Coptic churches and monasteries in Egypt celebrates on Friday the holy feast of the Cross called in other churches “The Exaltation of the Holy Cross”. The Cross of Jesus Christ was discovered in 326 by Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. The church was dedicated nine years later, with a portion of the cross placed inside it. The date of the feast marks the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335. It s worth mentioning that the rituals of the Coptic Church use happy hymns and decorations to celebrate this holy feast.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, is going to hold a meeting with youth of Beni Suef diocese. The Coptic Orthodox church announced that the meeting will be held at the Papal headquarters in Wadil Natroun.

The funeral of Father Shehata Tawadros, priest of the cathedral of the martyrs Kyriakos and his mother Yolita in Tahta, was held today. The Coptic church mourned the departure of the priest who died after struggle with disease.

Pope Tawadros II delivers today his weekly sermon at the great Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya in the presence of several bishops and priests. In another context, Bishop Stephen of Beba and Al-Fashn visited the Pope on Wednesday on the occasion of issuing the first edition of the journal of St. Athanasius for Christian Studies.

The Vatican announced to send tourist delegations to Egypt from October 3 to 11th, in order to revive the path of the Holy Family. The delegation is scheduled to visit the places visited by the Holy Family in Egypt, which has become one of the most famous tourist places in Egypt. These include: Monasteries of Wadi Natrun, Churches of Ancient Egypt, Church of Our Lady in Maadi, Egyptian Museum, Archaeological Sites in Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Pyramids, Khan El Khalili, Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Tomb of Tutankhamun and Saqqara.

Bishop Makarios of Minya ordained a number of new deacons at the church of ST. foregoe in Fekria neighborhood. The came during the Holy Mass celebrated at the church in the presence of a large number of the congregation. For his part, Pope Tawadros II is going to visit France in a pastoral care visit in few weeks.

Bishop Apollo of Southern Sinai visited Kiriyalison Church in Nuweiba, to inspect the ongoing construction work of the church. He was accompanied during the visit by a number of priests of the diocese.

Coptic Egyptian Orthodox Church announced its participation at the International Exhibition of Modern Orthodox Icon from 24 to 28 September in Greece. Artist Adel Nassif will represent the church at the exhibition that is attended by artists from all over the world with an icon of the Holy Family trip to Egypt.

Bishop Makarious of Minya inaugurated the church of St. George in Bebawy in the presence of 25 Coptic priests. Father Abanoub Monir, priest of the church, said that the church was reconstructed to expand its space and that the intercessor of the church St. George has helped getting the new building done in record time.

Copts in Minya express their anger after document of conversion into Islam of Coptic girl was published on social media. The girl had disappeared 4 months ago and she was not found till her family discovered her conversion into Islam. It is worth mentioning that her village is controlled by extremists and such conversion would be used to mock the Copts and harass them.

The Holy Bible House organized a festival for the churches of Ain Shams and Ezbet el-Nakhl under the title Idea in a Game. The festival was attended by 5,000 primary school students from many churches in the neighborhood .

NASA named its newly-discovered asteroid after the Egyptian scientist Farouk El-Baz. This is the first time an Egyptian scientist has been named an asteroid after an Egyptian scientist. El-Baz earned a bachelor s degree in chemistry and geology from Ain Shams University at the age of 20. In 1961, he obtained a master s degree in geology, a doctorate in 1964 then worked for NASA during the Apollo program.

Bishop Makarios of Minya returned to Egypt yesterday after a pastoral care visit to the United States o America for 7 days. He visited the Church of St. Joseph in Virginia, and a number of other churches in the same state.

Bishop Poulos of East Canada held the first meeting with priest of the diocese. The meeting was held at St. Mark Church in Montreal

Disappeared Christian girl called Simon Botros from Mallawy appeared on social media after her conversion into Islam. She had disappeared 4 months ago, and her family searched for her till her picture and her conversion certificate was published on social media.

Egyptian-Canadian actor, Mena Massoud, better known for his lead role in Aladdin with Will Smith, decided to launch a charity organization to help ethnically diverse artists in Canada. He said that he wanted to help other artists since Hollywood doesn t do that. He added during his current visit to Egypt that he liked al-Gouna festival.

Coptic Churches celebrated the feast of St. Verena who was martyred in Europe. According to tradition, Verena was of a noble Christian family from the village of Garagous, near Luxor. Her parents sent her to Sherimon, Bishop of Beni Suef, to be instructed in the Christian faith, after which he baptized her. She was a relative of Saint Maurice of the Theban Legion. As soldiers relatives were allowed to accompany them in order to look after them and take care of their wounds, Verena accompanied the legion on its mission to Rhaetia (part of modern-day Switzerland).

Bishop Raphael of central Cairo Churches ordained 120 new deacons at the church of St. George in Qullaly. This came during celebrating the feast of Coptic new year.

Sharm el-Sheikh Cathedral under the auspices of Bishop Apollo of South Sinai announced it will launch the deacons school at the end of this month. The school aims to teach children Coptic hymns and prayers of the church.

Father Poulos Halim, Spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church, denied rumors about murdering a priest in Minya inside his house. A media personnel had announced on his Facebook page that a priest was killed in Abu Qurqas causing unusual confusion between Copts and Muslims.

Zaid Haddad from Jordan won the chairmanship of the regional committee of the World Christian Union Committee during its annual meeting in Cairo. The union consists of more than 20 organizations and movements from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, The Sudan, Iraq and Palestine.