faced a wave of Islamic militant violence in the 1990s, that peaked with a 1997 massacre of nearly 60 tourists at a Pharaonic temple in Luxor. But the government suppressed the insurgency with a fierce crackdown.

The last major terror attacks in Egypt were between 2004-2006, when bombings — including some by suicide attackers — hit three tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula, killing 125 people. Those attacks raised allegations of an al-Qaida role, but the governments strongly denied a connection, blaming them on local extremists.

Hours after the blast, Mubarak went on state TV and vowed to track down those behind the attack, saying "we will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."

Aiming to prevent sectarian divisions, he said it was attack against "all Egypt" and that "terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim." Egypt's top Muslim leaders also expressed their condolences and unity with Christians.

But Christians at the church unleashed their fury at authorities they often accuse of failing to protect them. Soon after the explosion, angry Christians clashed with police, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said. Some broke in to the nearby mosque, throwing books into the street and sparking stone- and bottle-throwing clashes with Muslims, an AP photographer at the scene said.

Police fired tear gas to break up the clashes. But in the afternoon, new violence erupted in a street between the church and the affiliated Saints Hospital. Some of the young protesters waved kitchen knives. One, his chest bared and a large tattoo of a cross on his arm, was carried into the hospital with several injuries from rubber bullets.

"Now it's between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians," shouted one Christian woman at the hospital.

Many Christians blame violence against their community on Islamic extremists. They accuse the government of blaming attacks on lone renegades or mentally ill people to avoid addressing what they call anti-Christian sentiment among Muslims. The mistrust of the government is so great, that even the ministry's report that a suicide bomber was behind Saturday's blast raised suspicion among some Christians.

Archbishop Raweis, the top Coptic cleric in Alexandria, said police want to blame a suicide bomber instead of a car bomb so they can write it off as a lone attacker. He denounced what he called a lack of protection.

"There were only three soldiers and an officer in front of the church. Why did they have so little security at such a sensitive time when there's so many threats coming from al-Qaida?" he said, speaking to the AP.

Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, are believed to make up about 10 percent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints about discrimination. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairo, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left one person dead.

Just before Christmas, al-Qaida in Iraq made its latest threat to attack Christians. The group claims to be waging its anti-Christian campaign in the name of two Egyptian Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam in order to get divorces, which are prohibited by the Coptic Church.

The women have since been secluded by the Church, prompting Islamic hard-liners to hold frequent protests in past months, accusing the Church of imprisoning the women and forcing them to renounce Islam, a claim the Church denies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110101/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_church_attack

I Place My Soul

2010-12-29T11:07:00.002+02:00

1- I place my soul into your hands, my Lord Jesus Christ

Lead me cause I depend on you, lead me and I'll serve you

Please be my guide in every way, be my guard I won't go astray

Sanctify my hearts and my needs, until I see you Lord

R- As you have always said O source of all goodness

Come unto me O you weary, Come on to me and you'll find rest

Come onto me I am the Way, I am the Truth and Life

2- When my life gets filled with worries and darkness overwhelms

The clouds will be dispersed away by you O Prince of Peace

You are my shield you are my hope, you are my strength you are my goal

You are the perfect love O Lord, of whom than shall I fear

3- You are my shepherd I'll not want, lead me to still waters

Restore my soul I'm calling you, lead me to righteousness

Though I walk through the Death Valley, with you I will fear no evil

You are my comfort staff and rod, all the days of my life

4- Come take your cross and follow me, Fear not I am with thee

Cheer up I've overcome the world, your tears I'll wipe away

I showed you my love on the cross, and if your faithful unto death

I will give you eternal life, come now and follow me

Synaxarium - 20 Hatour - 29 November - 20 Hedar

2010-11-29T18:22:00.002+02:00

Egyptian Synaxarium Hatour 20
THE THIRD MONTH

Hatour (Hator, Hatur, Hathor, Athor) 20 Martyr – Coptic Calendar – Martyr Calendar
29 November

Day 20 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Hatour, may God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins after forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers.
Amen.

Departure of St. Anianus, the Second Pope of Alexandria

On this day of the year 86 A.D., the holy father Abba Anianus, the second Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was a native of Alexandria, the son of pagan parents, and he was a cobbler. When St. Mark, the Apostle, entered the city of Alexandria, it happened by God's Divine Will that he tripped and tore his sandal. He gave it to Anianus to repair. While Anianus was thrusting the awl into it, the awl went through to the other side of the sandal and injured his finger. He screamed in pain, saying in Greek, Eis Theos which means O, the Only God. When St. Mark heard him mentioning the Name of the Lord, he glorified the Lord Christ. Then he took some dust from the ground, spat on it and applied it to the finger of St. Anianus and he was healed immediately. Anianus was exceedingly amazed. He took St. Mark to his house, asked him about his name, his belief, and where he came from. The apostle began to tell him of the books of the prophets concerning the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mystery of His incarnation, His Death and Resurrection and the performing of miracles in His Holy Name. Anianus' mind was illuminated and he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and all the people of his house believed with him. They were all baptized in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and God's Divine Grace was poured upon them. They continued to listen to the teachings of the Apostle Mark, who taught them the doctrine of the church, its ordinances and its laws. When St. Mark decided to go to Pentapolis, he laid his hand on Anianus and ordained him Patriarch over the city of Alexandria, in the year 64 A.D. St. Anianus continued preaching and baptizing its people secretly, helping and strengthening them in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He turned his house into a church; and it is said that it is the one known as the church of St. Mark the Martyr, where the church of St. Mark in Alexandria stands now. This saint occupied the throne of St. Mark for 22 years, then departed in peace.May His prayers be with us. Amen

Consecration of the Churches of Prince Theodore, the Son of John, and Prince Theodore El-Mishreke

This day also commemorates the consecration of the churches of the two saints: Prince Theodore (El-Shotbe), the son of John and Prince Theodore El-Mishreke. May Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen

Ethiopian Synaxarium HEDAR 20
THE THIRD MONTH
HEDAR (Hidar, Hadar) 20 - Geez (Ge'ez) Calendar – Ethiopian Calendar
(29 November)

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT,
ONE GOD. AMEN.

On this day died the holy father Anianus, Archbishop of the city of Alexandria, the second from Mark the evangelist. This holy man was a native of Alexandria and his parents were infidel pagans, and his trade was that of a sandal maker. When Saint Mark the evangelist and apostle came into the city of Alexandria, by the Will and wisdom of God he struck his foot against a stone and broke the latchet of his sandals, and he gave the sandal to this Saint Anianus to sew for him. And when he took the sandal to sew it, he thrust his awl into it, and it passed right through it and pierced his finger; and he said in the Greek tongue, “Istaos (Eis Theos),” which being interpreted is “One God.” When Saint Mark the evangelist heard him mention the Name of God, he took up some dust from the ground and spat spittle upon it, and laid it upon the finger of Anianus and healed it immediately; and Anianus marveled at this, and he took Saint Mark and brought him into his house, and he asked him about his name and Faith, and from what place he had come. Then Saint Mark began to tell him from the Old and the New Testaments concerning the Godhead of our Lord Christ, and His wisdom, and His being made man, and His Death and Resurrection, and the working of miracles in His holy Name. And he illumined the heart of Saint Anianus, and he believed in the Lord Christ, and the men of his house also, and they were baptized in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and the Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit came down upon them. And they became devoted hearers of the doctrine of Saint Mark the apostle, and Anianus learned all the doctrine of the Church, and her ordinances and her Law. When Saint Mark the apostle wished to go to Pentapolis to preach, he laid his hand upon the head of Saint Anianus and made him Archbishop of the city of Alexandria. And he used to preach to the men thereof, and baptize them secretly, and help the believers and strengthen them in the True Faith. And he set apart his own house for a church, and it is said, that this church, which is outside the city of Alexandria on the west, was known to Saint George the martyr. And this Saint Anianus sat upon the throne of Mark the evangelist twelve years, and he died in peace. Salutation to Anianus who protected his flock against the jaws of the ravening wolf, and received the reward of the shepherd in heaven.
And on this day also took place the consecration of the church of Saint Theodore the general. Salutation to the consecration of thy church, O Saint Theodore the martyr! Save me even as thou didst save the son of the Hebrew woman.

Glory be to God Who is glorified in His Saints. Amen.

HEDAR (Hidar, Hadar) 20 - Geez (Ge'ez) Calendar – Ethiopian Calendar = Hatour (Hator, Hatur, Hathor, Athor) 20 Martyr – Coptic Calendar – Martyr Calendar

Hathor - Coptic Calendar – Martyr Calendar = Hedar - Geez (Ge'ez) Calendar – Ethiopian Calendar
- Hathor also known as Hatour is the third month of the Coptic calendar. It lies between November 11 and December 9 of the Gregorian calendar. The month of Hathor is also the third month of the Season of 'Akhet' (Inundation) in Ancient Egypt, where the Nile floods cover the land of Egypt and during this month the lands become lush and green. The name of the month of Hathor comes from Hathor, the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of Beauty and Love
- Gregorian Calendar equivalent: November 10 to December 9