The Church of St. Mark in Alexandria is the oldest church in Egypt and Africa, dating back to the first century. It was built at the place of the house of St. Anianus who was the first to believe in Christ by St. Mark s preaching. It also contains about 55 of the first patriarchs of the Coptic Church. Father Abram Emil, Priest of St. Mark s Cathedral in Alexandria explained in his article The Church of St. Mark in Alexandria that the building experienced several stages started with the first century till the current building which was established in 1870 during the reign of Pope Demetrius II and was renovated in 1952 during the reign of Pope Youssef II, where large parts of it were demolished and rebuilt again. Then, there was an expansion process during the reign of Pope Shenouda III in 1990, and the latest renovation was in 2020 after the terrorist attack 2017 after most of the worshipers left the church after the Palm Sunday prayer. The latest renovation kept the architecture design of the building and restored the ancient Byzantine of the icon holder. We pray that God saves us from the epidemic and reopens the churches again for his people with the blessing of the Virgin Mary and St. Mark.

As we know the Egyptian people, I am so worried with the easing procedures and curfew that we will start after the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It should be noted that there are Egyptian doctors who were infected with Coronavirus while taking the best precautionary measures, and were even killed by it. Yet, the Egyptians can t follow all measures because of financial and cultural reasons. As the banks now obligate their customers to wear masks, some simple people exchange masks to visit the banks! The whole world saw the Egyptian Minister of health visiting Italy and China without wearing a mask! With all what we saw, I am afraid we should expect a disaster that we pray that God forbid and saves us from it.

Egypt s Prime Minister just announced precautionary measures during Eid al-Fitr holiday. I remembered the nineties of the last century, when the world began to digitize old systems with the start of the emergence of computers, and the peak of digitization was the emergence of the Internet and smart phones. Digitisation is the conversion of analog systems into digital content, i.e. the use of computers and smart phones to carry out business such as paying bills, cash transfers, e-mail, archiving and document storage. The most dangerous thing is the increasing role of the Internet in our lives, so it has become indispensable. It has become the teacher at the time of need, the guide to whom we resort to in times of stress, the source of knowledge and learning, and a friend to spend time with. This created a new reality called virtual reality, which is much closed to the illusion than reality, which has become even more important at the time of Coronavirus as the people found a much wider world than their limited and narrow homes. From now on, prepare yourself to carry two personalities, a real person and a digital one. In your room, you will live another alternative life in that virutal reality and your life will end when your account is broke.

Father and bishop Rewis died last week and I didn t know much about his history but I saw and listened to him many times. Bishop Rewis was general bishop not a bishop of a certain diocese and he always was refusing to be responsible for the diocese. I don t want to talk too much about his history, but I want to mention what I have witnessed with my eyes and with my ears. Bishop Rewis was always in “Asrriat Al-Rehan” church and I get used to going there especially in St. Mary fast.

I remember the sayings of great Egyptian writer Youssef Edris who said that the real poverty of Egypt it is the poverty of thought, and the thought of poverty. He said this in the early eighties of the last century, during a symposium at the Library of Alexandria. Egyptian history has recorded many situations of solidarity between citizens, especially when it comes to national economic projects. For example, a project like "Penny Project" launched by an Egyptian young man named "Ahmed Hussein" in 1931, whose idea is for every citizen to donate a single penny, in order to set up an Egyptian factory to manufacture "fez" instead of importing them from abroad. At that time, fez was part of the national dress of the Egyptians, and he found it shameful that the Egyptians had to import their national dress from abroad. The idea became very popular, and the campaign collected 20 thousand pounds, which was a very large amount of money at that time and the factory was opened in 1933. We do not need such ideas these days when 75% of our food and clothing are imported from abroad, so that we may collect donations to build factories where the poor and the unemployed work, instead of challenging each other to feed more poor people during the holy month of Ramadan. Teach a Man to Fish, Rather Than Give Fish

Thomas Russell, became chief of Cairo police and he really loved Egypt and enjoyed his stay in it. On weekends, the prestigious Englishman used to go down from his home downtown heading to Al-Jazirah Sports Club riding a camel in unusual sight. The camel was called Abu Rasas and knew the way back home without any guidance. His camel was also used to chase criminals. Russell spent 44 years in Egypt, and in 1949 he published his book On Egyptian Service in London which was translated by novelist Mustafa Obaid entitled The Memoirs of Thomas Russell, chief of Cairo Police, which describes the Social life in Egypt. Russell was a good writer like his uncle who was a novelist. He also loved hunting starting with birds and reaching women. He described many places in Egypt staring with the palaces and ending with the gangs and thieves. He also mentioned Labban area in Alexandria where the finest women worked in prostitution and the price reached one dollar per hour. He also recommended the place for his friends visiting the area. There was a huge number of English officers in Egypt, but it was rare to find an officer who had an appetite for life in various forms such as Thomas Russell, who refers in his memoirs to the Hamamel neighborhood in Alexandria, saying that most of its inhabitants are European prostitutes and their Greek managers. He says: I went through every district in Egypt with my tours as an inspector. I worked in all police stations from Aswan to Alexandria. His ability to observe and describe enabled Russell to record a unique testimony about the traditions that were prevalent in Egypt, the types of animals and birds, crimes, gypsies, tribal conflicts and even on the Rafa’i hunters who attracted him with their characters, especially Hajj Ahmed whose picture holding a five-foot-tall cobra in a Giza was published in 1919 a book called: The Egyptian Snakes and Their Hawa! He mentions the story of Hall, the unusual dog who joined the force in 1936, and became famous for being able to distinguish between real and false reports. Once he attacked a man who made a false report instead of attacking the defendants. Russell also describes the misery of peasants who earned very little money and worked very hard. He stated that the Egyptina government only follows what is said by the British one. He describes the demonstrations started on March 17, 1919, after Saad Zaghloul was exiled as the worst days of his life as the police couldn’t contain the polar demonstrations. It was not strange for Russell to praise the English occupation and the progress it brought for Egypt, but his testimony in general is very valuable with the accurate observations of a man who knew Egypt from the bottom to the top.

In the great Egyptian movie, the Kitkat, Hosni the blind man meets with Obied, another blind man, but doesn’t tell him he can’t see. Rather, Hosni convinces Obied that he has a strong sight and tells him: I wish you can see what I see! It was hilarious, but we can find similar people in our life. To each regime, there are opposers and supporters who might benefit from this regime or fear its punishment. During the days of the July 1952 revolution, there was a team who supported the revolution with enthusiasm, and another opposed it, attacked it and criticized it (this team was imprisoned and punished later). After the death of Nasser, many of his supporters announced their rejection and opposition to his regime. Even Sadat, who was his assistant and was known for being loyal to him, started to attack him and his policy. The same happened after the assassination of Sadat and the overthrown of Mubarak. Those who currently support president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, have changed their minds concerning previous presidents like Amr Adib, Mostafa Bakry, Makram Mohamed Ahmed. Thus, their credibility should be questioned.

The crisis of Corona virus revealed the true abilities of the countries and its administrative, scientific, research, intellectual, economic, and human capabilities. The crisis directed all countries towards the need to develop such capabilities to overcome the problem and turn it into a blessing to achieve benefits among the great losses. This is what the Egyptian government has been doing since the beginning of the crisis and has made outstanding victories so far. We hope that our Egyptian government will continue its success in dealing with the disaster. Despite the massive media support (public and private channels) with intensive campaigns to teach the people how to deal with the emerging epidemic, some people criticize the continues closure of the houses of worship, without appreciation for the gravity of the situation. They should have supported the decision and kept praying that the epidemic comes to an end. Instead, I find some clergy praising the achievements of the Corona virus and how it should lead us to reopen houses of worship instead of useless politics and art! I only agree with the extremist clergy that we should resort to God and hold our prayers, but this doesn’t mean to abandon life and make fun of all other measures and science.

While we are all busy following up the news about Coronavirus and the number of infected people and the number of deaths every day, there are many things we read and pass on it although it expresses a big concern of how things are going in Egypt in terms of human rights situation. Lately the young director “Shady Habash”, in the prison and Egypt s prosecutor-general said that young Egyptian filmmaker Shady Habash died in prison due to alcohol poisoning after he drank a sanitizing solution he thought was water as Al-Ahram news paper said.

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die . Jesus trampled death and annulled its authority and he showed the world that he was indeed the head of life and the oppressor of death. Father John Nassif, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Chicago, said in his article The Resurrection of the Savior that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was given to all humans to triumph over death and enjoy eternal life. In the Old Testament, God revealed that a person s life is in his blood, and therefore, the blood of Christ gives us life and cleanse us from all sin. St. Paul talked about this precious blood saying: He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9: 12) The sacrament of communion is really appreciated by our church since it enables the congregation to united with the life of Jesus Christ and get to know Him as the apostle says: I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3: 10). For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 26)

I hesitated a lot in writing this comparison between the strategy of facing Corona virus in both my home country Egypt and my second country Australia. The number of infections are almost the same in Egypt and Australia, but Australia s population is equivalent to almost a quarter of the population of Egypt and I am really worked about my people in Egypt. In Australia, the federal government imposed a number of precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus relying on the awareness of the Australian citizen in addition to enacting a number of laws and penalties and applying them to violators without exception until the sanctions affected the Minister of Arts of the New South State government Wells and fined him the sum of $ 1000, which led to his resignation for not being committed to public health laws. The Australian public life over the past weeks almost stopped and most people worked from home except for those whose job descriptions forced them to go out. Although the ratio of the number of infected people in each of Australia and Egypt is close, but, the recovered amounted reached 5859 in Australia compared to 1632 in Egypt, and 95 deaths in Australia compared to 436 deaths in Egypt. I am really worried about my people in Egypt especially as we approach Eid al-Fitr when the numbers will be increasing day after day. Finally, I remember here the result of the recent federal elections that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison won on May 18, 2019 and keeping the coalition government in leading the Australian continent for a new presidential term. His winning was such a miracle from God who brought a wise Prime Minister like Mr. Morrison, Chairman of the Liberal Party who led the Australian continent during this year and crossed it with many natural disasters such as forest fires, floods and is still fighting the deadly virus. May God save the world and gives wisdom to scientists to make treatment and vaccine as soon as possible

Throughout its history, the Church has played an important role in supporting the community in times of crisis and spreading hope among its people. This role was summarized in the bible as Jesus Christ said: You are the light of the world, You are the salt of the earth. This was translated by the church for more belonging and love to the homeland. His Eminence Bishop Macarius of Minya in his article ‘The Church in the Times of Natural Disasters’, mentioned how monks lived together during epidemics. St. Bakhoumius who established the system of monks’ communion faced the epidemic of plague and moved from monastery to another to serve the sick people till he was infected and moved to the quarantine till he died. The epidemics were not far from the clergy and the monks, but rather affected them and killed some of them. We have to learn from them how they served others and faced the disease, which had nothing to do with holiness. it should be known that people will receive judgment at the doomsday, not through illness and epidemics.

I wonder why the Ministry of Interior insists on not returning the advising and counseling sessions, which will help get rid of such dilemma of families of the Coptic girls. They keep worrying about their daughters and never know if they are kidnapped or just decided to convert into Islam. The sessions are held in the presence of a Christen priest and a police man to advise and discuss the decision with the person who wants to convert. In many cases the person accepts the advise and changes his or her mind. This has changed after the story of Waffa Kostantine, wife of a Coptic priest. The extremist Muslims said she converted and became a Muslim sister, while the extremist Christians say she has never converted. Yes, she declared she will always be Christian and her story came to an end. However, the minster of interiors Habib Al-Adly, decided at that time to cancel the sessions. Ever since, the families never know if their daughters were forced by any means to convert since they suddenly disappear and suddenly appear in a video declaring their conversion. I was part of a team who filed a law suit to restore the advising and counseling sessions in 2005, but no court has issued a ruling ever since.

Sometimes you need to learn from others especially those who are simple and not complicated. Lately my sister was telling me a story about an old simple lady in upper Egypt who goes every day in front of the church and prays. I was just contemplating this story and asking myself how many people thought about this idea. We all may be thought to go to get groceries and make sure that we have enough for months, we all make sure that we do our work and all necessary staff, however, how many of us thought to go and just pray in front of the church a simple prayer.

In the time of fear of the Corona virus and with the suffering economic and health sectors, we need to take heed and commit to all precautionary measures, but we need also to spread hope along with awareness even if we are fed up with the curfew and social distancing. We do expect and hope that the vaccine and medicine will be discovered in order to restore our lives back. Yet, this may take longer than we think or hope and we may have to wait for months or even years. In fact, I think it is time to reopen schools and send our children gradually to their classrooms. We need our lives back. Let s smile and pray believing that God is able to put an end to our suffering very soon.

The joyous word relieves the troubles of people and gives them energy to face their distress. Thus, we should use the joyous word and get used to say it to the people. This is how the late His Holiness Pope Shenouda III told us in his article Be a joyful gospel explaining that telling nice word and smile for other people is the Bible s commandment revealed in the verse: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10: 15) Wen we cause joy for others, God will give us great joy as well. People are in dire need to encouragement and hate frowning faces that cause them to lose peace, which is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The word (gospel) means joyous preaching, like the preach of the angel to the shepherds: Behold, I announce to you a great joy that will be for you and for all the people. Even Jesus Christ called the people to rest and joy saying: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Thus, if you can t give people rest, don t be a reason for them to suffer! Have a smily face and joyful heart that reflects your relationship with the Savior. Let them happy to meet with you as if they meet with Christ.

Corona virus that appeared in China last year and infected more than two and a half million people so far. On the other hand, few countries decided to try the collective immunity or what is known as the herd immunity. There is a debate about the morality of such policy, but in Egypt we are heading to the same policy after reducing the number of hours of the curfew. It is worth mentioning that a decent number of citizens are not abiding by the curfew especially in public areas and streets. The increasing number of infected people and the death tolls proves such negligence.

I feel concerned that Many Egyptians are taking the pandemic easy not realizing it may not be under control for a long time. Will they turn the blessing of the controlled situation into a curse through poor perception and underestimating the seriousness of the situation and not adopting the cautionary measures set by the government and local authorities! The government has proved it is able to manage the crisis with remarkable vigilance and unprecedented control, but the citizens are still playing catch me if you can game with the government. WHO representative Jean Jabbour recently explained the low number of coronavirus cases in Egypt in comparison with the huge numbers in Europe, US and South East Asia. Mr Jabbour’s said that the situation in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa reflected the level of acquired immunity of the people of these countries. This immunity, he said, was high because it was acquired in response to low levels of hygiene and healthcare, and high rates of pollution. In countries with better healthcare and hygiene conditions, Mr Jabbour said, the acquired immunity is not that high. The declined hygienic conditions, he explained, boosted the ability of people to fight infection far higher than that of populations of well developed countries. However, Mr Jabbour warned, it was not right to rely on this fact and overlook strict cautionary measures, because if the virus overtook the acquired immunity, it would spread like wildfire, almost unstoppable. I see several wrong deeds and bad attitudes like ignoring social distancing rules, rushing to buy food more than need, rejecting to comply with the necessary preventive measures of quarantine by some Egyptians returning back home. Sadly, they claimed that the conditions of their quarantine and the services provided to them were substandard, claims that were proved false. Another unacceptable behavior was the unreasonable reckless rush by some Egyptians who thought that the suspension of schools and universities and businesses that was an invitation for outings, partying and gatherings in gardens, beaches and touristic resorts. Others insisted on breaking the curfew hours set by the government. Shame on those who commit such acts not realizing that they may lead to a catastrophe.

Everyday we read about theories that announce the end of America as we are in a war against America not against “Covid19”. People still don t feel that we are facing a serious disease and instead to focus on fighting this pandemic we started to analyze what s after Covid19. People have the right to analyze the future after Covid 19 but not to wish and dream for America to die after this pandemic. It s well known that after any pandemic there are a lot of events that could happen such as famine, wars or changing regimes, however, this doesn t apply only to America but to each country.

Copts have celebrated the feast of the glorious Resurrection amidst churches closure due to the Corona virus. Coptic people suffered during the Holy Week and suffered also from social distancing and curfew. Women were indeed suffering the most since they are not able to visit the closed beauty centers and were not able to put on their pretty new clothes of the feast. These measures were taken to face the invisible virus in a war that is led by scientists and doctors, and not supported by many people who don t follow the rules and decisions to prevent the spread of the virus, and participate actively in risking the lives of everybody. In all cases the pandemic increased the doctor s value, and hopefully the scientists as well. I wish everybody many happy returns and safety and speedy recovery for the whole world