I was glad to hear news about the ordination of a new Coptic priest for the ministry in Hong Kong, which proves the church is extending and reaching new places around the world. However, everywhere we travel around the world we can find Coptic churches, but its services are almost limited to the Coptic congregation. I believe this is about to change with the new churches and priests all over the world. The Coptic Church is a very old one and has many unique characteristics, but evangelism is not clearly one of them. This started many years ago with the persecution of the church and due to several political reasons. Yet, we should always remember the words of Jesus Christ to his disciples saying: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mathew 28: 19)

In his weekly sermon, Pope Tawadros II described the Coptic Church as the mother of martyrs since it has already offered many of them throughout history including the very recent ones at St. Samuel monastery where terrorist shot at least 7 people dead and wounded 20. Pope said that that unity of the Egyptians is the most precious element they have and such terrorist attacks shouldn t change that. The interior minister visited Pope Tawadros after the attack to offer his condolences for the victims of the terrorist attack at St. Samuel monastery, which is the second in two years at the same area and using the same technique! Such visit was followed by similar ones including the Prime Minister and head of the Egyptian Parliament.

As Abba Antonius, Metropolitan of Jerusalem called the whole world to support the Coptic Church in claiming its right in the Coptic monastery of Deir El-Sultan in Jerusalem, many people responded by demonstrating and publishing. However, if we blame the Israeli occupation for seizing the rights of the Copts for political reasons and for attacking peaceful monks, we should also remember our Ethiopian brothers who were received as guests and were turned into occupiers over time. The Ethiopian Church was administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria from the first half of the 4th century until 1959, when it was granted its own patriarch by Cyril VI, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, but now its monks are seizing a Coptic monastery and refusing to return it back!

Forces of Israeli occupation didn t hesitate to attack a number of peaceful monks at the Coptic monastery of Deir El-Sultan in Jerusalem and arrested one of them before he was released later. The members of the Deir El-Sultan clergy had been peacefully sitting-in to protest an Israeli move to forcibly seize the monastery which is located within the walls of the Old City of East Jerusalem.. The importance of the Monastery of the Sultan to the Copts is that it is their direct route from the Monastery of St. Anthony to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This monastery is the seat of the Egyptian Patriarchate and the Coptic Church in Jerusalem. The occupation forces took over the monastery without right and gave it to the Ethiopian Church on 25 April 1970. Ever since, the Egyptian Church has been doing its best to recover it. Ownership of the monastery has been always to the Coptic orthodox church that had all the documents to prove so, and had a decision of the high Israeli court which said that the monastery known by the locals as Deir al sultan must back to the hand of the Coptic church the soley owner of it.

This week, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi returned home following an official visit to Russia during which he held talks with his Russian counterpart Valdimir Putin on several regional issues and signed a comprehensive partnership agreement between the two countries. They announced their determination to boost bilateral cooperation in the economic, industrial, investment, educational and cultural fields with the aim of elevating bilateral relations to new heights. During his visit, president al-Sisi stressed the importance of finding ways of boosting bilateral economic ties. This appeared in his meetings with the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and in his speech before Russia s Federation Council.

For years, killers and persecutors of the Copts used to receive no punishment for their crimes. They were called unknown or insane before they are acquitted and this had greatly encouraged other extremists and criminals to repeat attacking them. Yesterday, seventeen people have been sentenced to death by an Egyptian military court over their involvement in bomb attacks on Coptic Christian churches.

Coptic social media was grieving over the death of a young Coptic anchor Noha Adly who was killed by Cancer. The lady was quite polite and prominent in Aghapy channel and was known as the daughter of Pope Shenouda III. Other news about the death of a monk from St. Makkar monastery called Father Zinon al-Maqari was suspicious and initial investigations said he might have committed suicide to be named by media the second monk from the same monastery to commit suicide in one month. The incident brought the woes of one of the world s oldest churches back under the spotlight couple of weeks after head of his monastery was killed.

As many people denounced the call of Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, to Copts in America to welcome president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and support him during his upcoming visit to the states, an Egyptian newspaper published a letter by the late Pope Shenouda III, in which he calls Copts in America to welcome present Hosni Mubarak in the states in 1985. such call could be considered a national call with a political touch. Therefore, many people may don t like such political role for the Coptic church. Yet, it should be understood in its context and its goal should be supporting Egypt abroad.

Once again, the Egyptians celebrated two feasts at the same day. One feast for the Muslims and the other for the Christians. Adha feast coincided this year with the feast of The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Copts and Muslims in Egypt may have several differences in belief, but every now and then feasts come together to assure the unity of the people. Not only the feasts unite the Egyptians, but also problems and even calamites that they suffer from without differentiation based on religion. I wish all Egyptians realize that religion is a relationship with God, while the homeland is a relationship with other Egyptians.

As the Coptic Church was working on a heavy spiritual schedule during the fast of the St. Mary, it received news that made their hearts heavy as well. News about a murderer monk was assured and fears of the Coptic congregation that murderer of the bishop will be found among the monks of St. Makar monastery became a reality. The crime came at a very critical time, which is one of the most reverend fasts in the Coptic Church; the fast of St. Mary. At the same time, a dispute comes about a group called protectors of the faith led by Abba Aghathon, Bishop of Maghagha, that don t like decisions of the Pope especially related to unity between Catholic and Orthodox churches. I think Pope Tawadros II is getting one of his hardest times and we should pray that God may support him in that time to be given heavenly wisdom and grace.

Copts sadly received the news about the killing of Bishop Epiphanius, head of St. Makar monastery. It was even harder for them to know that he was killed in front of his cell in his monastery. People were terrified that investigations may lead that a monk is the murderer. Houses of worship are indeed holy places that should be full of love and peace, but the fact is that they are like hospitals that are full of patinas and even the doctors can get sick.

When a Muslim man attacks Christians in a church or even on the streets using a white weapon, he is described as mentally ill. And when a Christian man shares an insulting post to Islam on social media, he is described as naïve and ignorant who don’t know how to use smart phones. Yet, in both cases the Copts pay an extra price just for being Christians! The same scenario was repeated this time in Menbal village, Minya province where a Young Coptic man was arrested on charges of insulting Prophet Mohamed and Islam by sharing in appropriate post on social media. Soon, fanatics of the village had gathered and attacked houses of the Copts in the village to punish them and express their anger at the unforgettable insult for Islam!

As Father Makary Younan, the prominent Coptic priest, received a question about the second coming of Lord Jesus Christ, he said we are seeing more and more signs which prove it is at hand. He connected the transfer of the American Embassy to Jerusalem and the talk about building the temple of Solomon. Furthermore, he said that the mark of the beast He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13: 16)

Jesus Christ had a discussion with the Pharisees to convince them that doing good should not be limited to certain time. He told them that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath since they thought they should do nothing on the Sabbath. I remembered this as the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end since it is considered a season for doing good in Egypt. Doing good should not be limited by a time or place. Jesus Christ said that we have the poor with us always (Matthew 26: 11) and we can do them good whenever we want.

As several churches are targeted by fanatics, Christian houses that contain churches as well are targeted to the church in your house (Philemon 1). Many Coptic Christian women are disappearing and after a little while they are declared newly converted Muslims. Thus, many people are talking about Islamization gangs of Christian girls and women. Such talk is not new, but what can such gangs benefit from what they do? First of all, they are expecting huge heavenly reward in Paradise according to their beliefs. Moreover, such reward is accompanied by a lot of money as a reward for their excellent job.

As Muslims in Egypt are fasting during the Holy Month of Ramadan, Coptic Christians are getting ready to fast the apostles fasting. It is great that Egyptians realize they have too many things in common. Yet, many people insist on exposing and increasing the differences. One of those people who want to concentrate on the differences and even ignite them and turn them into disputes and hatred is Dr. Rabie Anwar Fateh al-Bab, Professor of Constitutional Law and Undersecretary of the Faculty of Law, University of Ain Shams, who insulted Christianity and the church in his book at the university and ordered the student to repeat the same insults while answering the exams will indeed fail.

Today is the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, which is celebrated by Muslims worldwide, but in Egypt is celebrated by both Muslims and Christians. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad according to Islamic belief. This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The month lasts 29–30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon, according to numerous biographical accounts compiled in the hadiths.

It was a nice coincidence that couple of days after I decided to pay respect to donkeys that the whole world decided to do the same thing by celebrating a world day for donkeys. This is the first time I hear about this celebration. World Donkey Day celebrations were held for the first time in Egypt on May 8th, 2017 where many people starting to call for decent treatment for such nice animals.

Though they are very important for the Egyptians, donkeys never receive the due respect in Egypt. They are known for being hard working, and thus, we call the hard working people donkey-like-worker but even this idiom has become more of an insult to the hard working people. Being important and hardworking was not enough for the Egyptian culture to preserve the dignity of the donkeys. Many times do the donkey owners hit them and describe them as idiots and many times they are slaughtered to end their miserable life as false beef meals.

Couple of days ago, the Egyptian Parliament passed a legislation banning cultivation of crops that require high volumes of water, as concerns increase that the upstream Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will negatively impact water flow for agriculture in Egypt. And today, Egypt was flooded by unexpected rain that its streets couldn t take and police were forced to shut down the highway for several hours. The unexpected heavy rain reminded me of the weather in some European and American cities, especially as it should be summer at that time of the year in Egypt. I know that such rain wouldn t solve our problems with the Ethiopian dam or the decrease of water; however, it may reveal other solutions and should prove that heavens have more solutions than we think.

I got this link from a friend and it was full of inspirations. It was a video by former US president Barak Obama talking about Obama Foundation Scholars Program for Emerging Leaders from Around the World. The program offers Master of Arts degree at Harris School of Public Policy. Moreover, the Obama Foundation-led activities will give leaders the tools and training to make a positive impact in their communities.