Priest of the church of St. Mary and St. George in Sheikh Alaa village in Minya governorate held a sit-in in the church to denounce the closer of it after the fanatics attacked the building and destroyed its contents. The priest is accompanied by 3 deacons in the church were they hold the holy mass every day. It s worth mentioning that the church was attacked two years ago by the fanatics and the police had decided to close it then after the attack without accountability for the fanatics.

The total number of churches that were closed in Minya within a week reached three churches, and Copts were prevented from holding their prayers in them. This came after fanatics had demonstrated against the churches claiming they are not licensed, which made police close them.

A group of hardliners stoned a building related to the church as well as some houses of Copts as punishment for performing their prayers in the building. They perpetrators tried to storm into the building and destroy the surveillance cameras and also to set the church on fire. Police intervened and stopped them from breaking into the church and attack the Copts.

Council of Churches of Egypt issued a statement to condemn the terrorist attack on policemen in Wahat province near Cairo. On Saturday, Egyptian Interior Ministry announced that 16 policemen were killed and another was missing in the Friday shootout with terrorists in Wahat area in the desert of Giza province.

A group of Coptic activists in America called the Egyptian President Abduld Fattah al-Sisi during his visit to New York to seek full citizenship and to stop targeting the Copts for their religious identity. They denounced killing a priest in Cairo and the imprisonment of another monk from Rayyan monastery in addition to the way assailants of Coptic old women and stripped her off in the streets were acquitted.

Coptic Orthodox Church said today in a statement that Father Samaan Shehata, priest of St. Julius Al-Akfahsi Church in Baba Al-Fashn diocese. The priest was attacked by a man holding a knife who stabbed him several times to death.

Abba Pfnotious, Bishop of Samalout, is preparing a bigger shrine for the 21 Coptic martyrs in Libya after their bodies were discovered and will be moved to the church soon. The current shrine was used as a church, but is being prepared as bigger shrine for the martyrs.

Abba Younis, Bishop of Assiut, said that the people were happy to know the bodies of the martyrs of Libya were found. The martyrs are honored in Egypt as modern Coptic martyrs whose prayers and blessings to be sought by the Copts in Egypt. A church was built on their name and a special shrine was prepared for the body in the church.

Egyptian and Libyan authorities coordinate in order to transfer of the bodies of the 21 Coptic martyrs to Egypt after they were found this week in Libya. On the other hand, the Church of the 21 Martyrs in their village of Al Awar is getting ready to receive the martyrs in their own shrine.

The Copts of Forn village in Minya celebrated the inauguration of the Church of St. Mary and Archangel Michael after being closed by security forces on the eve of St. Mary s feast last August. The Holy Mass was celebrated in the church and a number of Muslims visited the church to congratulate the congregation on the reopening of the church.

Copts of Bir Shams village, Menoufya, held the funeral of a Coptic man in the streets as they have no church. The village has 400 Coptic Christians, but they have no permits to build a church though they bought a building to pray in, but police refused to give them the due permits.

Police in Minya have been investigating the murder of Coptic policeman by unknown men. Church surveillance cameras showed that three men used motorcycle and two of them used white weapons to kill him.

Abba Makarios, Bishop of MInya, said that Police refused to open a church in Kedwan village in Minya to protect the feelings of hardliners. He explained that there are 15 closed churches and 70 villages without churches thanks to the hardliners whom refuse to build and open churches.

Minya governorate has started it preparation to pave the road of St. Samuel monastery and install cell phone towers at the area that witnessed the murder of 28 Coptic martyrs who were heading to visit the monastery. The road to the monastery is 35 Kilometers long of unpaved way and has no cell phone towers which made the job of the terrorists easier since the victims couldn’t call for help.

Three members of the gang of Ashraf Halaka, the Murderer of the Copts in Sahil Salim village, Assiut, tired to kill Helmy Demian, the only witness in the case in which the Murderer was sentenced to death penalty. Demian had witnessed Ashraf Halaka killing his brothers back in 2013. It is worth mentioning that Halaka is known for killing and kidnapping the Copts, and trading in arms.

Bodies of three martyrs of Minya terrorist attack moved from their home town in Maghagha to St. Samuel monastery. The three martyrs are: Girgis Mahrous, Kyrilous Mahrous and Magdy Edqward, and will be buried in the monastery next to 8 other martyrs of the same attack.

Cardinal Philippe Barbour, Archbishop of Lyon heads delegation of clergy and journalists to visit Erbil in Iraq. They carry message from Pope Francis to the Iraqi people and will visit camps o the displaced people.

Father Bishoy Helmi, priest of St. Antonius Church in Shobra, said that Mina Safy, Coptic defendant accused of attacking police at Maspero was found not guilty by court. The priest commented that The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.

Ramses al-Najjar, Coptic lawyer, said that police is investigating the murder of Joseph Reda, Coptic soldier who was killed in the line of duty. The lawyer accused extremists at the camp of killing Reda for a Christian tattoo of the holy virgin Mary on his arm.

Hundreds of Egyptians demonstrated next to Manshiet Nasser police station after the killing of a Coptic man in his detention. Police claimed the man committed sluiced in police station, and the matter is currently under investigation. This comes months after another Coptic man called Magdy McCain was killed in detention by policemen.

Bishop Bakhomius, former acting Patriarch, arrived to Cairo international airport after a medical trip in London. At Heathrow Airport, a number of priests and the congregation of the Coptic Orthodox Church in London to bid him farewell.