More than twenty-eight years ago, I was introduced to Bishop Gregory of Scientific research. In 1973, I was a law student at Ain Shams, and I was responsible for bringing keynote speakers for the Coptic family in the college. His first speech to us was entitled: Lawyer and truth, in which he explained to us that Jesus Christ is the greatest lawyer and how we should follow His foot steps. Since that date, I began a friendship with the great theologian. I used to visit him every now and then to spend couple of hours discussing various subjects, including theological, legal and social topics. In the early eighties I visited him after the issuance of a ruling from the Court of Zagazig to permit polygamy for Christians. I found him a great legal and religious expert who could defend the Christian point of view. When I asked him to introduce my book The nullity of marriage and the reasons for divorce in Christian laws , he spent one month revising it and didn t revise the information only, but he fixed some grammar mistakes in the book. I knew him encouraging and motivating to participate in the national work. He encouraged me to run for parliamentary elections in Shubra and supported me to get many votes. He also was a great defender of the Coptic Orthodox Church. He was so humble, loving, simple, accurate and scientists.

It seems that Egypt is facing real challenges in many issues, Libya from one side and Ethiopia from another side, however, in my opinion, the Ethiopian issue is more serious and is a real threat to all Egyptians. We need to greet Egypt for the diplomatic efforts that have been done so far. Egypt has exhausted all means to convince Ethiopia to have agreement with Egypt and Sudan before starting in running the “ Nahda Dam”.

Everybody is hoping that September comes with a vaccine for COVID-19 according to several statements by officials in America and Egypt. Oxford confirms that it will produce more than four hundred million doses of the vaccine for Europe and America. Trump is repeatedly asking to accelerate the pace of work in the vaccine in America, while for American s good and for his own interest as the elections approaches. 120 countries announced they are reaching a vaccine, but sadly Egypt was not among them. Our country cares more about building churches and mosques as well as roads, but health scientific research and education are not yet among our priorities!

Police sometimes have to use violence when dealing with some dangerous people who may harm officers and kill them. This doesn’t justify the murder of George Floyd which revealed hateful racism inside the American society, which also exists in severel countries around the world. The peaceful demonstrations soon turned into violence that extended into the looting of shops and the burning of police headquarters and cars, which may reflect the interference of several parties like the rival Democratic Party of President Trump, Islamic organizations or even American leftist organizations. It should be noted that the four officers whom are accused of killing Floyd include Americans of white, black, Asian and Mexican backgrounds. This means they have not intended to kill the man, but the use of excessive force led to his murder.

The file of the disappearance of Christian girls has been my main concern since the late nineties of the last century until the number of disappeared girls and women reached in the late Mubarak era to approximately 1490 cases. In my first media interview in 2004, I demanded the return of two kidnapped Christian girls from Dakahlia governorate. I presented several facts that led President Mubarak to interfere and the Interior minister ordered police to find the two disappeared girls , and so was done and the girls returned home after they were kidnapped.

As the world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Thus, many preventive measures were taken everywhere including the shut down of churches and suspend of its services. Yet, Pope announced in a television interview that the Holy Synod may decide to change the way of taking communion and abolish the Mastier (the spoon used in the Coptic rituals of taking communion) Christianity is not dead, and all living things are subject to change and development. Moreover, Jesus Christ didn’t use such spoon on Maundy Thursday, and the Church doesn’t use the spoon upon delivering communion to the patients at home and hospitals. Therefore, it is normal to change things that have nothing to do with the pure Christian faith and we trust that the Holy Synod will make the right decision for the church and the congregation. In the past few years, many people try to judge the church and attack Pope Tawadros and the bishops. I we like to judge, we have to judge ourselves before judging church fathers who are already suffering a lot and are in dire need for our prayers instead.

People tend to refuse any advice other people try to introduce to them and think they know everything, and they are adults enough to get advice from anyone. While Covid19 increases drastically in Egypt and the number of deaths and infected people increase every day, we see a lot of Egyptian not taking the disease seriously enough and they are still insisting in not practicing social distancing or be cautious to not group with families or friends.

Each of us is vulnerable to getting into problems, but we need to learn how to solve them and avoid troubles through the support of our Lord. The late Pope Shenouda III in his article ways to solve problems explained to us that there are many wrong ways that some people resort to in order to solve their problems, but they always lead to troubles. Violence and shouting may cause extra troubles, make people angry, and lose their friendship and love. Using one s authority may force the people to follow your orders, but not to love you. Some people may prefer to escape from problems thinking that it is the best solution, but in this case the problems will grow and increase. The best way to solve problems is by thinking rationally and asking God for wisdom like Suleiman the Wise. We may also resort to fasting and prayers like the saints and never forget to have patience and long-suffering. When you face a problem, never resort to your own abilities and powers, but ask for God s support and wisdom since He is the best friend and consultant you can ever have.

Yesterday, on my way back home, I passed by Tahrir Square, which I was surprised by its beautiful new look and lighting. However, I expected more in the nearby locations and squares. Such project gives good indications about the situation in Egypt, but it doesn’t reassure me on the future of my children. I hope we will be able to restore our life, attend football matches and enjoy our life. It is not enough to build new cities and roads, but to restore humanity and safety. People in America are fighting to get their rights even though they already have clean roads and cities. We need food for our souls just like our bodies.

Some people write on their Facebook pages that George Floyd was a criminal as if they want to silence millions of people who demonstrated in his name. The truth is that nobody said the man was an angel or saint. George Floyd is a victim of hideous racism and brutal killing by a police man representing law and justice who has been killing a man for more than 8 minutes in cold blood as he puts his hand in his pocket and knees on the neck of his victim. This police officer spend this night in his bed while the victim was in the dead refrigerator. Floyd became a symbol for oppressed humans, and this has nothing to do with his dark skin color. Yet, another African-America man was killed four years ago the same way and was crying: I can t breath. Thus, Floyd became an extension for the African-American case since they were brought to America 400 years ago. Racism still exists in America, and only yesterday a number of statues were removed of a number of people who were fighting against Abraham Lincoln defending their right of buying salves! Therefore, the name and pictures of George Floyd will remain a symbol of victims of racism and brutality everywhere. The people should reject injustice, and teach those who don t care about killing people for their race or faith.

We do appreciate heroism and sacrifice of police and army soldiers during war on terrorism to defend the homeland. On the other hand, we find the religious institutions offering full support to the doctors and nurses by donations and prayers during the current pandemic. Furthermore, the churches were closed and all church activities were suspended. Yet, some people rejected such decision and maybe they didn t know that 3 priests tested positive for Corona virus according to Archbishop Markos of Shubra al-Khaimah. In Germany, 112 people were infected by COVID-19 after attending the Holy Mass in a church in Frankfort. The church announced later that they didn t completely followed the preventive measures. I believe the churches and mosques have to participate in facing the pandemic by raising awareness and supporting the health system. Moreover, I expected greater role to the Family House organization including Al-Azhar and the Coptic Orthodox Church. There is no doubt that the role of the religious establishment is very important at this critical time, and it is better to use technology to pray and lead people spiritually instead of reopening churches and mosques and use them to spread the virus. I invite clergy to spread peace and awareness among people and invite them to donate for the needy and protect the homeland at such critical moment of the pandemic.

The visit that President Trump made to the church beside the white house while the army beside him reminded us of what we see in the middle east. A president with the army means that the army is going into politics and that s very dangerous at least for the US. It was a new scene for the US to resort to the army to show power beside the president although we know that the army in the US is not involved in Politics. I read a statement to general Milley who appeared with Trump admitting that appearing with Trump was a mistake which is a good gesture.

The Coptic Church cites a nice prayer addressing the Virgin Mary saying: We exalt you, the Mother of the true Light. We glorify you, O Saint, the Theotokos (Mother of God). This unique prayer is cited daily in the prayers of the Coptic Church seeking consolation, strength and hope. Father John Nassif, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Chicago, said in his article We glorify you, O Mother of True Light that such prayer is unique among all churches of the world, in which we honor the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and glorify the Lord Jesus, who is the head of the Church, its pride and steadfastness. This unique prayer is of Coptic origin and has no Greek origin and is not found in any other church in the world other than the Coptic Church. It was not written in the Council of Ephesus as some books claimed. This confusion may have come from the main topic discussed by Ephesus Council, which is the Mother of God. The prayer is part of the Liturgy and not the Nicene creed. Rather, it is a special prayer said before it. Therefore, it was called the introduction of the Nicene Creed. Yet, it introduces many details about the Christian faith. We don t know its writer, but we need to search for him. We exalt you, the Mother of the true Light. We glorify you, O Saint, the Theotokos, for you brought forth unto us the Savior of the whole world; He came and saved our souls. Glory to You, our Master, our King, Christ, the pride of the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the joy of the righteous, the firmness of the churches, the forgiveness of sins.

The History will not forget what former US President Barack Obama did in destroying the Middle East by his alliance with the Islamists, and leading a plan to topple Arab regimes and replace them by the Islamists. He also tried to thwart the people s revolution on June 30 against the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group. Today, he is trying to lead another revolution in the United States of America against Donald Trump to settle political scores, taking advantage of the murder of George Floyd to ignite the situation against the current American regime. The demonstrations were turned into violence, looting and burning, in a scenes that does not differ from the scenes of the Arab Spring led by the Brotherhood and the sponsorship of Barack Obama. Moreover, Obama appeared trying to lead many parties against President Trump, and to support the protests that took place across the country against racial discrimination in the county that brought Obama as the first black US president. Obama posted a tweet on Twitter commenting on the killing of American citizen George Floyd saying: It s natural to wish for life to just get back to normal as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us. But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly "normal" - whether is s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park. He added: It will fall mainly on the officials of Minnesota to ensure that the circumstances surrounding George Floyd s death are investigated throughly and that justice is ultimately done. But it falls on all of us, regardless of our race or situation - including the majority of men and women in law enforcement who take pride in doing their tough job the right way, every day - to work together to create a “new normal: in which the legacy o bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts. Just as Obama used the Brotherhood to destroy the Middle East, we find today the rise of Islamists in demonstrations and chants of enlargement in front of police stations in California, in a sign that Obama is using his allies from the Islamists to achieve his goal and mislead the American public opinion and spread destruction by Obama s evil allies.

The scientist Freud says in his theory of ‘the narcissism of difference’ that the differences between human beings are considered crucial and should be used for the benefit of humanity, but this is not accepted by those whom call themselves ‘owners of the absolute truth’. Here, the importance of media appears to teach people to accept such differences. National unity can not be achieved without embracing such concept by media and religious institutions and politicians in one society. In that matter, there are three spaces that should accept these differences. The spaces are: religion and faith, religion and life, and religion and political regime and power. The three spaces should be realistic and make the best of life. Thus, we call for renewal of religious discourse to meet that goal. The Arab director Mostafa al-Aqqad who directed Al-Resala (the message), one of the best movies that defend Islam, was killed in a terrorist attack in Amman in 2005 by a terrorist group that rejects cinema and art believing it defames Islam. In Egypt, a group of Christian clergy demonstrated against a movie called ‘I love Cinema’ declaring it defames Christianity without understanding its goal or discussing it with its makers. I believe media and religious institutions should cooperate to build good citizens and defend their rights, public peace and social solidarity.

There is no doubt that racial discrimination between humans and persecution of people is totally unacceptable. There is no real difference between people based on color, race, religion and sex. Yet, people accept them because of delusions and mental perceptions. The truth is that all human beings belong to one human race, and will give account before the one God on the dooms day. This is justice that all people should work to achieve. There is no difference between mind, behavior and efficiency of the people based on their skin color. Thus, many black skinned people won Nobel Prize as well as many outstanding writers, artists, and athletes. Many American states are witnessing mass demonstrations calling for the punishment of those who killed the black-skinned American citizen, George Floyd, which is a horrible seen spread all over the world. Peaceful expression should be guaranteed, but some protesters used the events to storm and loot shops, burn and vandalize public and private property. They burned and destroyed cars in a scene that offend the memory of George Floyd.

After the death of George Floyd in US the demonstration erupted everywhere in US asking for justice and in return the US started to threaten the people by saying that dogs are waiting demonstrator who will get in to the white house. This statement from president Trump reminded me of presidents in the middle east during the Arab spring when there were threatening their citizens if the approached their palace.

Last week, Egypt has received 30-ton shipment of medical supplies from China as a gift of support during the battle of Coronavirus. I was happy to read such news of friendship between Egypt and other countries around the world. Such cooperation is essential to face the pandemic, especially as no country could face the virus alone. Egypt in the beginning was keen to send gifts of medical supplies to several countries inlacing China and Italy. It was a matter of showing support and love, and expressing friendship. However, when I read the news, I found so many negative comments accusing China and denouncing such gifts of medical supplies. I saw many people spreading false accusations and disturbing public peace at such critical time of war against COVID-19. I think such chaos of social media is more dangerous today than Coronavirus.