The Holy Fathers lived a life of pleasure in the Lord, enjoying the divine grace. Their trust in the Lord and the hope in Him were limitless for they have put their trust in the Lord.Yet, how can we get like them to enjoy ourselves in the Lord? His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in his sermon entitled ‘Delight in the Lord’ explains to us examples of biblical characters who delighted themselves in the Lord like Father Abraham who was an example of relying on the Lord in everything. Thus, he believed in the promise of the Lord that he will get a son in his old age. He believed that man should ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding’ (Proverbs 3: 5)

For a long time, through my writings, meetings and media interviews I have expressed my surprise and anger over the expression moderate Christianity by those who defend coexistence just like they demand moderate Islam. This shows that clergy are using form of politicization of religion and apply non-spiritual names and descriptions to their faiths. They try to show that each sect has its own moderate form that gives different models of religion! Thus, the fixed elements of religion should stay the same even when time changes. With the increasing frequency of waves of extremism all over the world, the misuse of verses leads to political plots by evil organizations. We should remember here the words of French President Francois Hollande at the Conference on Democracy in the Face of Terrorism and his assertion. He said that we all must fight against extremism and terrorism and seek creating (French Islam). The French have different religions and races, but received the same rights and duties. The French model is threatened, and the social model has to be fixed. This social model was not considered by president Sadat when he said he is a Muslim president of a Muslim country. He should rather declared he is an Egyptian president of all Egyptians.

In January 2016 Al-Zaher, the former governor of Alexandria promised that Alexandria would witness an international celebration next year. However, the governor left soon before he applies his creative idea to restore the days when Epiphany was a national holiday celebrated by all Egyptians. Epiphany is one of the greatest festivals in the Coptic Church when Jesus Christ revealed his divinity according to the Christian faith celebrated in Egypt on the eleventh of the Coptic month of Tuba. It is one of the feasts that are celebrated at night since Christmas and Epiphany were celebrated together at the first centuries, but were separated later and kept their time of celebration according to Bishop Benjamin of Monofia.

The last attack from the extremists on the priests and Copts in Minya showed with no doubts that we are living in a chaos and in absence of law. Not only Copts can t find a place to pray but also Salafists and sheikhs attack them because they pray on an empty place or they pray in their church. Unfortunately, the governor of Minya and the state security can t control the extremists because they like what they do and they agree on it. In fact, we have repeated many times that the situation in Egypt will not change and this is simply because extremists Muslims believe that they are above any law. In conclusion, if Egypt didn t change the culture and education methods in Schools and mosques to teach people to accept other and be tolerant, the situation is going to get worse especially for Copts.

For the first time, the Egyptian government come out to comment on church attack by fanatics. This time, the government denied the existence of 3 churches that were claimed to be closed by the Copts. I was surprised to know that the three churches were not included on lists of legalization, which raises even more questions about why they were not included!

Following the scandal of Zafarana village in Minya, where hundreds of extremists supported by certain agencies or parties prevented some people from holding their prayers. According to article 46 of the Egyptian constitution, many people tired to condemn the victims including bishop Makarious of Minya. Their cheap attempts was supported by an anchor and a statement of the Evangelical Church. Yet, we shouldn t forget about the freedom of worship. This reminded me of what was written by Magdi Mehanna in the site of the civilized dialogue: (The friend Sulaiman Shafiq talks about the liturgy of the protest led by Abba Makarios in the face of the repeated attacks on the Coptic citizens, just for being Copts! The liturgy is worship and prayer, and when they are an expression of protest or objection, we are faced with a work that connects the daily reality with faith and belief, which gives faith its momentum and meaning. The reality is the mirror of faith. It is not strange that Bishop Makarious calls for prayer in protest of the wrong situation supported by the state that allows the criminal to escape even if he is a murderer. This is permitted as long as the victim belongs to the minority!) The truth is that the inability of the Church Building Law to solve the problem has made the Copts in the villages pray in very small houses like Zafarana, or even in the streets like Forn village in Minya. They also had to held funerals in the streets like Dimshaw Hashim. Here I introduced the concept of Liturgical Protest where people protest by praying which appeared years ago in Latin America. Pope Shenoda started it in Egypt when he decided to lock himself in a cell at the monastery. Bihsop Makarious has taken it to the next level when he invited thousands of angry youth to pray to God in a gathering after the murder of Coptic man and his son by policeman. It doesn t make sense that the law is applied only on certain people, but in case of insulting Christianity it disappears! Moreover, the law of building churches should be fixed by adding an article to license churches. Those who issued the bad statement of the Evangelical Church should realize that they caused great damage to their credibility. I salute Bishop Makarious and all Christians who rejected the statement of division. I also salute the people of Zafarana village both Muslims and Christians who will understand that people always have the right to pray. Moreover, the state has to revise its views and methods.

I do not prefer to write about religious matter, but today I am writing about Bishop Makarious of Minya and Abu Qurqas as national clergy. In recent years, the frequency of sectarian events increased in the province of Minya against churches and the Copts and the scenario is repeated each time. The Egyptian politicians and intellectuals are asking: why the state is leaving Minya this way though it is able to deal with it. The regime doesn t answer and some fans of it try to give answers like: It is bad heritage of extremism and others blame the church for not having the proper license or the state is waiting for the right time!

We, the Egyptians, celebrated Christmas this year and were very happy to receive a special gift from the president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, which is the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East in the new administrative capital. Moreove,r it was opened at the same day with the mosque of Fattah Aliem. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar visited the Cathedral and the mosque was visited by Pope Tawadros. Furthermore, president has delivered a speech in which he denounced violence and sectarian attacks and supported equal citizenship. Such great picture was aired by international media and we were proud to hear the president assuring the right to freedom of worship and defending equal citizenship among all. However, we realized that we will never get rid of extremism so fast just by building a mosque and a church!

The US president Trump went into a fight with Nancy Polsi defending his promise to build a wall between US and Mexico. Trump withdrew from the meeting because Nancy Polsi was clear that she will not allow this wall to be built. In fact this wall will determine to a great extent the winner of the next presidential election that’s why we expect to see a lot of tension between the democrats and the republican because of that. From my opinion Trump will win to build the wall and will force that democrats to agree to his plan and accordingly he might win the next presidential election. In conclusion, with the winning of the trade war with China and building the wall between US and Mexico, there is no doubt that Trump will be the next US President.

Egypt was expected recently to be ranked 7th among the world s top 10 economies by 2030. The report, published by Bloomberg, predicted that the Egyptian economy, in terms of its expected size of about $8.2 trillion, would be ahead of Russia, Japan, and Germany. At the same time, the World Bank predicted a growth rate of 1.9 percent in the Middle East and North Africa region, stressing that Egypt is one of the most important countries in the region, which will witness a growth rate in 2019 of 5.6 percent, driven by the economic reforms, increased investment and high private consumption rates.

The words of His Grace the great Imam Dr. Ahmed Tayeb Sheikh of Al-Azhar very precious during the speech he has delivered at the opening of the New Cathedral of the New Administrative Capital. He assured that there is nothing in Islamic Sharia that prevents building new churches and the majority of churches in Egypt were built under Muslim rulers. We thank him for what he said since he represents 1.5 billion Muslim people. However, we don t accept what he said that Islamic state is the guarantee for all churches. In fact, we live under a civil state and I wanted to hear from him that the Egyptian state is the guarantee and the protector for all churches and mosques. The state of citizenship can not restrain to a specific religion to protect the other religion. In that case, we are trying to return the Copts to be Dhimis under the protection of Islamic Caliphate. Such words give him the power of giving and preventing at the same time, which contradicts with the modern understanding of a civil state.

Paramone is the day before Christmas and it is the day when we get ready to receive the Lord born after the journey of the fasting and the month of Koiak praises. Our hearts turn towards the small city of Bethlehem, where we receive our gift of salvation and the registration of our names in the kingdom of heavens. We follow the star to reach the child of our life, joy and salvation. We join the shepherds and the heavenly soldiers and the gifts of kingship, priesthood and pain. We find the sacrifice of the whole world amidst the lambs. Thus, we worship and offer our souls to lift and fix them. Today we are witness the greatest birth in history for a virgin, a mother and a holy spirit. We meet with angels and listen to praises that accompanied the birth of the only son who came in the fullness of time and incarnated to save human beings. He led us to salvation and carried the cross to complete this salvation. His light shine upon our faces. What a miraculous birth and wondrous day.

Everyone now is talking about the recession that might happen in 2019, refereeing that the downside of the stock market along with the trade war with China will lead to that recession in the near future. According to Wikipedia, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general slowdown in economic activity. Macroeconomic indicators such as GDP (gross domestic product), investment spending, capacity utilization, household income, business profits, and inflation fall, while bankruptcies and the unemployment rate rise. In the United Kingdom, it is defined as a negative economic growth for two consecutive quarters.

Today, six people were killed in railway accident in Denmark, and France has been facing violent demonstrations for weeks. We don t consider such news in Egypt and may think we are the only country that faces similar incidents and accidents. But clearly we are not! I believe all countries have their own problems and challenges. Yet, our biggest strength point has become our week point; I mean our core belief in religion.

Paramone is the day before Christmas and it is the day when we get ready to receive the Lord born after the journey of the fasting and the month of Koiak praises. Our hearts turn towards the small city of Bethlehem, where we receive our gift of salvation and the registration of our names in the kingdom of heavens. We follow the star to reach the child of our life, joy and salvation. We join the shepherds and the heavenly soldiers and the gifts of kingship, priesthood and pain. We find the sacrifice of the whole world amidst the lambs. Thus, we worship and offer our souls to lift and fix them.

Copts are the modern pharos who have participated in all aspects of life since the Arab arrival in Egypt. They excelled in financial management and therefore were responsible for ministry of finance in many cases and joined all revolutions in Egypt including the very recent ones in Egypt in January 25, 2011 and June 30, 2013 to claim their rights in a modern civil state. By the end of 2018, we find that the law o building churches was not albe to stop all sectarian attacks on Christians and many of them are still praying in tents! For that reason, President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi decided to establish the Supreme Committee to Encounter Sectarian Incidents in December 30, 2018.

Eight years have passed since the departure of Engineer Adly Abadir Youssef, and by time we discover how huge was our loss for his departure. This noble national man supported the Coptic cause in Egypt by all his heart since he had a rare personality. Those who knew the man understand my words very well as he was the only Coptic immigrant who spent his own money and time to serve Egypt s Copts inside Egypt and abroad. One of his prominent achievements is Copts United news website.

I followed the ex-president Mubarak testimony about what happened since Jan 25, 2011 and after that time. Unfortunately, Mubarak testimony showed a lot of contradiction on what he has mentioned about the Muslim Brotherhood and its role in the chaos happened in breaking through a lot of prison that time. Mubarak keep focusing on one story and it seems he doesn t remember anything else or he wasn t aware of what happened at that time. Mubarak keeps mentioning about that there are 800 militant breaks through the border and attacked the prisons in Rafah, Al arish and Sheikh Zoyad”.

Despite the growing popularity of celebrating Christmas among our beloved Muslim friends, and as Christmas trees are decorating Egyptian squares by Muslim and Christen youth, there are hateful speeches that warns against such celebrations and even scare children against Santa. I have tried hard to calm a child in the streets who was screaming and at the end we discovered that he was scared of Santa who would kidnap and kill him!

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is an important message by God to man. It represents the true discipleship based on love. The work of the bishop is derived from this service of Jesus Christ, which is based on advancement and teaching. His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in his article “The work of the bishop" explained four titles characterized by the Lord Jesus that can mark the work of the bishop. “A loving shepherd”: Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who showed love to Zacchaeus, the chief tax-collector, and the sinner woman. Thus, the bishop should be full of love to everyone and his heart is open to everyone. The Bishop should also be a good teacher, as the Lord Jesus was.

On the occasion of Christmas and New Year, I invite you to offer your gifts to the Baby born in order to participate in that great event. Let’s visit Christ, take care of Him, feed Him, give Him clothes, host Him, and honor Him. Our gift is not just part of the annual traditional celebrations, but are gifts of mercy and giving to the poor and the needy. They are gifts to the expelled, patients, wronged, imprisoned and those who are left behind. Those were called by Jesus Christ His little brothers.