Tag: Copts

Egypt allocates land for new Cairo churches

January 29, 2015 Egypt Cairo, Churches, Copts, Egypt

Agenzia Fides reports a plot of land, the size of 2.5 acres (30 hectares), has been made available to the Coptic Patriarchate to build offices connected to the Cathedral of San Marco in Cairo. Three additional smaller plots will be allocated in other areas across the capital for the construction of . . . Read More

Libyan militants hold 20 Egyptian Christians hostage

January 26, 2015 Libya Ansar al-Sharia, Benghazi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Sirte, Tripoli

Coptic families in Upper Egypt’s Minya province await news on their kidnapped relatives in Libya, January 2015.Photo: Watani The kidnapping of at least 20 Coptic Christians in two separate incidents in December and January has been claimed by Libyan militants affiliated with the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Seven of the Christians . . . Read More

President Sisi sets a historic milestone

January 8, 2015 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Christmas, Copts, Libya

nEgyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, center, attends a Christmas Eve mass led by Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II, left, at St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District of Cairo on Jan. 6 Ahmed Gamel / AFP / Getty Images Hours before Egypt’s Coptic Christian communities gathered for their . . . Read More

Islamists kidnap 20 Egyptian Christians in Libya

January 5, 2015 Libya Copts, Egypt, Libya, Sirte

The BBC reports that 13 kidnapped Egyptian Coptic Christian workers have been freed Jan. 5; they were suspected to be abducted by Islamist militants in northern Libya around 2:30am on Jan. 3. This is the latest in a series of attacks on Egyptian Christians in Libya and occurred only a week after seven . . . Read More

Egypt increases security for Christmas

December 29, 2014 Egypt Alexandria, Christmas, Copts, Egypt

Special security plans have been developed to protect Coptic Christians during their upcoming Christmas celebration Jan. 7. According to Agenzia Fides, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim assembled a meeting Dec. 28 to discuss security, and “the plan provides for the distribution of patrols in the vicinity of places of worship and . . . Read More

Muslims condemn threats toward Egypt’s Christians

December 23, 2014 Egypt Al-Azhar, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafism

According to Fides News Agency, recognized Muslim academics from the Arab world’s most prestigious Islamic university have denounced recent threats made by extremist Islamists against Egyptian Christians. In the lead up to Christmas, celebrated on Jan. 7 by Coptic Christians, death threats and organized attacks against Christian communities have been . . . Read More

IS urges militants to target Egypt’s Copts

November 10, 2014 Egypt Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Suez

Islamic State leader Abu Musab al-Maqdisi has called on jihadists to target Egypt’s Copts and judges, saying, “Targeting, pursuing and killing them is a means to serve the cause of our chaste prisoners held by the tyrants.” Egypt’s most active Islamist militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, allegedly pledged allegiance to . . . Read More

Egyptian fire crew in no hurry to put out church fire

September 9, 2014 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt

The pounding on the door shook Mina Hanna awake. A neighbour had urgent news: Fire at the church. It was 3 a.m. on Aug. 20. Hanna and his younger brother, Ibrahim Saber, ran to their church, Mar Girgis Coptic Orthodox, in the Sharara village in the centre of Abu Qurqas, . . . Read More

4 men abducted in Libya for being Christian

August 28, 2014 Libya Copts, Egypt, Libya, Sirte, Tripoli

The Libya Herald has reported that a family of four Egyptian men, who were targeted specifically because they are Christian, was kidnapped in Libya on August 27 near Sirte. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom said they were travelling with three Muslims when they were abducted at a checkpoint . . . Read More

Egypt’s damaged churches begin to re-open

August 14, 2014 Egypt Beni Suef, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Sohag

A year after a wave of anti-Christian violence , 10 have re-opened, says the Coptic bishop overseeing church restoration. that Bishop Morcos of Shubra Al Khaimah said “the army in cooperation with some concerned companies” has restored the 10 churches, which are in the Beni Suef, Sohag and Minya governorates . . . Read More

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