In his weekly sermon from St. Bishoy Monastery in Wadil Natroun, Pope Tawadros II praised the power of prayers in the Coptic church. He said that prayer is the power of the church throughout 2000 years of prosecutions.

Abba Serapion, Metropolitan of Los Angeles ordained a new priest at the church of St. Abanoub and St. Anthony in Norco. The Deacon David Awad was ordained a priest in a celebration attended by Abba Abraham, the genral bishop and Abba Serafim, bishop of Ohio and Michigan. The new priest traveled to Egypt to spend the next 40 days in the monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadi El Natroun before he starts his new ministry.

Abba Mark, Bishop of France and Abba Wissa, Bishop of Balyana, ordained a new deacon.

Abba Eklimindos, Bishop of Almaza, ordained a deacon before he will ordain him a priest next week.

The heads of the three Eastern Churches celebrate a joint Holy Mass at the church of St. Mary in Atshana, Lebanon. The holy mass was attended by Pope Twadaros II, Mar Ephram II, the Patriarch of the Syriac Church and the Catholics Aram I, the Armenian Catholics.

The President of Lebanon General Michel Aoun received the heads of the three Eastern Orthodox Churches, His Holiness Pope Twadros II and Mar Ignatius Ephram II, Patriarch of Syria and Catholics Aram I of the Great House of Kilikia, Lebanon. This came after the Lebanese president had opened the new patriarchal headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Lebanon.

Bishop Pernaba, Bishop of Turin and Rome, delegated Father Theofilis of the Syrian Monastery, to attend the Breakfast of the Egyptian Embassy in the Vatican. The Coptic church in Turin and Rome was invited by the Egyptian Ambassador to the Vatican Mahmoud Sami.

Egypt s Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs congratulated the 39 year old professor Mohamed El-Sayed Badr for taking the Deanship of Media in one of Germany s Munich Universities. Mohamed El-Sayed Badr, originally from Alexandria, is the youngest expat in Germany to take such a position, according to the Egyptian Ministry. He moved to Germany in 2011 and has held the position as head of the international Media and Communication management bachelor program at campus Munich since 2014.

St. Athanasius and St. Cyril College of Theological Studies (ACTS) celebrated the graduation of its second batch of 14 graduate students at the same college in Clermont, California, who were awarded a master s degree in theological studies. The ceremony was attended by bishops Sarabion of Los Angeles, Abraham, of Los Angeles, Cyrilus of Los Angeles Abba Youssef, Bishop of Southern the United States attended the ceremony as a keynote speaker and spoke about the importance of theological studies and qualified Christian leaders.

Dr. Shawky Allam, Mufti of Egypt, condemned the recent suicide bombing attack on a mosque in Niger; killing ten worshipers who were inside the mosque. The Mufti said in a statement that once again the terrorist groups prove they know nothing about the principles and foundations of religions. The Mufti assured that Islam prohibits the killing of innocent people.

Abba Karas, Bishop of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, ordained the first Coptic priest in the diocese. Dr. Shaker Morkos, was named Father Daniel during the ordination. The new priest will travel to Egypt to spend 40 days of spiritual retreat at the monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadil Natroun.

The media center of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced the death of monk Mina of St. Paul monastery after years of struggling with disease and spending 40 years paralyzed. Father Mina was born on May 29, 1947 and was ordained a monk on November 24, 1977.

His Holiness Pope Twadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, received at the papal residence at the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya Mr. Sherif Lithy, the Egyptian ambassador to Cameroon. The meeting was attended by Father Daoud Lamai, priest of the Church of St. Mark the Apostle in Heliopolis and Father Salmon, the Coptic priest in Ghana.

The relics of 20 Coptic martyrs of Libya returned to their home village of Awr in Minya where they were buried in a special shrine in their church. Several Coptic bishops and thousands of Copts celebrated the holy mass at the church of martyrs in Minya. The relics of the martyrs returned to Egypt from Libya yesterday where they received by Pope Tawadros at the airport.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, said that Coptic martyrs of Libya were very steadfast and never feared death in the name of Christ. He added that video published by the terrorists who killed them showed how much they loved praise and prayer for God till their very end.

During the annual celebrations of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary at Jebel el Tair, Abba Pfnotious, bishop of Samalout, inaugurated two new churches at the monastery. The new churches are called Church of the Escape to the Land of Egypt and the Church of the Grotto .

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, celebrated the feast of St. Mark in his Cathedral in Alexandria. Pope perfumed the remains of St. Mark and delivered a sermon about the ministry of the great saint. The celebration was attended by several bishops and priests of the diocese.

Pope Twadros II inaugurated on Saturday the altars and icons of a church St. Athanasius in the Siyouf area of Alexandria. The incubation ceremony was attended by Bishop Kyrillos, head of St. Mina Monastery in Mariout, Abba Sallib Bishop of Met Ghamr, Abba Karas, General Bishop of Mahalla, Abba Pavli, General Bishop of Montazah, Abba Hermina, bishop of Ain Shams, and Anba Illarion, Bishop of Western Alexandria. The church dates back to 1962 when St. Cyril VI visited the land dedicated to the church and blessed it. The church was built in 1968 and opened by Pope Cyril on April 24, 1970.

Najib Gabriel, Coptic lawyer, announced he has filed a lawsuit with 20 public figures demanding the Minister of the Interior to return the sessions of advice and guidance before converting into Islam. He explained that the regulation for more than 40 years has been using such advisory sessions to make sure the person who converts to another religion is really willing to do so or he has another reason to convert to the other religion.

The Egyptian Grand Museum received today the wheel of war and the third funerary chamber of King Tutankhamun, in the framework of the Egyptian-Japanese project to transfer 72 artifacts to be displayed in its integrated collection inside the museum at the opening of its first phase later this year. Dr. Tariq Tawfiq, general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum, said that this is the fifth wheel to be transferred to our collection in the Museum, and that this funerary bed is one of the most important belongings of the King.

Minya Police Department managed to arrest a man called Sadik Mohamed who was sentenced to life imprisonment The man is a farmer who was accused of storming and burning of churches and was also fined 20.000 LE.