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.

The local government system was established in October 1960, where the governors took their offices and were usually chosen from the judiciary, the army, the police, and university professors. I believe the governor s job is different from the minister s since the governor is more of a mayor of the region. In Europe, governors are called mayors, and therefore, they are supposed to work in the streets and meet with the people to know their needs and fulfill them. During the days of the royal system mayors were elected in the villages by the rich people. The rest of the people had to wait the results and deal with it. After the revolution of July 23, the system changed and each person has the right to vote in the elections to choose the mayor. Soon, the mayors were appointed instead of being elected. Maybe in order to avoid disputes and even murder crimes accompanying the election process! However, the vote system remains the best even if it has a number of defects. Thus, I call to return the election system for governors and mayors.

Once again and crazy police man killed 2 copts in front of the church and in front of the people without any mercy on them or their families . It seems for me that the interior ministry hires only the crazy people and put them to guard the church so they can practice their craziness against the Christian in Egypt.

Once again and crazy police man killed 2 copts in front of the church and in front of the people without any mercy on them or their families . It seems for me that the interior ministry hires only the crazy people and put them to guard the church so they can practice their craziness against the Christian in Egypt. Unfortunately, we became read and digest this kind of news as something normal to happen to the Coptic and to the Christian of Egypt, not only that but also another security guard threaten a Christian woman and wishing Christian to meet someone to bomb them and bomb the church. To that extent Copts and Christian in Egypt became an easy aim to all fanatic people in Egypt which are a lot now days. In conclusion, it s the right time to admit that the social peace will not come only from the top of the pyramids but has to come from the bottom as well and without that we will continue to see a fire in the future.

As the Christmas celebrations approach, many fanatics used to raise questions in Egypt about the possibility of congratulating the infidels on their feasts. The answers varies between yes and no, and some people follow this approach or the other. However, as Egypt is supposed to move forward towards a civil state, some policemen decided to prove fanaticism and hatred is deeply rooted in their system and souls. Therefore, we found policeman wishes a Coptic woman a terrorist attack on her church in order to gloat over their grief! Later, a policeman used his weapon to kill a Coptic father and his son after they had disagreement the day before. It is worth mentioning that this is the very first time in which a policeman assigned to secure a church in Egypt uses his weapon. Yet, it was to kill Copts and not to protect them! The good thing is that the two policemen are currently being investigated on what they did or said. However, they should be punished along with all who decide to express their hatred and say Merry Christmas on their ugly own way.

Egypt has moved from a state of security collusion with terrorists to facilitate the task of killing the Christians in what we call the safe country . This mission was too hard for previous regimes. Unarmed policeman enters a church without weapon to declare the worshippers are infidels, then policemen prevent food from reaching monks at St. Samuel monastery in the desert after travelers and visitors were prevented. Maybe they decided to make its monks hungry till they abandon it forever. The investigations in the above mentioned cases were unrevealed before the public till they totally forgot about the case.

In the wake of the sad incident in which a policeman assigned to guard the Church of the Holy Renaissance in Minya province, opened fire on a Coptic contractor and his son, there were many comments on social media including one that surprised me. The comment suggested the replacement of government guard of the churches by private escorts from security companies to ease the burden on the state and avoid the obsession of security personnel. Such suggestion may have came based on good intentions, but I refused it for several reasons. First, the Church is an Egyptian national institution, and the state is entrusted with guarding and protecting its people through the Egyptian police and the national security apparatuses. Second, the suggestion to replace the government guard with private escorts from security companies reflects a completely inappropriate sectarian classification. We all know that there are those who hold radical and extremist ideologies from various professions and trades, including private security companies. Third: As for relieving the burden on the state, it is the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens and churches, especially under the war on terror.On the other hand, it is impossible to provide guards from the private security companies of all churches in all governorates of Egypt, especially in the nights of holidays, where millions of Christians pray and celebrate holidays throughout the country. Above all, the budgets of churches that rely on donations can not cover the expense of private security.

In the past five years, I have written two studies and more than 50 articles on Minya, where media denounce dozens of terrorist and sectarian attack soon before they are forgotten. However, these attacks escalated till two terrorist attacks targeted the Christians near St. Samuel monastery and a corrupt police officer killed two unarmed Copts, a father and a son. Muslims and Christians denounced the unprecedented attacks and showed sympathy with them. Many people describe Minya as governorate of terrorism and extremism, but in fact it is the city of contradictions. It looks very modern from outside, but from inside it looks like Kabul.