The London School of Orthodox Christian Studies

The London School of Orthodox Christian Studies
The LSOCS

It is all too easy for us as Christians to abandon the detailed study of the faith once we are married, and have children and responsibilities as husbands and wives, parents and employees. But it is a great blessing and a joy to make time to extend our knowledge of the faith at every stage of our lives. Indeed I have learned more about our Orthodox Faith over the last years, than I have ever done before. Yet there remains always a great ocean of transforming learning and experience of which I grow more and more aware that I stand only in the shallows.

The courses provided by the London School of Orthodox Christian Studies are one small opportunity for people of all ages to continue to grow in their understanding of the Orthodox Faith. The courses in Christology, Church History and Monasticism are suitable for students of all ages and backgrounds, and are intended to have a spiritual benefit, as well as providing interesting academic study.

The courses are described at www.lsocs.co.uk and you can register for a course and begin your studies almost immediately. All of the materials are provided online so that students can study anywhere and at anytime. Why not consider registering for a course, and continuing to grow in your understanding of the Orthodox Faith today.

----------

Reflections on Eastern Monasticism

This podcast contains some brief considerations on Orthodox Monasticism. It particularly refers to the fact that monasticism in Eastern Christianity is not monolithic. It does not have exactly the same forms and practices in all places and at all times. The podcast also looks at the influence which monasticism has had, and continues to have, on the development of the spiritual life of the Orthodox Churches. There is also reference to the monastic experience in Russia and the Persian Empire.

The London School of Orthodox Christian Studies is now accepting registrations for the course on Orthodox Monasticism.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

----------

Available Courses

Orthodox Christology

Church History

Orthodox Monasticism

http://www.lsocs.co.uk/


Abouna Peter Farrington

The London School of Orthodox Christian Studies
http://lsocs.co.uk/index.php

Severus of Antioch
http://lsocs.co.uk/severus_antioch.php

Severus of Antioch - Hymns
On the Nativity of Christ who is God
http://lsocs.co.uk/severus_hymns01.php

Sample Podcasts
Hosted at Podbean
http://orthodoxfaith.podbean.com/

Honoring Beloved Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt

By Michael Terheyden
        3/22/2012
        Catholic Online

He was a man of courageous Christian faith in an age which needs many more.

After battling cancer for years, the beloved leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his Holiness Pope Shenouda III, succumbed to his illness. Despite having to balance fierce tensions between his people, especially the youth, the Muslim People, extremist groups, and the Egyptian government, Pope Shenouda was largely seen as charismatic and highly esteemed. He was a man of courageous Christian faith in an age which needs many more.

 KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - After battling cancer for years, on March 17, 2012, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his Holiness Pope Shenouda III, succumbed to his illness. He was 88 years old. According to one estimate, well over 100,000 mourners visited his body, which was seated on a ceremonial throne and dressed in gold and red vestments. A gold mitre was placed on his head and a gold-tipped staff placed in his hand. Pope Shenouda III led the Copts for the last 40 years of a 2000 year history that is both rich and tragic.

The Coptic Church is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. They trace their origins back to the first century and Saint Mark, the writer of the Gospel of Mark, and the reign of the Roman emperor Nero. The Coptic Church has members in many countries throughout the world, though it is centered in Alexandria, Egypt. It is also the largest religious minority in the Middle East.

Many Copts converted to Islam after Muslim armies conquered Egypt in the seventh century because if they did not, they either had to pay excessively high taxes or they were killed. Many Copts were martyred as a result. Those who paid the tax, while they were allowed to remain Christian, lost many of their rights and were forced to live as second-class citizens. Life for the Copts improved somewhat in the 19th century, but it declined in the mid-twentieth century.

In was in this environment that Pope Shenouda served and rose in the ecclesial ranks. He was born Nazeer Gayed Roufail on August 3, 1923, in Assiut, Egypt. Nazeer became a monk at the age of 31. He was a member of the monastery of St. Anthony for six years, but he lived in a cave as a hermit, where he dedicated his time to meditation, prayer and asceticism.

He was later ordained into the diaconate in Christ and then the holy priesthood. In 1962 he was appointed to the bishopric of Christian Education and served as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, and he was given the name Shenouda, after the renowned Coptic scholar and writer Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. Then, on November 14, 1971, he was elected as the 117th head, the Patriarch, the "father" of the Coptic Church.

Pope Shenouda authored many books and gave weekly lecturers. His themes often revolved around peace, dialogue, and forgiveness. He was also known as a staunch advocate of authentic ecumenism, that is, of restoring Christian unity. To this end, he met with Pope Paul VI in 1973 and signed the Joint Declaration of Faith. Then in 2000, he met with Blessed Pope John Paul II in Cairo, Egypt.

His relations with the Egyptian government and Muslim extremists were not so cordial. In 1981, President Anwar Sadat put him under house arrest at a desert monastery because he accused the government of not dealing with Muslim extremists, the same extremists who assassinated Sadat later that year.

After Hosni Mubarak became president, he released Shenouda. Together they managed to walk a fine line. Under Mubarak, the Copts found greater, but tenuous, security. However, they remained second-class citizens. Since the fall of Mubarak a little over one year ago, violence against the Copts has risen. Furthermore, Muslim fundamentalists, the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, were the primary beneficiaries of Egypt's recent elections. This causes much concern among Coptic Christians.

Due largely to the discrimination against the Copts in Egypt, Pope Shenouda presided over an unprecedented worldwide expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church. In 1971, there were apparently only a handful of Coptic parishes on the North American continent; today there are over 200 parishes in the United States and 23 in Canada. There are also parishes in Mexico, South America, and Australia.

Despite having to balance fierce tensions between his people, especially the youth, the Muslim People, extremist groups, and the Egyptian government, Pope Shenouda was largely seen as charismatic and highly esteemed. An article about Pope Shenouda in Wikipedia lists numerous accolades from people representing a broad array of social, political, and religious backgrounds. Some of them are as follows:

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt acknowledged Shenouda's wish of "preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric." In addition, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the Council leader, decreed three days of mourning for state employed Christians.

Mohamed Morsi, the party chairman for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, referred to Shenouda's life as "a long journey of big contribution in various fields domestically and abroad."

Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri said, "I give my sincere condolences to the Coptic brothers home and abroad. [He was a] national character and a symbol for patriotism and he gained wide respect and appreciation from the Egyptian people." ...


http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=45321


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cWUxrsedjAQ

Three killed, 52 injured as grieving Copts bid farewell to Pope Shenouda III

NewsCore March 19, 2012

Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church, when he led prayers at the Coptic Cathedral. Pic. Ap Source: AP

THREE killed, dozens injured when thousands packed Cairo Cathedral to farewell to Pope Shenouda III.

The trio died of suffocation inside the cathedral, church official Anba Younnes told The (London) Times.

CNN, citing Deputy Health Minister Hisham Sheeha, said overcrowding in the building resulted in a stampede, killing the three mourners and injuring 52 others. Most of the injured suffered from low blood pressure and insufficient oxygen.

Shenouda died Saturday at age 88 after a long illness, setting in motion the process to elect a new patriarch for the Middle East's largest Christian community, AFP reported.

He led the Copts, estimated at 10 percent of Egypt's population of more than 80 million, for a whole generation, during which the country was hit by a wave of Islamist militancy from which he sought to protect his flock.

Tens of thousands of mourners converged on the cathedral in a line that stretched for nearly a mile (1.6km), as military vehicles lined the road outside.

Shenouda's body, dressed in formal robes with a golden crown on his head, was placed upright on the tall ornate papal throne where it will remain sitting in state until the funeral Tuesday.

A bishop knelt to one side pressing his head to the throne, as thousands of worshippers in black hoping for a final blessing from their spiritual leader took pictures of Shenouda on their mobile phones, amid tears and wails of grief.

Copts nationwide mourned Shenouda, and one woman in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, distraught by his passing, was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide, the official MENA news agency reported.

Based on wishes stated in his will, Shenouda will be buried at St. Bishoy monastery of Wadi Natrun in the Nile Delta, where he spent time in exile after a dispute with the late president Anwar Sadat, state media reported.

Bishop Pachomious of the Nile Delta province of Beheira has assumed papal duties for two months until a council of senior clergy meets to choose a new pope, state television said.

The new pope would be chosen according to procedures laid out in 1957 church bylaws.
Shenouda leaves behind a nervous community, a target of frequent sectarian attacks in recent years, with complaints of routine harassment and systematic discrimination and marginalization.

Egypt's Christians are particularly concerned over the rise and increased assertiveness of Islamists, following the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/three-killed-52-injured-as-grieving-copts-bid-farewell-to-pope-shenouda-iii/story-fn6b3v4f-1226304102560

Egypt's Christians bid farewell to pope

HH Pope Shenouda III

From correspondents in Cairo AP March 21, 2012 4:39AM 

TEARFUL and wearing mourning black, tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians have joined a funeral Mass for their patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, at the main cathedral in Cairo.

St Mark's Cathedral was packed with local clerics, visiting clergymen and dignitaries as deacons chanted sombre hymns and bearded, black-clad priests and monks recited prayers and dispensed incense smoke from censers.

Shenouda's body lay in a white casket in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services, complete with an ornate golden crown.

Many in the congregation broke down in tears, while others frantically waved goodbye as the Mass came to a close.

Clerics, deacons and laypeople gathered around the casket, kissing it, standing in silence or bowing in respect.
Shenouda died on Saturday aged 88 after serving for 40 years at the helm of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world's oldest Christian denominations. Most of Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians are Orthodox Copts.

A successor has yet to be named, and it could take months before the complex process is completed.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. The political ascent of Islamists since the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak a year ago has added to their worries.

Tens of thousands followed the Mass outside the cathedral, carrying portraits of Shenouda and crosses. Many wept, wiping tears from their faces as the melancholic tunes of the hymns reached them through loudspeakers.

Scores of military police were deployed to maintain security outside the cathedral. The normally congested traffic of central Cairo was backed up for hours because of the crowds. The cathedral is located on a main downtown artery.

"I know he is now in a better place, but it is difficult now he's gone. We miss you," said a grief-stricken Marianne Saad as she stood in the crowd outside the cathedral.

"After God, he was our only protector," lamented another young woman in the crowd. "We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts," said a young Christian man, Hani Suleiman.

After the Mass, Shenouda's body was ferried to a military airport east of Cairo. From there it was flown to the Saint Bishoy monastery in the desert northwest of the capital, where he was to be buried later today.

Chaotic scenes erupted when a convoy of cars, including an ambulance carrying Shenouda's body, arrived at the monastery shortly before sunset. Military policemen struggled to control thousands of mourners who tried to push their way to the ambulance. Many in the crowd outside the monastery's walls tried to get inside when the convoy arrived but were kept out by the soldiers.

The monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, was a favourite of Shenouda's. He spent more than three years of exile there after he was banished in 1981 by Egypt's then-President Anwar Sadat, who claimed the patriarch was fomenting sectarian strife. Sadat's successor, Mubarak, released the Pope in 1985.

Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, declared a nationwide state of mourning today.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/egypts-christians-bid-farewell-to-pope/story-e6freuyi-1226305781462

Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt’s Coptic Christian church, dies at 88

By Associated Press, Published: March 18

CAIRO, Egypt — Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt’s Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, died Saturday. He was 88.

His death comes as the country’s estimated 10 million Christians are feeling more vulnerable than ever amid the rise of Islamic movements to political power after the toppling a year ago of President Hosni Mubarak. The months since have seen a string of attacks on the community, heightened anti-Christian rhetoric by ultraconservatives known as Salafis and fears that coming goverments will try to impose strict versions of Islamic law.

Tens of thousands of Christians packed into the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo on Saturday evening hoping to see his body. Women in black wept and screamed. Some, unable to get into the overcrowded building, massed outside, raising their hands in prayer.

“He left us in a very hard time. Look at the country and what’s happening now,” said Mahrous Munis, a Christian IT worker in his 30s who was among the crowds. “Copts are in a worse situation than before. God be with us.”

Munis’ friend, Sherif Sabry, interrupted. “He was our rock. God help us find someone who can fill his place.”

An archbishop later announced to the crowd that the funeral would be held in three days, and in the meantime Shenouda’s body would be put on display in the cathedral, sitting in the Mar Morqos — or St. Mark — throne from which the pope in his elaborate regalia traditionally oversaw services.

Shenouda died in his residence at the cathedral, and the state news agency MENA said he had been battling liver and lung problems for several years. Yasser Ghobrial, a physician who treated Shenouda at a Cairo hospital in 2007, said he suffered from prostate cancer that spread to his colon and lungs.

U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute to Shenouda as “an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue.”

“We will remember Pope Shenouda III as a man of deep faith, a leader of a great faith, and an advocate for unity and reconciliation,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. “His commitment to Egypt’s national unity is also a testament to what can be accomplished when people of all religions and creeds work together.”

“Baba Shenouda,” as he was known to his followers, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world. The Coptic Church traces its founding to St. Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st Century.

For Egypt’s Christians, he was a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humor — his smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops — and a deeply conservative religious thinker who resisted calls by liberals for reform.

Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their community living amid a Muslim majority in this country of more than 80 million people. Christians have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens, saying they face discrimination and that police generally fail to prosecute those behind anti-Christian attacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypts-state-news-agency-says-pope-shenouda-iii-head-of-coptic-christian-church-has-died/2012/03/17/gIQAjJApIS_story.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews

Chaos as Coptic Pope laid to rest

    March 21, 2012 4:49AM

 Funeral: Priests officiate at the funeral of Coptic Pope Shenuda III in St Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, as thousands of mourners paid their respects yesterday. 

EGYPT'S Coptic Pope Shenuda has been buried in a desert monastery amid near-hysterical scenes.

Following a funeral service at Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral, Shenuda's body was flown some 100 kilometres by military aircraft to Beheira province in the northwest, where the motorcade took it to St Bishoy monastery in Wadi Natrun.

There, lines of military police at the entrance to the monastery crumbled under the force of thousands of screaming worshippers who rushed the convoy.

One woman hung precariously from the ambulance carrying the patriarch's body, as panicked officers shouted and tried to push back the heaving crowds.

His body was finally taken into the 4th century monastery where Shenuda had asked to be buried, a large cross of flowers placed over his marble resting place. Mourners clambered over each other to snatch flowers and kiss the tomb.

Shenuda died on Saturday aged 88 after a long illness, leaving behind a community increasingly anxious about the rise of Islamism and political uncertainty.

During the funeral service, Shenuda's body, dressed in robes and a gold crown, lay in an open coffin as patriarchs of Orthodox churches said prayers.

Pallbearers struggled to get the white coffin out of the vast cathedral in the capital.
They had to push through a sea of mourners who threw rose petals and waved white lilies amid near-hysterical scenes as people pressed forward to try to touch the coffin, causing it to tilt several times.

Coptic hymns and incense filled the church as clergy, officials and choirboys wept and waved goodbye to their spiritual leader, the head of the Middle East's largest Christian community.

Members of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces attended the service, as did parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and several Egyptian ministers, MPs and other public figures, both Christian and Muslim.

Crowds waited, some all night, for a chance to attend the service, which officials had said would be by invitation only. Those who could not get in massed outside to pay their respects.
At one point, the gate to the cathedral compound was opened, causing a stampede into the courtyard before church officials scrambled to close it again.

Prayers were led by the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos.
"Because he is resting does not mean we have lost him," Abune Paulos said at the emotional service, aired live on television.

Yesterday had been declared a day of national mourning in Egypt. Flags nationwide were flown at half mast, and an unprecedented security plan was put in place in Cairo and in the Nile Delta province of Beheira.

Shenuda's death brought tens of thousands of Copts to the cathedral to bid a final farewell.
Ahead of the funeral, the pope's body, dressed in gold, white and crimson robes, a gilded crown on his head, was placed seated on the ornate papal throne, a carved image of Christ behind him and lions standing guard on either side.

Devastated worshippers thronged to catch a final glimpse of "Baba Shenuda," using mobile phones to take pictures of him.

Three mourners were crushed to death in the crowd on Sunday, and 137 people were injured, prompting church officials to cut short the viewing and close the cathedral to the public.
Shenuda's death set in motion the process to elect a new patriarch, who will lead the community through a critical phase marked by political instability and sectarian tensions.

The new pope will be chosen by a council made up of senior clergy, current and former Coptic public officials, MPs, local councillors and journalists, in a process that could take months.

News of Shenuda's death caused dismay among Egypt's beleaguered Coptic population, many of whom credited him with maintaining a cool head during challenging times and helping to prevent widespread sectarian unrest.

But his critics saw him as being too close to the government, refusing to speak up for the community in the face of sectarian attacks, discrimination and harassment.

Named pope of Alexandria in 1971, Shenuda led the Copts, estimated at 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 80 million, for a generation. During that time, Egypt was hit by a wave of Islamist militancy from which he sought to protect his people.

Copts have been particularly concerned about the political fallout from the Arab spring uprising that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February last year.

Islamist parties, including ultra-conservative Salafists who believe Christians should not have a say in ruling the country, won almost three-quarters of the seats in the first parliamentary elections since the revolt.



http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/chaos-as-coptic-pope-laid-to-rest/story-fn6e1m7z-1226305781066

Pope mourns passing of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox leader

Rome, Italy, Mar 19, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic leaders have offered their condolences on the death of Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, who died March 17 at age 88.

The Catholic Church, Pope Benedict said, “shares the grief that afflicts the Orthodox Copts,” and “stands in fervent prayer asking that he, who is the Resurrection and the Life, might welcome his faithful servant. May the God of all mercy receive Pope Shenouda in his joy, his peace and light.”

Born in August of 1923, Nazeer Gayed was honored as the 117th “Pope of Alexandria” by Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt and abroad. Although theological differences separated his church from Catholics and other Orthodox churches, Pope Shenouda himself was known as an ecumenical pioneer.

In his March 18 message to the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Benedict recalled the leader's “commitment to Christian unity,” shown in meetings with Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In 1973, Pope Shenouda and Pope Paul VI issued a declaration affirming key points of theological agreement.

Pope Benedict showed the same ecumenical warmth, as he mourned Pope Shenouda's “departure to God, our common Father,” and offered his “most sincere brotherly compassion” to the Coptic synod of bishops as well as their priests and faithful.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have come to Cairo's Cathedral of St. Mark to honor the late Pope of Alexandria and view his body, which was vested and placed on the episcopal throne he occupied for four decades. He will be buried at a northern Egyptian monastery following a March 20 funeral.

The loss of the Coptic Orthodox leader comes at a difficult time for Egyptian Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population. Concerns about their future have intensified following the country's 2011 revolution, which was billed as non-sectarian but has led to the rise of Islamist political parties.

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, mourned the loss of Pope Shenouda's leadership in his March 18 message.

The Coptic pope, he said, was “not only a religious leader for his church but also for all Christian churches,” particularly those of the Eastern traditions.

Patriarch Twal recalled how Pope Shenouda “continued his Christian mission in a firm confidence and a deep faith in the midst of a whirlwind of events that marked the Arab world.”

“We accompany with our prayers and send our condolences to his church and his beloved children, in recognition of all the great services to his church, his country and for all Christians in the Middle East. Grant him, O Lord, eternal rest, and may thy perpetual light shine on him.”

http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/World.php?id=5097&fb_source=message

Pope Shenouda III funeral: Egypt's Copts mourn their 'protector'

St Mark's Cathedral in central Cairo packed for ceremony after Coptic Christian leader's death on Saturday, aged 88

Hamza Hendawi and Maggie Michael in Cairo 

Tuesday 20 March 2012

 

 Tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians join a funeral 

mass for their pope in Cairo

 Tearful and wearing black, tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians joined a funeral mass for their patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, led by senior clerics at the main cathedral in Cairo.

St Mark's Cathedral was packed with local clerics, visiting clergymen and dignitaries as deacons chanted sombre hymns and bearded, black-clad priests and monks recited prayers and dispensed incense smoke from censers.

Shenouda's body lay in a white casket in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services, complete with an ornate golden crown.

Shenouda died on Saturday aged 88 after 40 years at the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world's oldest Christian denominations. Most of Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians are Orthodox Copts.

Many in the congregation broke down in tears, while others frantically waved goodbye as the mass came to a close.

Clerics, deacons and laypeople gathered around the casket, kissing it, standing in silence or bowing in respect.

Tens of thousands more who could not get in followed the mass outside the cathedral, carrying crosses and portraits of Shenouda. Many wept, wiping tears off their faces as the melancholic tunes of the hymns reached them through loudspeakers.

Scores of military police were deployed to maintain security outside the cathedral, on one of central Cairo's main arteries, with traffic backed up for hours because of the crowds.

"I know he is now in a better place, but it is difficult now he's gone. We miss you," said a grief-stricken Marianne Saad as she stood in the crowd outside the cathedral.

"After God, he was our only protector," lamented another young woman in the crowd. "We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts," said a young Christian man, Hani Suleiman.

After the mass, Shenouda's body was ferried to a military airport east of Cairo, from where it was to be flown later on Tuesday to the desert St Bishoy monastery north-west of the capital, where he will buried.

The monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, was a favourite of Shenouda's.
Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, declared a nationwide state of mourning on Tuesday.

A successor to Pope Shenouda has yet to be found and it could take months before the complex process is completed.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. The political ascent of Islamists since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak a year ago has added to their worries.

"Words, my beloved, can never do Pope Shenouda justice. He left us an example of leadership that we should all follow," a senior cleric said in an address to the congregation. "It is because of him that we have national unity with our Muslim brothers."

During his 40 years as patriarch, Shenouda strove to ensure his place among the Muslim powerbrokers, pressing demands behind the scenes while keeping Christians' anger over violence and discrimination in check. It was a delicate balancing act.

Shenouda maintained a high media profile, giving interviews, speaking on key domestic and regional developments and never showing anger at times of crisis.

Egyptian authorities deny any discrimination, but Christians say it happens in numerous and subtle ways. Christians, for example, rarely assume leadership jobs on the police force, particularly the security agencies. The Islamist-dominated parliament only has a handful of Christians, and there are never more than one or two Christians among 30-plus cabinet ministers.

As Egypt grew more religiously conservative over the past 40 years, the discrimination became more manifest in everyday life, particularly when Christians came into direct contact with government departments or enrolled their children at state schools, where Islamists often dominate teaching staff.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/pope-shenouda-funeral-egypt-coptic-christians?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/mar/20/pope-shenouda-funeral-egyptvideo 

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III dies in Cairo

Posted on: Saturday, 17th March, 2012

 

Pope Shenouda III

A statement has just been received from His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy, General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, announcing the death of His Holiness Pope Shenouda on 17 March 2012

Further announcements will follow shortly.

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III died at 5.15 p.m. He suffered a heart attack, but was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
Copts all over the world are joining the mourning. Abba Seraphim, along with other Coptic clergy are on their way to Cairo to attend an urgent synod.

On Saturday evening, thousands of Copts gathered in the courtyard of Abbasiya Cathedral aiming to pay their last respects to the deceased patriarch. “We are not sure when this will be possible,” said one source. “Perhaps tomorrow.”

Another source indicated that no one would be admitted into the presence of the dead pope until the day of the funeral, “which will be held on Tuesday, three days from now, to make time for followers of the pope to come form across Egypt and from abroad.”

By Saturday evening, most presidential hopefuls, who had by and large made an effort to frequent Coptic mass since the end of the Mubarak regime, were offering their condolences.

“With one or two exceptions we expect all presidential hopefuls to be present in the funeral mass,” added the source, indicating that all state bodies, political parties and groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, had already contacted the church. “Many have been asking how they might pay their respects and participate in the funeral mass.”

Meanwhile, official and church sources said a high level state representation is scheduled for the funeral mass. The head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, is expected to be at the cathedral to offer his condolences, while SCAF’s second in command, Sami Annan, is expected to be present throughout the mass.

Tantawi decreed three days of official mourning for Copts.

Annan and several SCAF members were invited to attend Christmas Mass on 6 January despite the outrage of the Coptic public at the military’s conspicuous involvement in the tragedy that befell Coptic demonstrators on 9 October while they protested a series of attacks on Coptic churches across Egypt.

Diplomats and some foreign dignitaries are expected at the funeral which will probably take place at the Abbassiya Cathedral before the coffin is taken to the monastery in Wadi Al-Natroun for burial.

“We offer our deep condolences to every one of our Christian brothers for the loss of Pople Shenouda,” Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said in a statement. “May God help all our Christian brothers overcome this ordeal and bring a successor who can keep promoting the sense of unity between all citizens,” he added.

An Egyptian army statement said that the Pope was a “rare statesman who worked with all of his energy to promote the wellbeing of the nation.”

Bishop Bakhomious (Pachomious) of Behera will head the Coptic Orthodox church for an interim period of two months. The General Congregation Council, which is part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, will nominate three bishops, one of which is to succeed Pope Shenouda III.

The names of the three bishops will be written on three papers, and a child will pick one, unseen, from a box. This method is used in order for the “will of God” to play a role in the process.

http://britishorthodox.org/3180/his-holiness-pope-shenouda-iii-dies-in-cairo/ 

ADIEU TO OUR BELOVED AND EVER LOVING PAPA SHENOUDA III

Hatem Maher
17/3/2012

Pope Shenouda III, Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Pope, has died on Saturday at the age of 88, after a long battle against illness.

The Coptic patriarch suffered from back and kidney problems for years and repeatedly travelled to the United States for medical treatment.

He was born on 3 August 1923 in Asiut, Upper Egypt and has been the Pope of Alexandria since November 1971 when president Anwar El-Sadat was in power.

“We lost today a great icon. His presence was crucial in repelling many threats against the country,” Amin Eskandar, a member in the People’s Assembly (parliament’s lower house), said in a phone call with state television channel Nile News.

“His patriotism and wise approaches to any issue were very helpful. May God compensate us for the loss of that great man.”

Shenouda was widely acclaimed by Christians and Muslims alike in recent years for his regular efforts to contain sectarian tensions following a number of incidents – some involving the burning of churches, but was also criticized for turning the church into a political entity.

He was also known for his support of Palestinian rights in the decades-long Middle East conflict. Because of these and other stances, he was often described as an Arab nationalist by many observers.

News of Shenuda’s death was certain to cause dismay among Egypt’s beleaguered Coptic population, many of whom looked up to him as a spiritual guide.

He was placed under house arrest by former president Anwar Sadat for his outspoken criticism of Sadat’s courting of Islamists.

But Shenouda was supportive of Sadat’s successor Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown January 25 revolution in 2011, which led to an Islamist-dominated parliament — the first in the country’s history.

In 2001, he famously stated he would never visit Jerusalem unless he entered the country with a Palestinian visa along with Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the late Grand Imam of Egypt’s foremost religious authority, Al-Azhar.

“I was full of admiration for the great patriotic stances he took throughout his life,” said Mohamed Refaa El-Tahtawy, the former spokesman of Al-Azhar.

“I remember his great remarks about the visit to Jerusalem, when he refused to go there under the Israeli occupation,” he added.

http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2012/03/adieu-to-our-beloved-and-ever-loving-papa-shenouda-iii/

Tributes and mourning for Coptic Pope

Thousands gather in Cairo cathedral to pay tribute to Pope Shenouda, the Coptic church's spiritual leader since 1971.

Last Modified: 18 Mar 2012 11:36

Thousands of mourners have gathered at Cairo's St. Mark's Cathedral to pay final respects to Pope Shenouda III, the head of the Coptic Church who died on Saturday at the age of 88.

Coptic bishops have started arriving from around the world to attend ceremonies leading up to Tuesday's funeral and discuss plans to appoint a successor to Pope Shenouda who had led the church since 1971.

Lengthy queues formed in Cairo's Abbasiya district overnight and on Sunday morning at the cathedral where Shenouda's body was initially laid in a coffin and later seated on a ceremonial throne wearing gold and red embroidered religious vestments, a golden mitre on his head and holding a gold-topped staff.

Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, reporting from outside St. Mark’s in Cairo, said that the streets were “flooded with mourners dressed in black."

"Thousands of people are coming here to get a chance to have a last glimpse of the pope who is seated here in full attire in the papal chair in the main cathedral hall," Rageh said.

"You could see a lot of grief here … people are coming from all around the country not just from Cairo and surrounding cities but as far as Upper Egypt deep in the countries south."

Bishop Pachomious of the Nile Delta province of Beheira has taken over papal duties for two months until a council of senior clergy meet to choose a new pope, state television said.

The spiritual leader of the Middle East's largest Christian minority had suffered health problems for years, travelling to the United States frequently for treatment.

Shenouda died in his residence at the cathedral, and the state news agency MENA said he had been battling liver and lung problems for several years. Health issues forced him to cancel his weekly sermon on Wednesday.

"He died from complications in health and from old age," his political adviser Hany Aziz said.

Condolences poured in from Egypt's Muslim leaders and from politicians.

"Egypt has lost one of its rare men at a sensitive moment when it most needs the wisest of its wise - their expertise and their purity of minds," said Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayib, grand imam of Egypt's highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar.

The Vatican also paid tribute to Shenouda and said that Pope Benedict XVI had offered "prayers of suffrage".

"The Catholic Church shares in the grief and prayers of Coptic Christians in mourning the loss of their spiritual leader... May the Lord welcome this great shepherd and give him the reward he deserves for his service," a statement said.

Central role

Shenouda's successor will play a central role in forging the church's position in the country after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak last year. Islamist parties have since emerged as a dominant political force in parliamentary elections.

Shenouda led the Coptic Orthodox Church through 40 years of quiet expansion, including a strong growth in North America.

Most of the church's more than 10 million members are in Egypt, where Copts are believed to make up around 10 per cent of the population of around 80 million.

For Egypt's Christians, Shenouda was a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humour, whose smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops. But in recent years, some criticised him for not speaking out on Coptic rights, particularly as sectarian violence seemed to increase.

The later part of his papacy was marked by co-operation with Mubarak and, after the revolt, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. When sectarian clashes began to erupt after Mubarak's removal, including church burnings throughout the country, Shenouda praised the military leadership for helping to rebuild.

'Beloved children'

But in October, when soldiers brutally dispersed a Coptic protest outside state media headquarters, leaving at least 26 people dead, Shenouda declared that those killed were martyrs and blamed the military for the violence.

"These martyrs are our beloved children and their blood does not come cheap," he said. "I, along with all the bishops, priests and monks, will pray for them. And we know that God will forgive their sins."

Shenouda worked as a journalist before spending years as a monk and being elected pope.

In the 1980s, he spent more than three years in exile in a desert monastery after former President Anwar Sadat stripped him of his powers by decree.

At the time, Shenouda had been pressing for more rights for the Coptic community and trying to preserve his congregation from escalating attacks by Muslim extremists.

Mubarak cancelled Sadat's decree in 1985, and Shenouda returned to lead Christmas Mass before a crowd of thousands in St Mark's Cathedral.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/03/20123189381735182.html

Muslim Slow-motion Genocide on indiginous Coptic

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

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

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

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

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