On June 12th, the Copts celebrated the feast of the holy apostles. This feast commemorates the martyrdom of St. Paul and St. Peter. It is a liturgical feast in honor of their martyrdom in Rome at the end of the first century. Ever since the Christians have been suffering and murdered in the name of Jesus Christ and the Coptic Christians have been no exception.
For 20 centuries, the Copts have suffering from intermittent waves of persecution by the Roman and Muslim rulers. Moreover, they were recently called (the primary target and favorite prey) by ISIS. This explains several terrorist attacks against the Copts most of which ISIS has claimed responsibility of. The group also called on its supporters to continue targeting the Copts.
In recent article by Heba Saleh published in Financial Times, blamed the successive governments in Egypt for the new danger of ISIS saying it stands on top of longstanding complaints of discrimination and the spread of intolerance and hate speech that successive Egyptian governments have failed to confront, leading to faultlines that Isis now seeks to exploit.
It added that the bus ambush in the southern province of Minya was the latest episode in a bloody campaign claimed by Isis against Egypt’s Christians that has left more than 100 people dead since December. There were two attacks on packed churches in different cities on Palm Sunday in April, while a spate of assassinations of Copts in Arish, a port in the northern Sinai, spurred an exodus of Christian families from the city.
Now, as the Copts celebrate the feast of the holy apostles, they remember that they have to offer their blood in order to keep their faith. Yet, the government has to protect them and not to let the Copts be ISIS’ easy target and favorite prey.
