Egyptian police announced the arrest of a terrorist cell that planned to attack churches on Christmas. Police exchanged fire with the terrorists and killed 5 of them. Several weapons were seized in the house.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Egypt will get the latest nuclear technology Moscow and Cairo signed an agreement in 2015 for Russia to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, with Russia extending a loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction. Putin added during his visit to Cairo that direct flights between Egypt and Moscow will return soon.

A new priest was ordained in Dakhla, New Valley governorate, by Abba Poktor, bishop of the New Valley. Father John Adel was ordained for the ministry at St. George Church in Dakhla.

Abba Arsanious, Archbishop of Minya and Abu Qurqas, and Abba Makarios, the general Bishop of Minya, ordained 8 new priests to serve the villages of Menya and Abu Qurqas. According to a press release issued by the Information Office the new priests are: Father Abakir Roshdy, Bishoy Ibrahim, Youannis adly, Bishoy Nady, Philopatir Hana, Ermia Moussa, Younathan Farok and Aghathon Magdy. The new priests traveled to the Monastery of the Virgin Mary in the valley of Natroun to spend the next forty days in spiritual retreat according to the Coptic rituals.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patirarch of St. Mark See, celebrated the feast of St. Mina at his monastery in Mariout, near Alexandria, with the participation of several members of the Holy Synod. Pope perfumed the remains of the saint with Abba Kyrillos, bishop of Ava Mina monasery, Abba Demetrius, Bishop of Mallawi,Abba Marcos, Archbishop of the Gardens of El Kubba, and Abba Illarion, Bishop of Western Alexandria.

Father Polous Halim, spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church, said that Coptic diocese for youth in America and Canada CACYB has organized a banquet for youth entitled No roots No fruits The event introduced the concept of identity and roots and its importance in the life of young people.

Abba Youssef, Bishop of Bolivia ordained two new full deacons at St. George and St. Anthony Church in Otawa. Spokesman of the church said that such ordination comes to help in the ministry with the increasing numbers of the people, especially with the Holly Communion.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, received on Saturday members of the World Christian Student Union at the great Cathedral of St. Mark. Spokesman of the Coptic Orthodox Church said in a statement that the meeting carried out at the Papal headquarters in Abbasia.

In the presence of 22 Coptic bishops, Abba Begol was enthroned as new bishop of Al Muharraq monastery. The celebration was also attended by Abba Kyrilous Willian, Catholic bishop of Assiut.

In the presence of the representatives of the Christian denominations in London, Bishop Angelos was enthroned on London diocese. The celebration was attended by Coptic and Syrian bishops as well as the congregation of the diocese.

Abba Bakhomius, Bishop of the Beheira, ordained 5 new priests at the chruch of St. Mark in Karmat Damanhor. The ordination was attended by Abba Isak, the general bishop, and Abba Pavly, general bishop of Alexandria.

Copts have started the celebration of St. George in his monastery in Rizeigat 3 feasts are celebrated on the name of St. George in his monastery in Rizeigat which is supervisied by a papal committee consists of: Abba Hadra, Bishop of Aswan, Abba Morcos, Bishop of Shubra El-Kheima, Abba Beyman, Bishop of Naqada and Qus, and Abba Younes, Bishop of Assiut.

Abba Serabion, bishop of Los Angeles, presents a new episode of the Heritage of Our Church entitled Unity of Faith and Diversity of Talents. This is the 48th episode of the campaign that aims at raising awareness about spiritual matters among the Coptic people. In the first 15 episodes of the campaign, Pope Twadros II talked about the prescriptions of the Church.

Abba Pecinty, Bishop of Helwan, perfumed on Tuesday the remains of St. Ruis in his church at the great Cathedral of St. Mark. The vesper prayers were attended by priests and the congregation of the church to celebrate his feast.

The second phase of the project to train church leaders in the ecclesiastical education development project started last Sunday with the participation of 215 trainee from 14 dioceses. The project aims to train 1000 priests and ministers on new skills in ecclesiastical education using the Bible, the liturgy, the teachings of the Fathers, the history of the Church and the Coptic identity.

Abba Mina, Bishop of Messiaga, Vancouver and Western Canada, celebrated the Holy Mass at St. Marks Church in Edmonton, which is the 40th anniversary of its establishment as the first Coptic church in western Canada. Father Ruis Rophael was promoted and a new deacon was ordained for the ministry.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, said in an interview with a news agency during his visit to Germany that History proves that Egypt is never divided. He added that many people die because of terrorism and violence from Muslims and Christians, but they can never divide the Egyptians.

Coptic Bishops of North America issued a statement to denounce the attack on the priest Samaan Shehata assuring it is not individually They said that such attack is part of the repeated sectarian attacks against Christians in Egypt. They called the government to deal seriously with the problem in order to stop evil plans to persecute the Copts.

A double attack was carried out today by the terrorists in Arish on the Church of St. George in Arish and the Ahly Bank in Arish. The attacks were carried out by 12 terrorists and using machine guns and RBJ missiles and led to killing 6 martyrs and 17 wounded.

Activists of social networking site shared a video of Sheikh Samir Hashish, Islamic preacher, assuring that killers of non-Muslims, whom he describes as infidels, shouldn’t be punished severely like killers of Muslims. He added that they shouldn’t be sentenced to death penalty as blood of non-Muslims is not precious like Muslims’ A Coptic priest was recently stabbed and slain by a fanatic Muslim man in Cairo.

Pope Tawadros receives two monks from Milan to arrange the diocese matters after the departure of Abba Kyrilous, the late bishop of Milan. Father Antonio and Father Jiovani of the Monastery of Anba Shenouda in Milan are taking care of the diocese of Milan till another bishop is ordained for it.