Source: International Quran News Agency TEHRAN (IQNA) – Christian figures attended a ceremony held to launch a mosque in the city of Farshut in Qena Governorate of Egypt. The Al-Rahman Mosque was launched after restoration work, according to Akhbar Elyom website. The city’s people paid for the restoration costs. The ceremony was attended by the head of Farshut Awqaf Department, a number of scholars from Al-Azhar Islamic Center and bishops of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The city’s officials hailed the presence of Christians at the event as a sign of unity and fraternity among followers of the two faiths. Egypt…
Browsing: Egypt
Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria leads mass at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ on 6 January 2020 (AFP)
Source: Middle East Eye Christmas for much of the Middle East’s Christian population falls on the 7th January, but it’s not just the date that’s different By Nadda Osman For many Coptic Christians in the Middle East, Christmas falls at around the same time as decorations in the West are being packed away. On 7 January, many Orthodox Copts and other Orthodox Christians (including those in Russia and Ethiopia) celebrate their Christmas Day. The difference in date lies simply in the calendar being used. Many Orthodox Christians follow the Julian calendar, which predates the Gregorian one introduced by Pope Gregory in 1582. The calendars are 13 days apart, pushing celebrations for…
Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa
Source: Orthodox Christianity [Daher, Egypt] His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa commemorated Epiphany Dumenko, the primate of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” during the Divine Liturgy today at the Church of the Archangels in Daher in the Cairo Governorate. The commemoration can be heard in a video of the Liturgy posted on the Archangels Rum Orthodox Church Facebook page around 45:30 (https://www.facebook.com/archangelsgreekorthodoxchurch/videos/2497852933641620/) During the Great Entrance of the Divine Liturgy, the primates of the Local Churches commemorate the other primates with whom they are in communion, thus commemoration of Epiphany constitutes official recognition of the canonicity…
Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Source: Orthodox Christianity [MT. SINAI, EGYPT] Many years of restoration work at the ancient St. Catherine’s Monastery, carried out under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, have been completed. During the project, the territory surrounding the monastery was landscaped, the roads leading to the monastery and to Mount Moses were repaired, larger parking spaces for buses were created, and an electronic security system was installed, reports Romfea. With the restoration work, the Ministry aims to increase visitors to the holy habitation, built on the site where the Prophet Moses spoke to God in the Burning Bush, at the foot…
Source: The Persecution of Christians The Egyptian government is very slow to approve applications for the construction of new churches. This story illustrates what are all too often the consequences: Christians go ahead with construction of an urgently needed church, and then are subjected to mob violence, often aided and abetted by government officials. As Father Sami says below: “What happened frightened us. I am a priest and it is possible for the police to cuff me if the extremist neighboring Muslims protest or gathered in front of my church. Things are getting worse, but let us pray to make…
Pope Francis, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual head of the Orthodox churches, attend an ecumenical prayer service at the Church of St. Peter in Cairo April 28, 2017. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople plans to grant independence to Christians in the Ukraine, many of whom have been linked to the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate.(CNS photo/Paul Haring)
Source: Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, welcomes increased numbers, moves toward unity Deborah Castellano Lubov, OSV Newsweekly When he traveled to the southern Italian city of Bari in Puglia on July 7, to attend the unprecedented ecumenical meeting summoned by Pope Francis, his holiness Pope Tawadros II represented the largest Christian Church for the entire Middle East. Yet, the number of Christians in the Middle East has plummeted. It was “a very successful meeting,” said the highest-ranking leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, “a great opportunity for Church leaders to meet and…
Source: Middle East Eye The move has prompted speculation over the monk’s connection to the death of Bishop Epiphanius, who was an ally of Pope Tawadros II Pope Tawadros II, the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, has defrocked a monk following investigations into the suspicious murder of a prominent bishop in a monastery northwest of Cairo last week. A statement by the Coptic Church on Sunday, handwritten by Pope Tawadros, announced the defrocking of monk Isaiah Macarius, based on an investigation by a church committee that found him guilty of committing acts deemed “incompatible with monastic conduct”. The decision…
Source: CBC Tattoos have long been how Christians mark their spiritual journey to Holy City Derek Stoffel · CBC News A mother and her daughter from rural Indiana walked through the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem’s fabled Old City recently, gazing up at the wooden crosses and rosaries hanging from shop stalls. What to take home? They decided ultimately on another way to mark their pilgrimage to the Holy City: tattoos. A day later, Karen Andrews and her daughter Jamie both had blue Ichthys fish — the Christian symbol linked to Jesus — stencilled on their wrists. “All my life I thought about tattoos, and I thought…
Source: RFI By Anne-Marie Bissada As Egypt’s elections kick off on Monday 26 March for the next three days, Rfi goes to the southern city of Asyut, which has one of the largest Coptic populations in the country, to see if efforts by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have been effective in ensuring the safety of the Copts after recent terrorist attacks. Photos by Pedro Costas Gomes. On a hot sunny afternoon, just before the start of the weekend, the three hour mass at the Arch Angel Michael Cathedral in Asyut is packed. The Coptic Orthodox Church plays a central role in…
Source: World Tribune Egypt and Saudi Arabia have agreed to establish a $10 billion investment fund that will allow the Saudis to build a portion of their planned Neom megacity in parts of the southern Sinai. The two countries signed the deal during the March 4 visit to Egypt by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Egypt committed 1,000 square kilometers to the Neom project, which will run along the coast of the Red Sea as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and will extend across Egyptian and Jordanian borders, making it the first private economic zone to span three…
Source: Egypt Independent by Taha Sakr Egypt’s main Coptic Church decided on Thursday to suspend holding any conferences and organizing the church-sponsored trips to monasteries, Coptic Orthodox Church Head Bolus Hailm said. Halim told Egypt Independent that the decision came following consultations with the Interior Ministry, which recommended the suspension of the aforementioned activities until the end of the month of July. “Due to security concerns raised among churches’ officials against any gatherings of Copts in Egypt, the churches affiliated to the Coptic Orthodox Church consulted the main church to coordinate with the Interior Ministry to undertake any action,” he explained. He further asserted…
Source: National Geographic The manuscript was unearthed by the monastery’s monks who were conducting restorations in the centuries-old library. By Sarah Gibbens PUBLISHED JULY 11, 2017 There’s perhaps no doctor in history more famous than Hippocrates. Many medical students today still swear the ancient doctor’s oath to adhere to ethical medical principles. While the details of his life are murky (it’s even debated whether he wrote the oath or some of the other manuscripts that bear his name), Hippocrates is widely regarded as the “father of Western medicine.” Archaeologists now believe they may have found one of the ancient doctor’s medical recipes…