We are blessed to have been working in Egypt for more than a year, in cooperation with our partner charity, SOS Chrétiens. Once more demonstrating our commitment to ecumenism, helping all Christians stay in the Middle East in their ancient homelands, we are working in Egypt principally with members of the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Copts are the ancient Christians of Egypt, with the Church in Alexandria having been founded by St. Mark the Evangelist.
The Copts are rightly proud of their heritage, and, since the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, have been a significantly persecuted Church, with periods of tolerance and other times of intense persecution.
Christians, and Copts in particular, are regularly attacked, with the last famous attacks happening in December, 2016, and Palm Sunday in 2017, killing many believers (see plaque). The martyrs of Libya, all martyred by ISIS in 2015, were all Coptic Christians. While the current time is a period of relative tolerance, Copts are still regularly the subjects of discrimination and harassment, and women and girls in particular, face both attacks and kidnapping.
According to government figures, Copts make up around 10-15% of the citizens of Egypt, and are the largest group of Christians in the Middle East. The Copts dispute these figures, claiming to be at least 20% of the population. Obviously it is in the government's interest to have a smaller figure, because otherwise they would be forced to deal more effectively with discrimination.
It is a vibrant Church, with deep faith and devotion.
More details to come... Pics include:
~Aubert (SOS Chrétiens coordinator), Abouna Raphael (runs the Zawaida woodworking shop), and the SOS volunteers
~The Martyrs Church and plaque commemorating those who were murdered in 2016
~Fr. Ben and Abouna Abinadeb who runs our plastic bag project