Egypt's President al-Sisi Apologizes To Coptic Christians, Vows to Restore Immediately Churches Destroyed by Muslim Brotherhood
By Carlo Monzon ([email protected])
Feb 12, 2016 01:56 PM EST
Bishop-General Macarius, a Coptic Orthodox leader, walks around a burnt and damaged church in Minya, about 245 km (152 miles) south of Cairo, in August 2013. Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of its 85 million people, have coexisted with the majority Sunni Muslims for centuries. Reuters
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi apologized to the Christian citizens of Egypt for not being able to restore immediately their churches and other religious structures which were destroyed in 2013. The president, who is also a Muslim, vowed to rebuild these structures within this year.
In his statements, al-Sisi was referring to the events that took place in Egypt in 2013 after then-President Mohammed Morsi was ousted. Following his departure from office, the former president's followers, including the Muslim Brotherhood, ravaged the country and tore down churches belonging to Coptic Christians. Many people were also killed in Egypt during that time.
According to reports, over 60 Christian structures in Egypt were burned and destroyed during that time. Aside from churches, these include convents, schools and bookshops.
After al-Sisi took over as president, he promised the public that his administration will rebuild the destroyed structures. The Egyptian military has already started with the renovation projects but the president said that construction efforts will be intensified this year, Breit bart reported.
"We have taken too long to fix and renovate [churches] that were burned," he said. "This year everything will be fixed. Please accept our apologies for what happened...God willing...by next year there won't be a single church or house that is not restored."
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The events that shook the country in 2013 has incited various negative notions regarding the relationship between Christians and Muslims. However, in an effort to establish their stance against extremism in Egypt, members from the two religious groups united with the latter offering aid and protection to the latter.
"Poor Muslim families brought blankets to the Christians who lost their homes, and together we formed a civil front - not Christians against Muslims - but civil society against extremism," Bishop Thomas of the Coptic Church according to Egyptian Streets.
Aside from this, images of Muslims working together with Christians circulated online. One of these depicted a group of Muslims and Christians holding hounds around a Coptic Church.
And, even when the conflicts have ended, Muslims still continue to help Christians in establishing their religious structures. Last year, Bishop Benyamin launched a fund to build a new church for the Virgin Mary near Cairo. After Islamic leaders heard about the initiative, many of them asked their followers to donate.
- See more at: http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/62182/20160212/egypts-muslim-president-al-sisi-apologizes-to-coptic-christians-we-have-taken-too-long-to-fix-churches-that-were-burned.htm#sthash.qn4gGQih.dpuf
By Carlo Monzon ([email protected])
Feb 12, 2016 01:56 PM EST
Bishop-General Macarius, a Coptic Orthodox leader, walks around a burnt and damaged church in Minya, about 245 km (152 miles) south of Cairo, in August 2013. Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of its 85 million people, have coexisted with the majority Sunni Muslims for centuries. Reuters
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi apologized to the Christian citizens of Egypt for not being able to restore immediately their churches and other religious structures which were destroyed in 2013. The president, who is also a Muslim, vowed to rebuild these structures within this year.
In his statements, al-Sisi was referring to the events that took place in Egypt in 2013 after then-President Mohammed Morsi was ousted. Following his departure from office, the former president's followers, including the Muslim Brotherhood, ravaged the country and tore down churches belonging to Coptic Christians. Many people were also killed in Egypt during that time.
According to reports, over 60 Christian structures in Egypt were burned and destroyed during that time. Aside from churches, these include convents, schools and bookshops.
After al-Sisi took over as president, he promised the public that his administration will rebuild the destroyed structures. The Egyptian military has already started with the renovation projects but the president said that construction efforts will be intensified this year, Breit bart reported.
"We have taken too long to fix and renovate [churches] that were burned," he said. "This year everything will be fixed. Please accept our apologies for what happened...God willing...by next year there won't be a single church or house that is not restored."
Like Us on Facebook
The events that shook the country in 2013 has incited various negative notions regarding the relationship between Christians and Muslims. However, in an effort to establish their stance against extremism in Egypt, members from the two religious groups united with the latter offering aid and protection to the latter.
"Poor Muslim families brought blankets to the Christians who lost their homes, and together we formed a civil front - not Christians against Muslims - but civil society against extremism," Bishop Thomas of the Coptic Church according to Egyptian Streets.
Aside from this, images of Muslims working together with Christians circulated online. One of these depicted a group of Muslims and Christians holding hounds around a Coptic Church.
And, even when the conflicts have ended, Muslims still continue to help Christians in establishing their religious structures. Last year, Bishop Benyamin launched a fund to build a new church for the Virgin Mary near Cairo. After Islamic leaders heard about the initiative, many of them asked their followers to donate.
- See more at: http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/62182/20160212/egypts-muslim-president-al-sisi-apologizes-to-coptic-christians-we-have-taken-too-long-to-fix-churches-that-were-burned.htm#sthash.qn4gGQih.dpuf
Newsletter Is Sharia Law for all Egyptian?
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File Size: | 135 kb |
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CongraTuLates to Egypt's New Pope, Tawadros II, Coptic hOLY sYNOD, cOPTIC cHURCH AND COMMUNITY.
Letter to H.H. Pope Tawadros II, the Holy Synod and the Coptic Orthodox Church.
._pope_tawadros_ii.docx | |
File Size: | 45 kb |
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Egypt's Coptic church chooses new pope
Egypt's Coptic church chooses new pope
Pope Tawadros II picked from shortlist of 3 names drawn from
chalice
The Associated Press
Posted: Nov 4, 2012 5:27 AM ET
Last Updated: Nov 4, 2012 6:25 AM ET
Egypt's ancient Coptic Christian church chose a new pope in an elaborate
Sunday ceremony meant to invoke the will of God, in which a blindfolded boy drew
the name of the next patriarch from a crystal chalice.
Pope
Tawadros II faces challenges as Egypt's transition to democracy is marred by a
deep rift between politically powerful Islamist groups and liberal secular
groups. (Getty)
Bishop Tawadros, 59, an aide to the acting pope, was selected to become Pope
Tawadros II, replacing the charismatic Pope Shenouda III who died earlier this
year after 40 years at the helm of the church.
All three senior clerics whose names were in the chalice were considered
consensus candidates who stayed out of disputes both within the church and with
other groups.
Tawadros will assume the papacy as Egypt's Christians, estimated to make up
10 per cent of the country's 83 million people, fear for their future amid the
rise of Islamists to power in the wake of the 2011 ouster of longtime
authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
The death of Pope Shenouda III at age the of 88 this year heightened the
sense of insecurity felt by many who had known him as patriarch for all or most
of their lives.
At the televised ceremony held in the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, acting Pope
Pachomios laid the three names in clear balls inside a chalice before starting
Mass. There was a moment of silence before the drawing by the blindfolded boy,
an act believed to reflect God's will in the choice.
"We will pray that God will choose the good shepherd," Pachomios told the
packed cathedral as he sealed the chalice with red wax before laying it on the
altar during Mass.
The process of electing a new pope began weeks ago, when a committee from the
church narrowed the list of potential candidates from 17 down to five monks and
bishops.
On Monday, about 2,400 clergymen and church notables drew up a short list of
three that also included Bishop Raphael, 54, once an aide to the late Pope
Shenouda, and Father Raphael Ava Mina, the oldest among them at 70, a monk in a
monastery near Alexandria and a student of the pope who preceded Shenouda.
In addition to having stayed out of disputes with other groups, including
Islamists, the bishops were chosen only from those without a diocese to avoid
any risk of favoritism.
The papal election comes during a shift in Christian attitudes toward their
relation to the state. For years, Christians largely relied on the church to
secure protection for their rights, using Shenouda's close relationship with
Mubarak.
But Shenouda had longstanding critics within the community who asked why a
cleric should act as an intermediary between them and the state. Following the
uprising and the pope's death, more Copts have been emboldened to act outside
the church to independently demand rights, better representation and freedom of
worship.
None of the candidates attended the ceremony, and are instead praying in
their respective monasteries. The state's MENA news agency says church leaders
will head to Tawadros's retreat in the monastery complex of Wadi Natrun
northeast of Cairo to congratulate him.
Pope Tawadros II faces tremendous challenges as the country's transition to
democracy is marred by a deep rift between increasingly politically powerful
Islamist groups, from which the country's new president hails, and the liberal
and secularist groups who were initially behind the revolt that ousted Mubarak
last year.
At the center of the political squabbling in Egypt is the role of Islam in
the country's new constitution, currently being drafted. The Christians, along
with liberal and secularists, oppose demands by Islamists to increase the role
of Islamic Shariah law.
Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the state
and the country's Muslim majority. Clashes with Muslims have occasionally broken
out, often sparked by church construction, land disputes or Muslim-Christian
love affairs.
The prospects of a stronger role for Islamic law in legislation increase the
community's concern of further marginalization, or of curtailing of their rights
of worship and expression.
Late Saturday, Pachomios said during a popular TV program on the private
station al-Nahar that Christians have never held senior state posts or leading
positions such as university deans in Egypt's modern history. He also insisted
there will be no clause in the constitution allowing state monitoring of the
church's finances, a demand often made by Islamists.
© The Associated Press, 2012
Pope Tawadros II picked from shortlist of 3 names drawn from
chalice
The Associated Press
Posted: Nov 4, 2012 5:27 AM ET
Last Updated: Nov 4, 2012 6:25 AM ET
Egypt's ancient Coptic Christian church chose a new pope in an elaborate
Sunday ceremony meant to invoke the will of God, in which a blindfolded boy drew
the name of the next patriarch from a crystal chalice.
Pope
Tawadros II faces challenges as Egypt's transition to democracy is marred by a
deep rift between politically powerful Islamist groups and liberal secular
groups. (Getty)
Bishop Tawadros, 59, an aide to the acting pope, was selected to become Pope
Tawadros II, replacing the charismatic Pope Shenouda III who died earlier this
year after 40 years at the helm of the church.
All three senior clerics whose names were in the chalice were considered
consensus candidates who stayed out of disputes both within the church and with
other groups.
Tawadros will assume the papacy as Egypt's Christians, estimated to make up
10 per cent of the country's 83 million people, fear for their future amid the
rise of Islamists to power in the wake of the 2011 ouster of longtime
authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
The death of Pope Shenouda III at age the of 88 this year heightened the
sense of insecurity felt by many who had known him as patriarch for all or most
of their lives.
At the televised ceremony held in the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, acting Pope
Pachomios laid the three names in clear balls inside a chalice before starting
Mass. There was a moment of silence before the drawing by the blindfolded boy,
an act believed to reflect God's will in the choice.
"We will pray that God will choose the good shepherd," Pachomios told the
packed cathedral as he sealed the chalice with red wax before laying it on the
altar during Mass.
The process of electing a new pope began weeks ago, when a committee from the
church narrowed the list of potential candidates from 17 down to five monks and
bishops.
On Monday, about 2,400 clergymen and church notables drew up a short list of
three that also included Bishop Raphael, 54, once an aide to the late Pope
Shenouda, and Father Raphael Ava Mina, the oldest among them at 70, a monk in a
monastery near Alexandria and a student of the pope who preceded Shenouda.
In addition to having stayed out of disputes with other groups, including
Islamists, the bishops were chosen only from those without a diocese to avoid
any risk of favoritism.
The papal election comes during a shift in Christian attitudes toward their
relation to the state. For years, Christians largely relied on the church to
secure protection for their rights, using Shenouda's close relationship with
Mubarak.
But Shenouda had longstanding critics within the community who asked why a
cleric should act as an intermediary between them and the state. Following the
uprising and the pope's death, more Copts have been emboldened to act outside
the church to independently demand rights, better representation and freedom of
worship.
None of the candidates attended the ceremony, and are instead praying in
their respective monasteries. The state's MENA news agency says church leaders
will head to Tawadros's retreat in the monastery complex of Wadi Natrun
northeast of Cairo to congratulate him.
Pope Tawadros II faces tremendous challenges as the country's transition to
democracy is marred by a deep rift between increasingly politically powerful
Islamist groups, from which the country's new president hails, and the liberal
and secularist groups who were initially behind the revolt that ousted Mubarak
last year.
At the center of the political squabbling in Egypt is the role of Islam in
the country's new constitution, currently being drafted. The Christians, along
with liberal and secularists, oppose demands by Islamists to increase the role
of Islamic Shariah law.
Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the state
and the country's Muslim majority. Clashes with Muslims have occasionally broken
out, often sparked by church construction, land disputes or Muslim-Christian
love affairs.
The prospects of a stronger role for Islamic law in legislation increase the
community's concern of further marginalization, or of curtailing of their rights
of worship and expression.
Late Saturday, Pachomios said during a popular TV program on the private
station al-Nahar that Christians have never held senior state posts or leading
positions such as university deans in Egypt's modern history. He also insisted
there will be no clause in the constitution allowing state monitoring of the
church's finances, a demand often made by Islamists.
© The Associated Press, 2012