I was surprised by the statement of the Holy Synod last week in which it decided to celebrate martyrs of the Coptic Church in the modern history on February 15th, which marks the martyrdom of 21 Copts by ISIS in Libya. They chose that day since this is the only time Coptic Christies were killed without the involvement of the Egyptian regime. The regime performed air strike on ISIS in Libya and built a church for the martyrs in their home village. Thus, they didn’t chose the anniversary of other sectarian incidents where Copts were killed based on their religious identity such as the Saints Church, Maspero, St. Peter Chapel, St. George Church in Tanta, or the martyrs of St. Samuel terrorist attack. The statement decided to avoid embarrassing the regime of Mubarak and al-Sisi.

Pope Francis’ visit to Egypt brought seeds of unity and love, but Christians decided to refuse the decisions of unity between Catholic and Coptic Orthodox Churches. Moreover, the dark forces in Egypt decided to beat all the results of this visit by declaring Christianity a corrupt doctrine and declaring Christians as infidels. Statements of Sheikh Salem Abdul Jalil violate the successive constitutions of Egypt starting with 1923 till the current one since they state that Egyptians are equal before the law and enjoy equal civil and political rights. Unfortunately, Sheikh Salem and his supporters didn’t start such attitude, as other Sheikhs like Yasser Bohamy used to issue fatwas that are documented on the official website of the Salafist Call. Yet, the great disaster is that such explanations come out from Sheikh Salem, who was a member of the committees to renew the religious discourse, and Sheikh Abdullah Rushdie, Secretary of Religious Affairs in the Future Party, who have strong ties with the regime, which shows that the attitude of calling the Copts infidels is taking an official form.

I have been watching for a long time the struggles of the Coptic youth movements, especially Maspero Youth Union. I realized that Copts, as a major component of the Egyptian nation, were able to contribute in all Egyptian revolutions (1804, 1882, 1919, 1952, January 2011 and June 30, 2013). Not only they sacrificed their lives and participated in all wars of the Egyptian armed forces, but also sacrificed their churches and properties that were attacked by supporters of the terrorist organization after the dispersal of Rabaa Adawia and Nahda sit-ins. However, their sacrifices did not bring them full citizenship in their home country for many reasons. The church and the Patriarch have represented the Copts instead of their actual presence. Since the founding of the first General Congregation Council in the ninth century, only two councils were completed. Many conflicts between the clergy and the laity deprived the denominational boards its effectiveness. Many secular Copts have been trading on their presence in the General Congregation Council and all official occasions.

As the Egyptian armed forces is waging fierce war against Takfirists in Sinai, terrorists of ISIS have killed six Copts in two weeks taking the number of killed Copts since 2012 to 16 martyrs. This caused panic among them and therefore they decided to flee to Ismailia just like they did in 2012 when a leaflet was distributed giving the Copts 48 hours to leave Rafah or else they would lose their lives. Two Coptic priests were shot dead later. "The state of the Sinai" has always declared its responsibility for the attacks. Such attacks have always been an introduction for forced displacement, which threatens national security of Egypt. I have written five articles about that topic since 2011. El-Arish was founded by Muhammad Ali in 1810 before he faces its very first rebellion in 1831 against his policy to recognize the right of the people in Sinai to own the land. From 1831 to 1950, there were 14 rebellions against the government by people of Sinai.

Forced displacement returned to the scene under auspices of officials and MPs who took an oath to respect the Constitution that prohibit forced displacement. Unfortunately, most Egyptian intellectuals ignore that the majority of Christians live in Upper Egypt where 90 percent of the churches need legalization of their status, and that most of them are built on agricultural Land and don’t have even have ownership documents like most of the buildings there. According to the law No. 119 to build churches, most of these churches will not be approved by the Commission appointed by the Parliament. Islamic houses of worship will never suffer the same giving the fact that more than 150 churches in Minya are closed for security reasons which gives the Copts in these villages that they are oppressed by their government.

The interests have made Russia ignore the Turkish attack against its plane just like it ignored the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey. If we think about the Russian Turkish relations, we would discover the mutual interests that are more powerful than blood. We would also discover that these interests have started five centuries ago. Russian-Turkish relations began when Ivan III, governor of Russia in 1492 exchanged letters with the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II on maritime trade between the two countries. The Russian embassy was opened in 1701 in Constantinople. The diplomatic relations between Turkey and Russia started in 1991. Turkish-Russian relations are primarily based on economic ties that prevent any degradation, especially with the existence of “the Supreme Council for Turkish-Russian Cooperation” Russia is considered the most important supplier of natural gas to Turkey, as nearly half of Turkish imports of natural gas and 12% of its oil imports come from Russia. Turkey is a very important trade partner with Russia and the most important tourist place for Russian tourism.

The over reaction to the visit of Abba Makarious, Bishop of Minya, to family of the Coptic man who was killed in police station Magdy McCain in order to offer his consonances in Magdy’s death was very strange to me, especially as the Coptic MP Nadia Henary was there offering her sincere condolences as well. In fact, I didn’t find any official reactions to Coptic clergy against any torture incidents. No religion supports torture, but church has always tried to keep pace with the regimes though they never stopped violating rights of the poor, women and Copts.

Coptic youth are debating over the national and political role in the Coptic Orthodox Church. They realize indeed that the role of their church in building the nation and its participation in all Egyptian revolutions. Moreover, the Coptic Orthodox Church gives great concern to the nation. Its belonging to Egypt is sometimes considered before its faith. The Coptic church is known for belonging to the nation and willing to sacrifice for it. Belonging now means to care for the nation without supporting a certain party or ideology. When people fight a common enemy, the war becomes a national duty just like facing terrorism in all its forms. Many young people don’t realize the national role of the Coptic church. There are almost five generations do not know that the Coptic church experienced democratic struggle for long time

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi returned home after his visit to New York. The church has taken the right decision to support the president, and paid the price for such support, which will be forgotten soon, just like they forgot about aunt Sauad, the Coptic lady that was stripped nude in the streets of Minya. In fact, this was not the first sectarian attack against the Copts and won’t be the last. The Copts are still suffering after they offered many sacrifices for their homeland hoping for better future, and a civil democratic state with a decent constitution.

Egypt and the region is experiencing a critical moment during which we need to talk more than mobilization. We have to discuss our problems without imposing an opinion or guardianship of any party on the others. Coptic Christians have never carried weapons except against the foreign occupation. They care for their land before they think about their religion. Therefore, they are called Coptic Orthodox or Coptic Catholic, or Coptic Evangelist.

Dr. Ahmad Subhi Mansour says: "If Omar bin Khattab has not accepted to impose Jizya tax on Christians, they would have enjoyed equality with the Arabs. Yet Jizya was imposed on them proving they are less significant and second-class citizens. This was the beginning to persecute the Copts in Egypt. They were called Dhimmis, which became an insult for those who refused to convert to Islam. Christians in Syria, Iraq and Egypt have carried that description for centuries and suffered for long time because of it. Such despise for the Christians was legalized in Islamic holy books, even by false sayings of Prophet Mohammed.

The reconciliation between the regime and the Muslim Brotherhood became once again a matter of debate, thanks to the new Suez Canal and the approaching of the parliamentary elections, which will close the door completely before the Muslim Brotherhood inside and outside Egypt by fulfilling the last part of the roadmap for country's political future.

I am writing this article during the final preparations for opening the new Suez Canal, which is considered as the second pyramid of the modern Egypt. The first pyramid of the modern state was building the High Dam and the second is opening the new Suez canal, which is the second ecological surgery to subdue the nature by man. Both projects have been performed and supervised by the Egyptian armed forces. The first hero was Abdel Nasser, former president of Egypt, and the second hero is president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the current Egyptian president.

The appointment of counsel Ahmed El-Zend as a Minister of Justice, raised satisfaction for some people and anger for others in Egypt, those who have accepted him shown their satisfaction according to some reasons, including the man have decisive situations against Muslim Brotherhood terrorists . He was often threatened by this terrorist organization and faced an attempt to be killed by them, those who support him hopes that El-zend take decisions to carry out the executions judgements against MB criminals. While his opponents see that the minister El-Zend belongs to "Flool" , Mubarak regime supporters , also that he is against January 25 revolution , he is a friend to Salafis party , he was accused in corruption cases . and he had lost his mind once and siad that judges are the masters and the people are the slaves.

Church of the Virgin in Awr mourned the martyrdom of her sons. It's congregation remembered that St. Mark came from Libya carrying the gospel and now Egypt has to present her children as martyrs in Libya. 21 sons of Abba Bfnotious, Bishop of Samalout, were killed in Libya to return the days of martyrdom and to revive their homeland and church by their blood.

After the execution of the Jordanian pilot by ISIS, the Jordanian authorities responded by the execution of two terrorists Sajida Rashawy and Ziad Karbouli. This made the Egyptian public opinion wonder: Why many terrorists have not been yet executed in Egypt including the terrorist Habara who confessed he had killed Egyptian soldiers in Arish massacre in Sinai? Does the authorities wait for a new deal with the Muslim Brotherhood on the Sadat-style in 1972, which led to the return of the Brotherhood to attack leftist and Nazarenes. Later, the constitution was amended to state that Islam is the religion of the state, which gave the Islamists the constitutional legitimacy.

The Parliamentary elections are at hand, and the Islamic currents are planning and working hard to incite sectarian strife. Since the crisis of Camellia Shehata and Wafaa Constantine, disappearances of Christian women happened on daily basis. Many people talk about their stories in the talk shows before they forget about them to be occupied with the next story, and so on. In the account of Jabal al-Tir, the lady disappeared and many Copts demonstrated demanding her return before they clashed with police and police attack their homes and demolish their household. This happened at the time the Copts in America were planning to support president al-Sisi in the United States.

Our women had performed great role during the revolution of January 25 and the revolution of June 30. Thus, some sadists have decided to humiliate our great women and sexually harass them in the streets. The Copts have accepted burning their churches and looting their properties for the sake of their country. Therefore, some grudgers decided to oppress and humiliate the Copts, especially those who supported Hamdeen Sabahi in the presidential elections. Those grudgers forgot that president Abudl Fahtah al-Sisi has himself thanked Sabahi for being a good rival in the presidential elections. They also try to connect some Coptic unions, namely Maspero Youth Union, to the terrorists.

Last Friday, the Muslim Brotherhood has organized demonstrations all over Egypt. Yet, they proved the decline of the number of MB supporters. There was only 38 marches in 8 provinces. The biggest one was in north Cairo and had only 1200 protesters. Furthermore, demonstrations in 4 provinces were canceled. Only one Molotov cocktail was used by a man who was arrested right away.

Christmas always brings joy and happiness. However we've never imagined it may being such pain, We know that Christ Himself said: “Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. (John 16:20-21)