In his sermon during the inauguration ceremony of St. George Church in Ain Shams, Pope Tawadros II invited the congregation to benefit from the great lent by reading in the Holy Bible, fasting and making mercy. Pope added that the journey of the holy fasting has three main stops; the first teaches us to reduce the amount of food and useless talk and fill the mouth with prayers instead.

Abba Pfnotius, Bishop of Samallout, discussed the return of the bodies of the 21 Coptic martyrs of Libya with their families. The martyrs were slain in Libya by the terrorist organization of ISIS, and the Egyptian government announced they will return soon to Egypt.

Abba Demian, bishop of the Coptic Church in Germany, said that a foreign writer wrote a book about the 21 Coptic martyrs of Libya after he visited their families in Upper Egypt. He added that this book was named The Twenty One and it is extremely valuable as it gives a lesson about the martyrs saved the faith till the end.

Abba Emanuel, Bishop of the Coptic Catholic Church of Luxor, accompanied a delegation of students of the Catholic Seminary to visit the monastery of Abba Pachomius known as al-Shayeb on Wednesday. The delegation was received by Abba Silwans, head of the monastery, where they visited the ancient church, the church of St. Anthony and some of the projects in the monastery.

The Apostolic Nuncio Bruno Mozaro, the Vatican s ambassador to Egypt, visited Suhag on Wednesday for a five-days visit. During his visit, Mozaro was received by Abba Pachom, Bishop of Suhag, and visited a number of churches. It s decided that Mozaro will visit Tima diocese to offer his condolences in the departure of Abba Fam, Bishop of the diocese.

Pope Twadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Petrarch of St. Mark See, received on Wednesday a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Delegation from the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury accompanied by Archbishop Monir Hanna, head of the Episcopal Church in Egypt and the rest of Africa has visited the Papal headquarter in Cairo to deliver the message to the Pope.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, said during the opening ceremony of St. Makarious of Alexandria monastery in Qalamoun mount and the inauguration of the churches of the monastery that Coptic church is proud of establishing monastery for the world. He added that thousands of monasteries around the world were established according to the monastic system established by the Coptic saints Anthony and Pachomious.

Abba Arsanious, Archbishop of Minya, ordained 9 new priests for the ministry of the diocese. According to a statement issued by the church, the new priests are: Fathers Fam Yacoub, Pachomious Youssef, Takla Gamil, Abanoub Takki, Anton Luiz, Maximus Youssef, Abanob Nageh, Ruis Nabil and Nofir Makram. The new priests headed to Parmous monastery in Wadil Natroun to spend a 40 days of spiritual retreat according to the Coptic rituals

Abba Besada, Bishop of Akhmim, ordained a new priest today at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Akhmim. The new priest is Father Pacilious Zaki and will minister at the villages of Akhmim.

A fire erupted at the church of St. Mary in Nasiriyah village in Beni Mazar that destroyed the church and injured 11 people. Police were reported and the matter is currently under investigation. The roof and walls were completely demolished by the fire.

In his latest sermon, Pope Tawadros II congratulated the Copts on the Great Lent which starts next Monday. Pope said from the Monastery of Abba Bishoy in Wadi Al Natroun that people may accept hunger and suffering of fasting to help them repent and focus on the spiritual matters.

Copts of Australia donated 140.000 LE to the family of Reda Abdul Rahman, the policeman who was killed in terrorist attack on St. Mina Coptic Church in Helawn. Abba Youlious, the Vernal Bishop received his wife and 7 children and handed them the money.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, called the Copts to get prepared for a pure fasting during the upcoming Great Lent. Pope congratulated the Copts on the occasion of the Great Lent and called the congregation to please God with their pure hearts and fill them with mercy and love and to avoid cruelty and hatred.

The North, South Carolina and Kentucky Parish of the Coptic Orthodox Church organized a conference for its ministers. The conference was held at the monastery of the Virgin Mary and St. Demiana in Georgia, USA, from February 2 to 4, and was attended by Abba Abraham, Bishop of Los Angeles.

The Church of St. George in Suhag, organized a carnival for teaching children the virtue of giving. The carnival entitled bonus and took its slogan from (Luke 6: 38) Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap

For the first time in its history, a woman took office as Secretary General of the Middle East Church Council. The Council of Churches of the Middle East held a meeting of the Executive Committee at the Antonine University in Baabda, Lebanon, attended by the heads of the Council and representatives of the four ecclesiastical families and members of the Committee were Dr. Thoria Bashalany was appointed as Acting Secretary General of the council following the resignation of former secretary general who was appointed as president of the Antonine University in Lebanon.

Bishop Armia, head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center, announced his full support for the Egyptian armed forces and its efforts to preserve the country. He said on Twitter: the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center with all its members announce their full support for the Egyptian armed forces to preserve the safety of the country.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, held a meeting with families of the martyrs of Palm Sunday at St. Mark Patriarchate in Alexandria.

Dr. Khaled Montaser, denounced the TV Salafist channel "Safa" which is owned by a Kuwaiti businessman and is inciting against Copts, police and army of Egypt.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, receives yesterday His Excellency Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, secretary general of the World Council of Churches in the papal residence in Cairo.

The Council of Catholic Patriarchs in Egypt visited Pope Twadros II, Pope of Alexandria Patriarch of Saint Mark See to congratulate him on Christmas. The delegation included Abba Ibrahim Isaac, Patriarch of the Catholic Coptic Church, Patriarch Joseph Al Absi, Roman Catholic Patriarch, Archbishop Krikor Cossa, Archbishop of the Armenian Catholics, Archbishop George Sheehan of the Maronites, and Archbishop Gregory Haddad, Archbishop of Caesarea Philippi.