Bishop Estifanos of Beba and Al-Fashn headed the Holy Mass at St. Athanasius Church in Donval Park in Melbourne, Australia as part of the pastoral visit to the city from February 25 to March 3rd. Bishop Estifanos is going to celebrate several holy masses and will deliver several sermons in meetings with the congregation.

Dr. Essam El-Kordy, presidet of Alexandria University, and HG Bishop Bavly, Bishop General of the Montazah Churches, inaugurated the headquarters of the Institute of Coptic Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University. El-Kordy said that the new institute emphasizes the Egyptian identity and the unity of Egyptians over the ages and will take care of Coptic art, history and language. For his part, Bishop Bavli stressed the importance of this event and thanked the Alexandria University leaders for their great role in opening the institute.

On February 24, a number of Ethiopian Christians attended the Holy Mass at the Coptic Orthodox Church in Japan. The Church of St. Mary and St. Mark in Japan was recently opened by Pope Tawadros II, which is the very first Coptic Church in Japan.

The first book about the 21 Coptic martyrs in Libya was recently published in English by author Martin Mosebach, the German writer on the fourth anniversary of their martyrdom. The writer visited the village of Aour where the majority of the martyrs were born and raised and wrote about their faith, families, and even the miracles that were made by their intercession. It is worth mentioning that he had a another book about the martyrs published in 2018 in German.

Bishop Daniel of Sidney promoted Father David Mahrous, priest of St. Mary Church in Calamvale, Queensland, to the rank of Hegumine on Saturday. Fr David Mahrous was born in 1978 in Kuwait. He moved to Sydney, NSW in 1989, and graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1998. He served in St Marys Cathedral as a Deacon, Sunday School Servant and Coordinator of youth activities among other things. On the 30th of May, 2004, he was ordained by the hands of HH Pope Shenounda III and called to serve St Mary and St Josephs Coptic Orthodox Church, Brisbane.

Sharopim and Faraj are two brothers who work as contractors and loved building churches in Alexandria that they built more than 25 churches since they arrived from Upper Egypt.

St. George Church in Sporting, Alexandria concluded its annual youth week today. This year witnessed the 15th conference entitled ‘My Christ and myself’ from February 11-14th with the participation of several bishops and clergy and hundreds of the youth.

The prosecution in Zagazig renewed the imprisonment for 4 students on charges of defamation of Chrsitanity after publishing a video on YouTube ridiculing Christian believes and prayers. It is worth mentioning that 4 Coptic children had been sentenced to 5 years in prison after publishing a video ridiculing ISIS after slain of 21 Copts in Libya.

A delegation from UNICEF visited Tal Basta archeological area in the framework of reviving the journey of the Holy Family project, after the inclusion of Sharqia province in the course of the journey of the Holy Family. Father Matias Yaacoub, priest of the Church of Our Lady and St. John the Apostle, said that Sharqia is the first major point where the Holy Family settled in Egypt and witnessed the most important 3 miracles in the journey of the Holy Family in Egypt.

Metropolitan Tadros of Portsaid visited today Pope Shenouda III Center in Long Point, west of Sydney after celebrating the holy mass at the church of St. Abraam in the center. He sermonized about avoiding the sin of hypocrisy and urged the sons of the Church to embrace the teachings of Christ in that account.

Bishop Markos of Shubra al-Khaymah said that the birth of Christ is a birth of the whole world, but the celebration this year was different since the president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has opened the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East and offered to the Copts. He added that we thank the president for fulfilling his promise to open the Cathedral in January 2019.

Bishop Markos of Shubra al-Khaimah and supervisor of St. George monastery in Rizigat, Luxor, headed the delegation of the monastery to congratulate Pope on Christmas. They met with Pope at the papal headquarter of St. Bishoy in Wadil Natroun.

Former Culture Minister Dr. Jaber Asfour confirmed that those who resist the renewal of religious discourse are trying to destroy the religion. He added that Egypt will be a civil democratic state, and that we have to search for the roots of terrorism and remove them.

Under the title "God, what do you want me to do? A spiritual renaissance was held at the church of the two saints in Alexandria at the 8th anniversary of the terrorist bomb attack that targeted the church in which dozens were killed and injured. The memorial service of the martyrs will be held in St. Mina monastery in Mariout on January 1st, 2019.

His Grace Abba Hedra, Archbishop of Aswan and the head of the monastery of Abba Bakhmius in Edfu, received the families of the priests of Edfu and Kom Ombo who came to wish him speedy recovery. Bishop Hedra has undergone a surgery in the United States to change the left and right knee joints.

His Holiness Bishop Kyrillos of Nag Hammadi ordained 65 new deacons at the old church of St. Bedaba monastery in Nag Hammadi. 17 deacons were ordained at the basic rank of Ebsaltus ( chanter) and 48 deacons were ordained at the rank of Oghnostus (reader). The new deacons were assigned to minister at the church of St. John the belonged and the church of ST. Mary in Nag Hammadi.

Bishop Raphael of Central Cairo Churches returned to Egypt after a pastoral care visit for nine days in Melbourne Diocese. During the visit, he answered the questions of the congregation and prepared reports about their problems. This comes after the sudden resignation of Bishop Suriel of Melbourne.

At the end of his pastoral care visit to the Coptic congregation in Saudi Arabia, Metropolitan Markos received an invitation frin Dr. Hazem Ramadan, Consul General of Egypt in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to have dinner in honor of the Coptic Metropolitan of Shubra al-Khaimah. The banquet was held in honor of Abba Markos and a number of Coptic members of the community in Saudi Arabia were invited as well.

Bishop Raphael, former secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church held several meetings with priests and congregation of the Coptic Church in Australia to study the problems of the diocese after the resignation of Bishop of the diocese. Abba Raphael has also met with Bishop Suriel and reassured the congregation on his health conditions.