Biba and Fashn diocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church issued the first sign language of the deaf and mute, which is the first in the Middle East. The project took three years to prepare the dictionary with the participation of 300 sign language researchers. Bishop Estifanos of the diocese signed a protocol in this regard with the Minister of Education, Dr. Tarek Shawky.

Bishop Markus of Shubra El-Kheima held a public meeting with the wives of the priests in the diocese. During the meeting, he lectured them about their role in supporting the ministry of their husbands.

Youth Bishopric, headed by Bishop Moussa, held the annual celebration for youth ministers training center at St. Ruice theater in the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasia. The celebration included a documentary about the center and its courses and a show to demonstrate how to address different youth with different thought. The graduates of the center received their documents of participation.

The semi-annual meeting of the service in Minya diocese was attended by 100 priests and 3200 servants. The title of the meeting was ‘The Living Servant’, which was also the title of a sermon delivered by HG Bishop Makarios of Minya and Abu Qurqas. A number of servants were honored in the meeting as well.

Pope Tawdros II celebrated the Holy Mass at the Church of the Virgin and St. Mina in Marseilles , southern France. The prayers were attended by Bishop Luke of France, Bishop Athanasius of Marseille and Toulon, Bishop Daniel of Maadi and Secretary of the Holy Synod, and Bishop Marc of Northern France.

Leaders of the Orthodox Family met in Lebanon at the meeting of the Members of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Orthodox for a regular meeting hosted by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I Catholicos of the Armenian Orthodox in House of Cilicia, Antelias, Lebanon. The Coptic Orthodox Church was represented by Bishop Thomas of El Qusiya and Mir, Bishop Angelos of the Northern Shubra Sector, and Mr. Gerges Saleh, Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches. They discussed everything about family conversations with Byzantine Orthodox churches, the Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church. The meeting also reviewed last year s meetings of the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches.

A huge fire broke out today at the Church of St. George in Mansoura, which caused great destruction at one of the halls of the church. A fire had devoured the Church of St. George in Helwan on Monday evening and completely destroyed it, which was built 120 years ago.

A huge blaze broke out on Sunday night at St. George Coptic church in Helwan, South Cairo. The church was built in 1898 by the German Community in Egypt, and was bought by the Coptic Orthodox Chruch in 1971, before it was destroyed by fire. Police are still investigation the reasons of the fire.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, inaugurated the Church of Our Lady and Archangel Raphael in Dravi, at the headquarters of the diocese. Alters, Baptism and icons were inaugurated and a child was baptized. This church is the first one to be inaugurated by His Holiness Pope Tawadros in the current pastoral care visit in Europe.

During his pastoral care visit to France, Pope Tawadros II inspected Coptic diocese in Paris. Pope Tawadros and the accompanying delegation was received by Bishop Mark of Paris. The delegation includes Bishop Daniel, Secretary of the Holy Synod, and Bishop Michael of Qubba Gardens, Waily and Abbasia.

Bishop Besanti of Helwan and Maasara ordained 115 new deacons in Helwan and Maasara churches in the basic rank of Ebsaltus (translated chanter). The ordination was performed at the monastery of St. Parsoum in Helwan for churches of The Virgin Mary, St. Gorge, St. Mina, and St. Markos in Kafr Alou.

Coptic Church in Sweden organized a conference for youth entitled ‘so that you surely rejoice’ at the Kenoro Ava Kyrillos Center in Norrköping, Sweden. The conference was attended by 200 young men and women from the Coptic Church in Europe. The conference was attended by HG Anba Abaker, Bishop of Scandinavia, Bishop Pavlos of Greece and a number of priests of Europe.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II participated in Egypt s celebrations of October glorious victories with senior statesmen and commanders of the armed forces. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi laid a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier at the memorial, in memory of the heroes who won the victory and regained the land of Sinai on October 6, 1973.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Egypt said that talks with Sudan and Ethiopia over the operation of the Renaissance Dam, a $4 billion hydropower dam that Ethiopia is constructing on the Nile, have reached a deadlock, and it called for international mediation. Ethiopia last month rejected a proposal by Egypt to operate the dam. Addis Ababa did not say how much water it wants to release, but Egypt wants the dam to release a minimum of 40 billion cubic meters of water annually, which violates Article 5 of the text of the Declaration of Principles Agreement signed on 23 March 2015, as well as contrary to international norms for cooperation in the construction and management of dams on shared rivers.

Pope Tawadros II, said in the first annual memorial service of Archbishop Bishoy of Damietta, Kafr El Sheikh and the former secretary of the Holy Synod, that he was a hero in explaining the Christian faith. This came during his weekly sermon delivered this week at the Great Cathedral of St. Mark.

Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, chaired today the meeting of the Main Committee for legalization of churches and approved the legalization of 62 new churches. This raised the total number of legalized churches in Egypt to 1171 churches and service buildings.

Dr Khalid Enani, Egypts Minister of Antiquities, on behalf of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, opened today St. Constantine and Santa Helena Church of the Greek community in Cairo after completing of restoration works. The celebration was attended by Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and Africa representative of the Greek Church, representative of the Cypriote church and a number of senior officials.

Pope Tawadros II held a meeting with university professors in the Papal residence at St. Mark Cathedral. The meeting was attended by HG Bishop Martiros of the Churches of the East Railway Sector in Cairo. The family of St. Bentenos is specialized for university professors and seeks to provide them with services and consult them in their specializations as well as to help superior Christian youth in finding the opportunity of scientific research.

Bishops Serabion of Los Angeles, and Bishop Luke of Southern France and the French Sector Switzerland, celebrated yesterday the feast of the martyrdom of St. Maurice in his monastery in Switzerland. The monastery is located in a village carrying the name of St. Maurice and belongs to the Catholic Church. St. Maurice is an Egyptian leader who was the commander of the Tayyibi Battalion that traveled to Switzerland to put down a revolt there. He refused to obey the request of the Emperor to vaporize the gods and therefore were killed for their Christian faith.

Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, approved today the legalization of 62 new churches and service buildings which raised the total number of legalized churches in Egypt according to the new law to 1171. A spokesman for the Council of Ministers said that the meeting also reviewed the requirements for legalization according to the civil protection because of the critical importance of meeting these requirements in order to protect lives and preserve the properties.

Maadi Diocese organized a celebration yesterday at the end of the Keraza festival of senior citizens. The celebration was attended by HG Bishop Daniel of Maadi and secretary of the Holy Synod. 350 people representing 15 churches of Maadi participated in the festival competitions.