Coptic Orthodox Church
Of St Mary & St Demiana
4-5 The Pines, Herbert Road, Bray
Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Tel. +353 1 28 66809
Email:
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Invitation to an Evening of Prayer
"I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the
Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried
with a loud voice saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You
judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on this earth?'’
(Revelation 6:9-10)
The Irish Coptic communities in Ireland
cordially invite you to join us in an evening of
prayer in commemoration of the Coptic victims
who died in the latest attack on Christians in
Egypt in January 2010.
Place: The Coptic Orthodox Church of St Mary and St
Demiana, 4-5 The Pines, Herbert Road, Bray,
Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Date & Time: Monday 15 Feb 2010, 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm
Refreshments will be served after the prayer.
Your prayers and support are much-needed.
We look forward to welcoming you
"Egypt resembles an iceberg," the late Coptic-Egyptian writer Louis Awad once wrote. "One-eighth is above sea level. Seven-eighths are submerged in the depths. One-eighth of our lives takes place in the light of the 20th century, seven-eighths in medieval darkness."
There is no surer measure of Egypt's transforming identity over the last half century than its treatment of its Coptic Christian minority, which comprises about 10 percent of the country's 80 million citizens. As Egypt becomes less Arab and more Islamic, removing itself ever farther from former president Gamal Abdel Nasser's brand of left-leaning secular nationalism (not to speak of the liberal cosmopolitanism that prevailed from the 1920s through the revolution of 1952), the latest signs from the banks of the Nile are anything but auspicious.
Cairo (AINA) -- In an interview with BBC Arabic on January 31, 2010, Dr. Fathi Sourour, speaker of the People's Assembly (parliament) said that the Nag Hammadi shooting of Christians on Christmas Eve was a single criminal act, with no sectarian dimensions, prompted by the "death" of a Muslim girl as a result of being raped by a Copt (video).
12-year-old Yusra Abdelwahab, who was allegedly raped on November 18, 2009 in Farshout, is alive and due to appear in court in Qena on February 17, as requested by her own lawyer on January 19, 2010. This fact was confirmed today by Ashraf Edward, defense attorney of Girgis Baroumi, the Christian Copt who allegedly raped Yusra (AINA 1-28-2010).
Copts were shocked and angered by this statement which they consider to be another lie propagated by the government to trigger another wave of Muslim attacks against them. Some have called on Mr. Sourour to resign, as a "lying head of parliament is a blow to Egypt's image," while others have called for bringing Fathi Sourour to justice for inciting to sedition.
NAG HAMMADI, Egypt — State security agents wearing black uniforms
and armed with automatic weapons stood guard at the entrance to this
small city. Armored personnel carriers and rows of boxy troop carriers
parked along the main road. Local police officers and the secret police
patrolled nearly every block, on foot and in vans.
A damaged home in the village of Bahjora, near Luxor. Riots and clashes followed a church attack last month.
A police officer guarded a church in Nag Hammadi. Three weeks ago, a
Muslim gunman opened fire on worshipers as they walked out of church,
killing 7.
People were scared, and the
police were edgy. “We want you to leave; you must have special
permission to be here,” Gen. Mahmoud Gohar, head of security for the
region, said as he slapped his hands together and demanded that
reporters leave town, immediately.
In light of what happened in Naga Hammady, where Copts were brutally attacked on Christmas Eve; and due to the fact that there is enough evidence that shows members of the National Democratic Party, National Security, and the ruling regime were complicit in both this attack and other previous attacks including recently in Farshoot, Dmas Meet Ghamr, Al-Tayeba, Dayrout, Minya, Abu Tasht, Dier Mawas, and Alexandria; our organizations hereby call for the following:
For all the Copts in Egypt to reject President Mubarak and all other National Democratic Party and Muslim Brothers candidates in the upcoming elections.
We strongly reject the policy of 2 candidates that has been manufactured by the Egyptian government, whereby the only options are the National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brothers. Therefore, we demand that, in order to reach true democracy, all opposition parties be allowed to operate freely.
The drive-by shooting of Coptic Christians by extremist Muslims after celebrating the Orthodox Christmas Eve midnight Mass in the southern town of Nagaa Hammadi on January 6, causing the killing of 6 and wounding of 9, (AINA 1-7-2010) was condemned by public opinion worldwide.
To contain the damage of tarnishing the "image" of Egypt and to minimize the repercussions of the massacre, government spin doctors tried to condition public opinion into believing and accepting the scenario set out by State Security that the killing was "criminal and individual" rather than a "sectarian" affair.
