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.

Judging others is one of the most horrible things anyone can do in this life. However, in the Arab World and in general, we see a lot of people judging others and, in most cases, we are happy to observe or participate rather than condemn it. Recently, the Emirates singer Ahlam, discouraged people from saying, “God have mercy” for the famous Indian actress Sridevi who died last week in the Emirates. Ahlam distastefully proclaimed that according to the Quran, she shouldn’t ask for mercy for non-Muslims.

Father Botros Botros Bastawrous, deputy of Kafr El-Sheikh diocese, said in a public conference in support of al-Sisi in the governorate of Kafr El-Sheikh that we have to respect the Divine Will for al-Sisi s re-election. For a long time, people in Egypt tended to mix religion with politics leading both to a catastrophic situation. Many clergy and other people trading on religion have used it to achieve their own benefits by supporting the regime. Moreover, politicians have been using clergy to support their regimes using their effective methods on the simple people. However, after the Muslim Brotherhood had taken power in Egypt, people hated such mix between religion and politics, and demonstrated against the autocratic regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was accompanied by a large wave of atheism, which was estimated in 2013 that up to 3 million (3.57%) Egyptians were atheists.

All men are in dire need to the active word of God that enlightens the way and brings peace for our souls For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. This word of God is the only way to get rid of sin and to hear the voice of God. Abba Moussa, Bishop of the youth, said in his article entitled The Bible and contemporary man that the Bible meets the needs of contemporary man of knowledge, reference, salvation and immortality since man needs to know how to live in fear of God and distinguish between the light and darkness, and between right and wrong. Your word I have hidden in my heart That I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119)

In the midst of several recent bombings in our Egyptian churches, I was happy as a Coptic Christian citizen to see the religious discourse of the Coptic church focusing on the beauty of life and its value after it used to focus on the other life. Abba Raphael, secretary of the Holy Synod, sent three messages in a sermon he delivered at one of these funerals. First, we believe in the heavenly justice, second, we love our country; third, we won t abandon our faith. The fathers of the Egyptian Church told us that martyrdom in the Arabic language means being killed for the sake of God. It simply means being summoned for witness on one s faith. Our martyrs sacrificed their souls as they declared their faith before extremist murderers.

If anybody has been turning on the TV and watching sports, they would have noticed the Olympics that have been going on in South Korea these past two weeks. First let s state the obvious, yes, these are the winter Olympics. But even so, that didn t prevent a lot of Californians and Europeans from competing in these games. So, I will not penalize the Egyptians because we do live in a desert after all! But you know when I think about the Summer Olympics, where were the Egyptians?

The holy bible says: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) which is a great rule to deal with one another. If you think about the majority of our problems with other people, you will find out that it is derived by selfishness and greed. We want to have everything and don’t care about the others.

An old Egyptian custom we inherited from our ancestors, the ancient Egyptians, is that we don t remember the important people in our lives until they depart by death and be buried in great pyramids in our memories. The Egyptian idiom says: Remember the good deed of the dead people. Thus, we only remember the good people after they die, but I decided to break that rule and remember some good people in my life as they are still among us. Abba Makarios, Bishop of Minya, is an old style monk who loves everybody; even those who hate him. I learned love, modesty and forgiveness from him.

She is an Indonesian economist who has been Minister of Finance of Indonesia since 2016. She was named best minister in the world in a conference attended by ministers from all over the world. When you see what she did in her country, you feel she deserves such prize. In fact, she cut her government’s debt by half, increased foreign reserves to $ 50 billion, reduced the large disparities between incomes and encouraged an ambitious microcredit program, creating jobs in numbers that were not created by another Indonesian minister.

People may suffer from despair and frustration that leads them to surrender. This could be because of unachieved goals in our lives. However, God will not leave us alone, but will grant us supernatural blessings to help us in the way. Father Peyman El Tahawy, priest of the Church of St. George in Minya, wrote in his article ‘Surrender and Acceptance of Reality’, assured that a person who is full of the grace of our Lord does not know the spirit of failure and surrender, no matter how difficult his life may be. Faithful people start over and never stop by their temporary failure. We remember the prophet Elijah when he felt a great sense of frustration and despair did not see the benefit of continuing his efforts to return the people to the Lord. He was full of negative thoughts, but God didn’t leave him alone.

Recently, the Interior Ministry arrested Abdel Menaam Abou El-Fotuh, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, also the leader and President of the Masr Al-Qawyia Party. Before that the army also arrested Samy Anan, the ex-chief of the military when the military council governing Egypt was forced to retire in 2013, when the Brotherhood was in power. Actually, most of what we call “Liberal Parties” announced its support for Sisi for a second term. They were adamant that this stage in the country requires a strong man like Sisi. It appears they forgot all the principles that the Constitution is built on, such as every party has the right to be in power.

It is interesting to hear news about the establishment of new Coptic churches around the world, which is usually welcomed by officials and public figures and is never refused by fanatics unlike what happens in Egypt. This week, Abba Antonius Morkos, Bishop of African Affairs, laid the foundation stone for the first Coptic church in the state of Malawi. The celebration was attended by a number of Malawian officials and representatives of Christian denominations, and it was widely covered by local media. Representative of the president of Malawi said that his country is honored to have a church that extends back to the first century and was blessed by the visit of the holy family to its land. Egypt is such a big country with great heritage that faced waves of extremism. These waves made many Egyptians unproud they have such heritage! It is amazing that a man can despise what others envy him for.

Terrorism is like a virus that spreads everywhere, and there is constant injection of it by all evil forces that supports terrorism. No doubt that intellectual people and supporters of culture and enlightenment are at the forefront target of the extremists who claim they protect religion, but they spread myths among the simple people. I believe that our cultural and educational institutions have a great deal of work to consolidate illuminating human thought and to create better reality in Egypt supported by war waged by Egyptian army against terrorism. Therefore, we have to define sources of terrorism and extremism that are supported by ignorance what should be faced by culture and a plan of renewal of religious discourse.

The operations that the Egyptian Army announced yesterday, is not that from Turkey. The time and amount of soldiers taking part in this military operation puts forth many questions. Lately, we have all come to know that the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs had mentioned that Turkey will search for gas and oil on the Egyptian Mediterranean border, claiming that they have the right to that area.

So you have heard that it was said to the people long ago..., but I say to you... Jesus Christ cared about teaching the people, and therefore, he was usually addressed as Teacher . Pope Shenouda III in his article Christ the Teacher explained how Jesus Christ cared much about teaching and fixing wrong ideas among Jewish people. For example, they sanctified the Sabbath that they refused even doing good things. Thus, he made several miracles in the Sabbath to teach them that it is permissible to do good In the Sabbath. Jesus was teaching everywhere and at all times, and he didn t have a fixed place to teach. He was very popular and people crowded around him since he had a profound influence on their souls. People were astonished by his teaching. Moreover, Jesus asked his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20) He even gave new teachings to love one s enemies and pray for those who persecute them.

Dr. Nasser Fouad, the first Egyptian deputy lieutenant in UK, is an Egyptian migrant who was assigned as the deputy lord lieutenant of Cheshire, a county in North West England. In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is a Crown appointment and one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area: an English ceremonial county,

In his wonderful book Kirialison in the love of the Copts , Hamdi Rizk wrote that his book is a gift for the Copts at the Christmas Day. He said that these are lines of love erupted from the moment of the bombing of the Saints Church in January 2011 until the opening of the new Cathedral in 2018 by President Abdelfattah Al Sisi. As a Coptic citizen, I accept such lovely gifts including his writings and TV program in which he discusses problems of citizenship as a loyal Egyptian citizen. The book also talks about the church and its internal affairs as well as the Pope and the guardians of the faith. It also deals with the relation between the Pope and Sheikh of Al-Azhar as well as the position of the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood. He included dialogues with His Holiness Pope Twadros II, and His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, in addition to a number of meetings with a number of Egypt thinkers.

One of the most important lessons of life is that life is a journey that will eventually come to an end. Thus, we need to enjoy everything of it including the bad things as they teach us something. The next time you suffer some difficulties; don t let them hinder you for a long time. Instead, get over them and always put a smile on your face. Life deserves better than being wasted because of bad relationship or relatives. Always look at the bright side and enjoy your life appreciating what you have instead of thinking of what you don t.

In his last speech, Sisi tried to warn Egyptians from what he called, “The evil.” Sisi confirmed and emphasized that he will prevent any corrupted person from sitting on the Chair of Presidency. Sisi was speaking as if he was a dictator who can allow and prevent whoever he wants from becoming President. I was hoping that Sisi would rely on the law and courts to prevent any corrupted people from electing themselves as a President. However, it appears that Sisi is relying only on himself, much like Dictators would.