The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated today the feast of St. John the Baptist, the son of Zakaria the priest. His parents Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and judgments of the Lord without blame. Elizabeth was conceived in her old days and when St. Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth, and when Elizabeth heard the peace of Mary, the fetus ran in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1: 40-44) .

The Egyptian water expert Nader Nour El-Din denounced recnt statements of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia regarding the filling of the Renaissance Dam, saying: It is a malicious statement and threat to say he will not cut water to Egypt. El-Din said that nobody has talked about cutting water, but only about reducing the amount of water arriving in Sudan and Egypt. Such talks about cutting off water means declaring war. Therefore, Egypt needs to defend its national security by all means and to respond strongly to this statement.

Coptic Orthodox Church in Aswan mourned the departure of a young priest who died affected by his Corona virus infection. Father Girgis Semen, priest of St. George in Lodid village, Edfo, died after 133 days of his ordination as priest.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II held an online meeting yesterday with the priests of three pastoral sectors of Alexandria, namely: the West, East and Central sectors. During the meeting, General Bishops Elaryon, and Hermina of Alexandria delivered speeches before Pope Tawadros delivered a speech about the verse: For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Bihsop Lokas of Abnoub ordained two new monks at St. Mina monastery in Abnoub. The ordination ceremony of monks Poulos and Isaac was attended by Bishops Bemwas of Suez and Arsanious of New Valley.

The Coptic Orthodox Church decided on Saturday meeting of the Holy Synod, headed by Pope Tawadros II, to postpone the reopening of churches of Cairo and and Alexandria until mid-July due to high infection rates. It added that every archbishop will assess the health situation in their governroates with the Holy Communion at every diocese to decide on either delaying or reopening under strict health protocols, the statement said.

His Eminence Bishop Pfinutius of Samalout, opened a new building of medical isolation center dedicated to patients of COVID-19. The building provides all medical services for intermediate care, intensive care and artificial respiration, as well as a plasma separator and two dialysis machines for critical cases.

Bishop Bigoul, head of the monastery of St. Mary al-Muharraq decided to continue the closure of the monastery for 2 extra weeks, and will not receive any groups during that period. The decision came after the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church gave each bishop the authority to decide to reopen or continue to close due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The media center of the Coptic Orthodox Church warned of a man who pretends to be a monk and collects donations. The man claims he is representative of St. Mina monastery in Mariout, Alexandria, but the monastery warns against such deceitful man.

Archbishop Markos of Shubra al-Khaimah said that the value of communion lies in the blood of Christ not the spoon. He explained that the spoon didn’t exist from the days of the apostles, but they were added in the days of St. John Chrysostom to ensure equality between the congregation who take communion.

Bishop Salib of Mit-Ghamr celebrated the feast of the great Archangel Michael on his feast while the Sunlight stood on the alter. The holy mass was celebrated without the participation of congregation due to the spread of Corona virus.

.Coptic Church celebrated today the recognition anniversary of Archdeacon Habib Girgis as saint in the church Archdeacon Habib Girgis was born in 1876 and died in 21 August 1951. He was a modern-day dean of the Catechetical School of Alexandria. He was the very first student for the modern-day Theological School, and was thus appointed to succeed his predecessor, Youssef Bey Mankarious, in the year 1918, as the second dean of the renewed center of theology.

The Coptic Orthodox Church announced that another priest died after being infected with COVID-19. Father Isaac Hafiz is the priest of St. Paul the Apostle in Bahtim, Shubra al-Khaimah diocese. Pope Tawadros has offered his sincere condolences to his family, congregation, and Bishop Markos of Shubra al-Khaimah.

The Coptic Orthodox Church in Tima headed by Bishop Fam mourned the departure of its oldest priests Father Potoros Hanna who served as priest for 61 years. For his part, Pope Tawadros II offered his sincere condolences to his family, congregation, and Bishop Fam of the diocese.

Bishop Kyrillos of Nag Hammadi and bishop Bijol, head of St. Mary monastery al-Muharraq, headed today the ordination of 14 new nuns at the monastery of St. Bedaba in Dhaba, Nag Hammadi. No congregation were allowed to attend the ordination ceremony due to the preventive measures taken by church to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II participated today in the online educational session held online for ministers of Behira diocese through Zoom application. Pope delivered a sermon about ‘Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ (Luke 10: 2). The session was attended by 245 ministers.

The Coptic Orthodox Church mourned Father Mikhail Hezkial, priest of Archangel Michael Church at Salhajar in Tanta. Pope Tawadros offered his sincere condolences to the priest’s family and congregation of the church. It is worth mentioning that the priest spend more than 30 days in priestly service.

The media center of the Coptic Orthodox Church started today a media campaign on the Holy Spirit and the Ministry in which several episodes will be broadcast about stories in the ministry supported by the Holy Spirit. The episodes will be broadcast daily for 34 days during the fasting of the apostles.

The Coptic Church began today the Fasting of the Apostles following 50 days after celebrating the Resurrection. The fasting of the Apostles is the very first fasting celebrated at the church after the Pentecost day, and was considered preparation for ministry all over the world.

The Media Center of the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that the Church will start fasting of the Apostles on Monday after celebrating the Pentecost day on Sunday. It added that new daily episodes of bible study in the Acts will be broadcast for Holiness Pope Tawadros II, and will be broadcast on Coptic satellite channels.

The Coptic Church celebrated the memory of the martyrdom of St. Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles. St. Thomas the Apostle, also called Didymus (twin), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and is commonly known as (Doubting Thomas) because he doubted Jesus resurrection when first told of it. According to the tradition, Saint Thomas is believed to have travelled outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel, travelling as far as the Malabar Coast which is in modern-day Kerala, India.