A presidential amnesty was issued on January 25, 2018 by president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, but there is a number of Copts whose names were not included in that list. The first name is Gergis Baroumi who was accused of raping a girl from Farshout, but the medical report confirmed that the girl was not raped and that the accused suffers from a lack of sexual ability!

Those who study the political scene in Egypt find an absence of a political reason, especially concerning the choices of candidates of the parliamentary elections. The candidates during the previous elections didn t have election program or objectivity. Unfortunately, this randomness appeared clearly in several meetings in the Council that were held to discuss important laws as the political education starts at the parties, which have disappeared long time ago. The parties now can only fight over elections without having a political vision.

When do the series of assaults on the Copts come to an end? I mean those assaults where the assailants are never punished and the Copts have to pay for some forms of intolerance, ignorance, deterioration of education, widespread illiteracy, and hatred of the others. Some Copts were attacked in the village of Dawar, Behira governorate as one Coptic worker decided to claim his right after he did some work worth 300 EGP! The Muslim party claimed the Coptic worker has harassed his wife and therefore houses of several Copts were attacked. Some angry mobs decided to to disrupt public order and endanger the safety and security of society and the damage to national unity and social peace. They gave themselves the right to intimidate and destroy properties of the Copts. Those are criminals and should be punished according to the law.

The birth of Christ was a reason for progress of all humankind and taught humans to move from pride to humility. Christ the God became man and was born poor to teach us humility.

Egypt s People s Assembly elections in 2015 came after one year after the presidential election, which was won by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. This happened after the Revolution of June 30 against the Muslim Brotherhood. The Egyptians were hoping for a democratic civil state headed by a civil government and an elected parliament that represents several liberal political parties aiming to serve the state and its citizens.

Nothing has changed Atfih since 2011. The attacks against the Copts and their churches that continued ever since! The Coptic Church of Seoul village, Atfih, was attacked in 2011, and no one has been punished. Only few sessions of fake reconciliation were held to free the perpetrators and deprive the Copts of their rights. The same scenario was repeated on December 22, 2017 when hundreds of Muslims demonstrated after performing their prayers and attacked the church and the Copts based on rumors that a bill and a cross will be fixed in the church that have neither a dome nor a bell tower!

Fasting is a sign of love for God and His commandments by humans. It becomes a powerful means to deepen the love of God in the heart of man. This is how Abba Benjamin, Bishop of Menoufia, told us in his article Fasting and purity explaining the relationship between fasting and purity. Through fasting, the body is purified of instincts and materialistic tendencies. Saints added praises and spiritual practices to fasting in order to receive the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul says, I oppress my body and enslave it . Repression means submission to the leadership of God through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul also says: If you live according to the flesh, you will die Sin comes from the inside the good man from the treasure of his good heart brings out good deeds and the wicked man from the treasure of his evil heart brings out evils Therefore, Christians should sustain spiritual jihad and fasting that purifies our hearts.

Enas, 33 years old, was full of greed and insanity when she planned to kill an old Coptic woman who rents an apartment in her house. She was thinking what kind of mistake her father committed when he allowed a Coptic Christian infidel woman to rent the apartment. She planned and befriended her to make sure when the right time to attack is. The poor Coptic woman Tahani Mikhael started to trust Enas and treat her like a daughter of her own. Without warning, Enas visited Tahani and told her to leave the apartment immediately. The old woman was surprised and entreated her for being a lonely old woman. Enas revealed her ugly face assuring that there is no place for an infidel woman. Refusing to obey her strange request, Enas attacked her and stabbed her 19 times in her neck and chest. The poor woman couldn t resist and left only few scratches in Enas face.

The best way to evaluate a person in his life is through tests and temptations. This helps to evaluate one s experiences and personality. That s why David the Prophet asked God in Psalm 139 :23-24 saying: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Pope Tawadros II calls us in his article (Test Them All) to test them all; hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5: 21) Our faith in Jesus Christ should be the axis and pillar of our life. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? This goes along with saving oneself from evil Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. This heart should express love through good deeds The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5: 6)

True fasting should be accompanied by a righteous repentance. It is devoted to the sanctification of God and takes us a step forward. Abba Joseph, Bishop of Texas, in his article Why did we fast? asks what we got after all fasts. He said that it s all about the quality and not the quantity. Mount Mokattam was moved in only three days through fasting and praying. Fasting therefore, should be accompanied by prayer, praise, love and forgiveness. The bible says: Declare a holy fast;

I write this article to declare I disagree with HG Bishop Makarios on his latest statement on accepting the baptism of Catholics and about the Protestants which included insults to these churches. Such statements contain unacceptable references to Catholics and Protestants, at the time we are in dire need to love, unity and commitment to the teachings of the Bible. The statement doesn t help the church and may be destructive to the Council of Churches of Egypt by calling for division and non-acceptance of the other. Moreover, they contradict with the ideology of His Holiness Pope Twadrous II, at the time Bishop Makarious stated he only mentioned the vision of the church. Unfortunately, he mentioned in his statement some information that are far from the faith and included accusations like the Catholic and Evangelical churches only arrived to Egypt with the British and French invasion. This has nothing to do with the faith!

Power does not mean violence since violence only expresses weakness, while power means having true and unshakeable faith emanating from strong love supported with tolerance, patience and powerful prayer. HG Bishop Benjamin in his article The Concept of Power told us about the meaning of power and its most important images. He explained that Power means victory over sin, seeking virtues and adherence to the right. Power appears in several images, the most important of which is Love. This means giving and sacrifice even one s life for the others justly like Jesus Christ and martyrs did. for love is as strong as death.. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. (Song of Songs 8)

Some of our Coptic Church people have recently experienced some pitfalls, especially the youth of the Diaspora who were affected by the actions of some of their bishops and priests, who impose their control over the deacons of the Church, specifically when a new priest is appointed to their churches. In the terms of reference of churches financial and administrative committees. I wrote two articles about the regulation to select the priests and deacons council in 2013 when the Holy Synod issued regulation of the selection of the priest, which was ignored by many bishops later as they ordain general priests and assign them later to certain churches.

By his blood, the era of systematic martyrdom led by the Roman Empire against Christianity came to an end. He is Pope Boutros XVII, who was called the Seal of the Martyrs as he was the last martyr among his children at that time during the ages of martyrdom. In his article on Pope Peter the Seal of the Martyrs , Abba Bakhomius, Bishop of Behaira and Matrouh, talked about the spiritual lessons learned from the Biography of this Patriarch. First lesson is the discipleship as he was taught by the Patriarch Thaouna XVI all details of Christian faith, the same faith of the Fathers of the Church.

God has turned St. Paul s weakness to the good of mankind, where he led him to believe and became a preacher of Christianity after he oppressed its followers for years. God said about him in (Acts 9:15) he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel . In his article entitled Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another , HG Abba Serbion, Bishop of Los Angeles, said It is clear that the divine choice for the ministers does not give them an immaculacy, but gives them power and fill them with grace. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. (Philippians 3: 15) St. Paul has never doubted he was sent by God: Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead) (Galatians 1: 1)

Christianity and teachings of the Holy Bible rejects and condemns homosexuality. St. Paul in (Romans 1: 24-27) said ‘Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.’ Homosexuality is one psychological and social disorder. It results in a deviation in psychological development and psychological identity as well as behavioral and moral deviation that clearly needs to be treated. Homeopathy has nothing to do with the human biology and there are no genes in human that causes homosexuality according to many researches. Therefore, parents have to carry their role in raising their children well.

No matter how dire or terrible situation you have, you may still be better than the vagrant Ted Williams, I mean the great: Ted Williams who was nicknamed the Golden Voice! Williams grew up in Bedford, Brooklyn, New York, worked for three years in the US Army before he left it. He joined a school to be a voice over talent, and worked as an anchor for a while. He amrreid and had 9 children, including 7 girls. But his life began to break down since 1986. He joined a group of drug dealers and was arrested several times for theft and possession of drugs. He was imprisoned twice for three months in 1990 for theft and the second for two months in 2004 for forgery, theft and obstruction of official work.

During the visit of the Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, we, the Egyptians, decided to support him in order to support our country against the evil forces and enemies of Egypt abroad. Egypt and the Middle East region are going through very critical situation that are no secret with too many political and economic challenges. Copts don’t need to receive any instructions from somebody to teach them how to take care of their homeland. They support their country knowing that change and building need time. Moreover, they have good understanding of the challenges that face their country at the moment. These challenges only need the Egyptian to unite and do their best to overcome their problems.

This weekend, I picked up Nelson Mandela s "Long Walk to Freedom" and reread parts of this well-thumbed tome. The last time I read it, the world was a very different place; this time, I found that its themes of social inequality, injustice, resilience and courage resonated in new ways. Perhaps because of my work with the International Rescue Committee, I found myself reflecting on another long walk to freedom -- that of strong women, like Sherine. Widowed before she was 20, pregnant and terrified of living under ISIS rule, in November, Sherine fled Mosul, Iraq. She wandered through desert, survived waves of fighting and dodged landmines -- all while searching for refuge to give birth.

Cast Away is an American epic survival drama film directed and co-produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. The film depicts a FedEx employee stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific and his attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane s cargo. Chuck Noland is a time-obsessed systems engineer, who travels worldwide resolving productivity problems at FedEx depots.While flying through a violent storm, his plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Four years later, Chuck has adapted to the meager living conditions on the island, having become adept at spearing fish and making fires. Four years later he decided to save himself and find a way to return to his home by making a little boat.

As I am writing this article, I have to acknowledge I do not know anything about football! In my youth under president Gamal Abdel Nasser, this game a huge pot in which most people participated. We had two choices: to join the fans club, or to boycott. in both cases, we were following a scenario written by the regime. The great Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim once said: The era of pen has come to an end and the age of the foot has started! Another great writer called Abdul Rahman al-Sharqawi once left a meeting with us to listen to a game in the radio. I was astonished by what happened as I used to consider him a role model and a great writer. For me, Sharqawi was a leftist author of one of the finest novels. For half a century, the image of the writer, who neglected everyone and sat on the edge of a chair to listen to a football match, has been etched in my memory, engraved with a question: What is the secret of football?