In April 2013, the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya was attacked and 3 Copts were killed and 84 were injured. The perpetrators were likely searching for weapons in the church or Coptic women who have converted into Islam and are still trapped in the church according to many stories spread by fanatics. They were likely searching for a reason to justify their attacks on Christian houses and churches. Ever since, the fascist regime was collapsing and this attack was a step towards overthrowing the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood. During the transitional period from July 2013 to June 2014, Copts were subject to many sectarian attacks as a price to pay by the Copts for supporting President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, and they are still supporting him.

When we hear the word Copts, we think of Egypt. Copts have a long history plagued by blood and oppression after they embraced Christianity in Egypt. The Christians in Egypt were called Copts as they belong to the land of Egypt as the word Copts means the people of Egypt. With the entry of Islam in Egypt, Christians were called Copts against Muslims. Now, they represent the largest minority in the Middle East and the largest Christian community in the region. Copts are estimated at 8 million Copts in Egypt and about 2 million Copts all over the world (most of them live in the United States). Copts had their own language which is one of the oldest.

During King Salman s important visit to Cairo on April 7, 2016, which lasted for five days, ten agreements were signed which will bring about radical changes in the region, such as the construction of a bridge between the Kingdom and Egypt to link the two continents of Asia and Africa and bring billions of dollars to Egypt. The Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi signed the bridge agreement based on the republican decree signed by Mohamed Hosni Mubarak in 1990 that admits the two islands belong to the Saudi Arabia. This decision came after consulting the specialized committees headed by the Supreme National Committee for the Sea. However, many countries and organizations conspired against Egypt and the Saudi Arabia leading to sedition, but the two big sisters overcame such evil plans of division in the Middle East.

An Egyptian parliamentary committee was scheduled to meet this week to debate a law that would ban parents from using “western names. This has happened before in several countries including the Saudi Arabia that banned 50 names in 2014 including Alis, Lynda and Eline! Advocates of the new law said that using such Western names and abandoning Arabic ones will lead to an undesired and radical change in the Egyptian society and culture. Thus, they prefer names like Ali, Omar and Abu Talib which came originally from the Arab peninsula, rather than Mina and Ramsis that came from our Pharonic ancestors.

Recently the parliament agreed on Terran and Sanafi treaty which will give the right to Saudi Arabia to have the sovereignty on these two Islands. Sisi in many occasions accused all Egyptians that they don’t have honor and dignity and he is the only one have it among Egyptian. We back as always to the king authority who believes that he is the best and the right person in all cases.

Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. These are the words of St. Paul to pave the way before a successful man as described by Pope Tawadros II in his sermon last Wednesday. God is the core of our joy since he grants us the salvation of sin. Jesus Christ is the way to this salvation, thus we should always rejoice in him who blesses our way, health, ministry, work and family. We shouldn’t allow anybody to take away such joy. He called us to become complete in our relationship with the church and its sacraments and ministry. The church is the best way to save our children from the world and fill them with the holy spirit.

As I celebrated my birthday, I thought about the past and traveled through time and space from Los Angeles to Assiut. The older people used to tell the children stories about their great old times where life was so cheap. Our dreams were very simple as computer cell phones and television were not invented yet. Only the rich people had radio at their house. They listened to plays and football matches and the audience shouted with joy or sorrow according to their football affiliation. As children, we were dealing with a currency that does not exist nowadays, but we saved out of it to rent bicycles once a week. We had very simple toys and games for boys and others for girls. Our neighborhood was a narrow road and the houses on both sides consisted often of two floors, and all the families in the street were Christians.

I was surprised by the statement of the Holy Synod last week in which it decided to celebrate martyrs of the Coptic Church in the modern history on February 15th, which marks the martyrdom of 21 Copts by ISIS in Libya. They chose that day since this is the only time Coptic Christies were killed without the involvement of the Egyptian regime. The regime performed air strike on ISIS in Libya and built a church for the martyrs in their home village. Thus, they didn’t chose the anniversary of other sectarian incidents where Copts were killed based on their religious identity such as the Saints Church, Maspero, St. Peter Chapel, St. George Church in Tanta, or the martyrs of St. Samuel terrorist attack. The statement decided to avoid embarrassing the regime of Mubarak and al-Sisi.

The terrorism that we see growing among the Western part of the world is equally heartbreaking and troublesome, but for different reasons that I want to explain here. First off, let s be clear. In Egypt, you have 90% of the population that is Muslim. The other 10% is Christian/Other denominations. The victims, as mentioned previously, are the Christians. The West, on the other hand, is primarily made up of Christians and Atheists. A large amount of the population, I can say maybe 35% is Atheist/Mixed. In this group, I do also include “apathetic” Christians that are not practicing Christians. Christians who do not have the first clue about the teachings of the Church, or of peace etc… The other 55% I can say are Christians and then 5% Muslim. The Muslim population is growing, but is still relatively small. The Western mentality is not that of “Christianity” although that s the foundation for these countries, it s more about, “let everyone just do their own thing and mind your own business”

There is no doubt that what Saudi Arabia is doing with Qatar is not a simple cut for diplomatic relations, but an assassination. Saudi Arabia has prevented Qatar from using airspace, water and borders though it almost share all borders with it. On the other hand, Iran is not a very good alternative since it will be a higher cost of transportation. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has given the worst hit, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. As for the Egyptian decision, it came too late following Egyptian-Saudi agreement during the secret visit by al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister to Egypt, on the night of the Egyptian Gulf turn against Qatar. We still remember what happened in 2015 when Egypt accused Qatar of involvement in the killing of the 21 Christians in Libya, and terrorism in Sinai and Libya. At that time, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council refused the Egyptian statements and forced Egypt to withdraw its accusations.

One day before the holy month of Ramadan started, I wrote that Coptic Christians love this month and share the celebration of this month with Muslims considering it more cultural tradition than a religious one. Yet, the terrorist attack in Minya hours after publishing the article decided to change that. Those terrorists decided to kill 29 innocent people including children who were going to visit St. Samuel monastery that Christians should remember they are the favorite prey of the terrorist groups that kill in the name of Islam. Moreover, it decided to ruin the celebrations of that holy month, just like it did couple of years ago when they killed Egyptian soldiers in Rafah while they were eating their breakfast.

Twenty eight Copts from El Menya died not to talk of those who were wounded and by the way just a quick reminder that the word COPT=EGYPTIAN in a in Greek language mispronounced by non Greek people that are not accustomed to the Greek language!

I m sure by now everyone has heard about the multiple acts of terrorism that have been happening not only over in the U.K, but also in the States and across the world. The enemy is showing their true colours, and Westerners are showing theirs as well. In Egypt, we are faced with many difficulties when it comes to persecution of the Copts. First of all, we are a vulnerable minority. Many will disagree with that statement. We, the Copts are strong! We are fearless! We defend our faith! Before we all jump over each other in protest, I want to clarify, by means of reason, we are a vulnerable minority. We make up 10% of the population. We are faced with 80 million non-Christians. We are vulnerable, why? I don t mean we are not strong in our faith. I mean, whenever there is unsettling, anger, civil unrest, the first ones to suffer are the Copts. How easy is it for an aggravated Muslim to walk into a Church with a bomb nowadays? Families look for any reason to start trouble with their Christian neighbours. This is a fact. Copts have been, and will always be the first target when the Egyptian population is faced with any kind of turmoil.

Twenty eight Copts from El Menya died not to talk of those who were wounded and by the way just a quick reminder that the word COPT=EGYPTIAN in a in Greek language mispronounced by non Greek people that are not accustomed to the Greek language! Those victims were assassinated in a coward terrorist attack 2 days away from the holly Islamic month of Ramadan while a bus was heading to a cathedral near by in Menya!

There are a few flowers that have been known to be very hardy. Hardy means that it can survive many different conditions. Cold or extreme hot climate, drought, being cut down. No matter what happens to these flowers, for example, the daisy, they keep growing and becoming stronger. What any gardener will tell you is this: if you cut the beautiful flowers that daisies produce, a new one will grow in its place. You may even see more blooms by cutting the flowers off. Since we are in the heat of summer, and flowers are beginning to grow and take place, I can’t help but think about what happened to our poor little flowers that were killed on the bus from the St. Samuel Monastery recently. You hear about innocent lives being taken by acts of terrorism and murderers, and wonder when will this end? How many more lives have to be lost before this world changes? I’ve mentioned before that in order for us to see peace in this country, and among the people, we need to grow a new culture, a new understanding, a new respect for each other. It only takes 1 Sheikh to tell a Mosque that to make “Allah” happy, go an slaughter innocent Christian children. 1 Sheikh is all it takes to infect the minds of hundreds of people.

Muslims will start fasting the holy month of Ramadan tomorrow. This is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad according to Islamic belief. However, in Egypt Muslims and Christians share the celebration of this month and consider it more cultural tradition than a religious one. Copts enjoy this month and share such festival including the charitable giving and many times fasting during the day, most of the Copts only drink water and abstain from food during the day.

I send this message to the Copts of Egypt who face at the moment the same prosecution experienced by our fathers the saints of the first church. Dear brothers, you have been baptized which means you have died with Christ, buried, and resurrected with him. “Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12). Therefore, we can’t fear death since we already died with Christ and shall live with him forever. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)