The Council of Churches of the Middle East held a meeting to discuss the situation of Christians in the Middle East under the recent political and security situation. The meeting was held for two days and called international community to support the existence of Christmas in the Middle East.

Abba Pfnotius, bishop of Samalout, said that the church is ready to receive the remains of the martyrs of Libya. Father Dawood Nashid, deputy of the diocese, said that the Minister of Foreign affairs is coordinating with the church to decide the date of receiving the remnants of the martyrs and place them at the church in their hometown.

Police investigations reveal increasing target of Copts by ISIS between Port Said and Sheikh Zuwaid. Investigations also revealed that a school owned by the church was set on fire and a woman called Fatma Anwar played an important role in helping the terrorists.

The monastery of St. Demiana in Belqas is celebrating her feast among tight security measures. The monastery announced that the celebrations will continue from May 13 to May 20.

The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services held a conference on contemporary challenges in cooperation with the Swedish Sigtuna Foundation. The conference was attended by 50 participants from countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Andrea Zaki, spokesman for the Evangelical church, said that the conference discussed very important issues related to the Christian congregation.

Abba Samuel, Bishop of Tamwa, ordained two new priests at the church of St. Stephen and St. Sameul in Tamwa. The new priests are Father Phiopatir Farouk and Father Daneil Farag.

Coptic Christians celebrate the martyrdom feast of St. George on May 1st. The reverenced Martyr was born in 280 in Palestine. He was tortured for seven consecutive years because of his Christian faith.

The Evangelical Church in Egypt received 7 licenses for churches in Aswan, Behira and Ismailia. Youssef, Talaat, lawyer of the church, said that the 7 churches came on a list of 166 churches to be licensed.

Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil Sadiq ordered the transfer of 555 of those arrested in Sinai to stand trial before the Military Court. The defendants are accused of forming 43 terrorist that carried out 63 terrorist attacks on police and armed forces.

The Supreme State Security Prosecution said that the elements of the terrorist cell that carried out the armed attack on a security patrol in Badrashin last July killed five policemen. Investigations revealed that the terrorists targeted and planned to target policemen as well as church of Archangel Michael in Badrashin.

Egypt restored a precious treasure from Cyprus where the director of the Department of the Cypriot Antiquities handed the Egyptian authorities 14 pieces of antiquities that had been illegally smuggled from Egypt 30 years ago. For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities expressed his great pleasure in retrieving this precious treasure, thanking the Cypriot authorities for its efforts.

Spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church said that Pope Tawadros II will be publishing a daily message in the form of short videos. He explained that the messages will be in 3 languages aiming to give better communication opportunity with the Copts in the Diaspora.

Several bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church visited the monastery of St. George in Mitt Damesses to celebrate the feast of the saint. The celebrations were headed by Bishop Bishoy of Damietta and Kafr El Sheikh and was attended by a number of Coptic bishops,

Egypt s interior minister received a report from Maghagha diocese on the mysterious disappearance of a number of Christian women and girls. The diocese demanded the police to intervene and seriously investigate the disappearance of many cases in the diocese.

Hudhayfah al-Mesir, an Islamic preacher, said in response to a question from a viewer on TV that having sex with the robot Sophia is not considered adultery. Social media activists denounced such questions saying that the West is thinking how to invent robots like Sophie while people in our country are looking to have sex with her!

Dr. Shawki Allam, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, said that Egypt is an Islamic country and derives its legislation and laws from Islamic law, which is suitable for all time and place. Allam denounced the claim of terrorist groups that the Egyptian law is contrary to sharia assuring that these groups don’t understand the purposes of Islamic law and misinterpret them for their own benefits. This came in his speech at the opening of the conference of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar University.

Coptic Bishops of America and Canada hold their biannual meeting from 24 to 26 April at the Virgin Mary Convention Center in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada of the Mesaaga, Vancouver and Western Canada Provinces. The meeting was attended HE Bishop Serapion, Archbishop of Los Angeles, HG Bishop Soriel of Melbourne and Bishop Angelos of London as well as Coptic Bishops of North American.

Spokesman of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced the official accounts of the Pope Tawadros on social media networks. The accounts are Pope Tawadros II on Facebook, @popetawadros on Twitter and the email is: tawasoul@copticpope118.com

Sources in the Coptic Orthodox Church said the church is going to discuss the unification of baptism with Catholic church I the upcoming session of the Holy Synod in June and July. Sources added that many bishops in the Holy Synod contradict the unification of baptism between the Coptic Orthodox and the Catholic church.

Sources in the Evangelical Church said that 167 churches were regulated by the government according to the new law of houses of worship including 8 churches of the Evangelical church. Joseph Talaat, legal adviser to the Evangelical Church, said that the Evangelical Church has presented papers of 1170 churches, and 100 services buildings of the Evangelical Church only.

Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated the martyrdom of Alexandra, the reputed wife of the Emperor Diocletian. She was secretly converted to Christianity. While Saint George was being tortured, Alexandra went to the arena, bowed before him and professed her faith openly. When she questioned whether she was worthy of paradise and of martyrdom without being baptized, Saint George told her “Do not fear, for your blood will baptize you.” She was denounced a Christian and imprisoned on her husband s orders in Nicomedia, then sentenced to death.