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Minya (Agenzia Fides) - An appeal to ask the police to enforce the law protecting citizens from any sectarian discrimination was launched yesterday by Anba Makarius, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of Minya, after the series of incidents which in recent weeks have again recorded a sharp rise in cases of violence suffered particularly by Egyptian Christians. Now – highlighted Coptic Orthodox Archbishop - such violent attacks from the assault on homes to targeted kidnappings for ransom, are continuing at an average of one every ten days. In recent times the assault on homes of Christian families perpetrated in the village of...

LAPORTE, Ind., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- C. Jack Trickler presents a clear and accessible study of the people who wrote the books of the Bible, their motivations and the historical, political and social settings in which they wrote in his new book, "A Layman's Guide to Who Wrote the Books of the Bible?" (now available through AuthorHouse). Trickler discusses his own theories, as well as those of other religious scholars, to offer a thorough, well-researched argument. "When you get into the Bible, you see enough evidence that the Bible was written by humans that you have to say, 'Well, who...

In the video, the Egyptian Christian teens laugh playfully as a couple of them kneel down, imitating Muslim prayers, then another slides his hand under one boy’s neck, imitating the trademark beheadings of the Islamic State group. The boys were playing around, satirizing the extremist group, and their school supervisor just happened to be videoing them, their defenders say. The result has been catastrophic: they were sentenced to prison under Egypt’s blasphemy laws — they were mocking Muslim prayers, prosecutors said — and have fled into hiding, leaving behind shattered families. […] … Two years ago, the military ousted the...

"I am proud of my father--not just for my own sake, but because he has honored the whole Church. He did not deny his faith. That is something wonderful. We pray for the perpetrators, that they may be converted." CAIRO—The gruesome images of the 21 Christians who were beheaded in last February by Islamic State terrorists have left a deep imprint on the memory of Christian Egyptians. Now a new church dedicated to the martyrs—who are formally recognized as such by Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church—will honor their memory in a tangible fashion: this week—after a long delay—work began on laying...

In the coming days, construction will commence on a new church in Egypt dedicated to the martyred Coptic Christians beheaded by the Islamic State in Libya in February.The new church, bearing the name “Church of the Libyan Martyrs,” will be built in the Minya Governorate, south of the capital, Cairo. The church will cost $1.3 million, half of which has already been raised.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted permission for the construction of the church last February after Islamic State militants murdered 21 Coptic Christians on a Libyan beach.According to Father Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Egypt,...

Work will begin in the coming days in Minya on a church that was planned to honour the deaths of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians who died in a brutal sectarian attack by militants in Libya earlier this year. Plans and licences for the ‘Church of the Martyrs’ have been finalised to begin the work, head of the Samalout municipality in Minya said, as reported by MENA state news. Major General Gamal Mubaral Qinawy confirmed that the church will be built in the village of Al-Awar, in the district of Samalout. Qinawy said that work on the construction of the church...

A star student in Egypt was fails all seven of her exams, without scoring a single mark. A star student in Egypt was shocked to discover she has failed all seven of her exams, without scoring a single mark. Mariam Malak who had aspirations to go to medical school, had scored high marks in previous exams in that past few years. Malak and her family believe she is a victim of corruption in the Egyptian education system, it has been reported. "I was completely shocked. I couldn't hear anyone, I couldn't speak. I thought how can that happen? How can...

Imagine ISIS kidnapped a relative of yours and then you see their brutal beheading on television. Many different emotions can take over, including anger, grief, and depression. CBN News found a group of Egyptian Christians, however, who responded much differently. They are happy their family members stood firm in their faith. Widow Mariam Farhat told us she "was very proud" that her husband "stood firm in his faith and that he didn't deny Jesus." That surprising reaction is happening 150 miles south of Cairo, in the village of Al Aour. Residents there honor the sacrifice of 21 Egyptians brutally murdered...

In a 25-minute interview on Arabic satellite TV with Dr. Mona Roman, Coptic Christian Bishop Agathon fully exposed the plight of his Christian flock in Minya, Egypt—a region that has a large Coptic minority that is steadily under attack.

An Egyptian court has sentenced 71 people to life in prison for their role in the August 2013 burning of a Christian church in the Giza province village of Kafr Hakim, state news reports. The Virgin Mary Church was torched and looted by a mob, some of whom chanted against Coptic Christians and called for Egypt to become an "Islamic state," one of at least 42 churches and many more businesses and homes targeted that August, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch reports. Others attacked included St. George Church in Sohag, a city south of Cairo on the Nile River,...

The 'Gospel of Judas' 4/6/2006 Interview With Father Thomas Williams, Theology Dean ROME, APRIL 6, 2006 (Zenit) - The National Geographic Society has announced its intentions to publish an English translation of an ancient text called "The Gospel of Judas" later this month. The 31-page manuscript, written in Coptic, purportedly surfaced in Geneva in 1983 and has only been translated now. We asked Legionary Father Thomas D. Williams, dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome, to comment on the relevance of the discovery. Q: What is the "Gospel of Judas"? Father Williams: Though the manuscript still must...

The recent beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian workers in Libya by Islamic State (IS) affiliates prompted a conversation with Joseph Hakim, President of the International Christian Union (ICU), an umbrella organization that seeks to secure the wellbeing and survival of Middle Eastern Christians. Hakim is a Lebanese-born Orthodox Christian and a proud American.

I am sure that all of our readers are aware of the recent massacre in Libya of a group of Egyptian Copts, who were killed for their faith by Islamic terrorists. The Patriarch of Alexandria, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, has officially recognized them as martyrs, and ordered that their commemoration be inserted into the Synaxarium; their feast will be kept on February 15th, the same day as the Presentation of the Lord in the Alexandrian Rite. The title “New Martyr” was originally used in the East for those killed by heretical Christian rulers, but has subsequently been extended to...

Hanna Asaad, a network engineer in Fairfax, Va., grew up in the village of Aloor in southern Egypt. He was able to immigrate to the United States several years ago, but his best friend and cousin, Samuel Alham, sought work as a laborer in nearby Libya, like many other Coptic Christians in the impoverished region. Shortly after Christmas, Alham and 20 of his fellow Coptic laborers were kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Libya. In mid-February, they were marched to a Mediterranean beach in handcuffs and orange prison jumpsuits. Then they were beheaded with knives as a video camera recorded...

The stunning icon here depicts the martyrs and was created by Egyptian American artist Tony Rezk. It appears on the website for the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles. From Vatican Radio:  The Coptic Orthodox Church has announced that the murder of the 21 Egyptian Christians killed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya will be commemorated in its Church calendar.Pope Tawadros II announced that the names of the martyrs will be inserted into the Coptic Synaxarium, the Oriental Church’s equivalent to the Roman Martyrology. This procedure is also equivalent to canonization in the Latin Church.According to terrasanta.net, the martyrdom of the...

Video of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians being marched along a Libyan beach before being beheaded by black-clad members of ISIS is hard for any civilized person to watch, but experts who made it through the sickening, five-minute clip told FoxNews.com Friday they came to the same conclusion: The footage was faked. No one holds out hope the victims, mostly poor fishermen who had gone to Libya to scratch out a living, are still alive. But several anomalies in the video, which was posted online Feb. 15, indicated to trained eyes that at least some of the production was done on...

A screen shot from a video released by Islamic State militants on Feb. 15. “They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. … The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard.” Pope Francis responded today to the news that 21 Egyptian Christians have been beheaded by Islamic State militants. “Their blood confesses Christ,” the Holy Father said to a visiting delegation representing the Church of Scotland. “The martyrs belong to all Christians.” On Sunday, ISIS released a graphic video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians on...

Yahoo Canada News - "HORRIBLE PHOTOS reveal ISIS marched 21 Coptic Christians to beach, beheaded them all" Image via Twitter/ @trscoop / The Right Scoop CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State released a video on Sunday purporting to show the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya, violence likely to deepen Cairo's concerns over security threats from militants thriving in the neighboring country's chaos. Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead. In the video, militants in black...

The Islamic State has announced the killing of 21 Eyptian Christians who were abducted from Libya early in January. A report issued on the internet by the Islamic State said that the Coptic Christians were killed in “revenge for the Muslim women persecuted by Coptic crusaders in Egypt.” The reference was evidently to an incident in which two Egyptian women married to Copts were allegedly pressured to repudiate Islam. The Egyptian government has not confirmed the deaths of the 21 kidnapping victims, but fears that the internet report is accurate. Additional sources for this storySome links will take you to...

A 1,500-year-old book that contains a previously unknown gospel has been deciphered. The ancient manuscript may have been used to provide guidance or encouragement to people seeking help for their problems, according to a researcher who has studied the text. Written in Coptic, an Egyptian language, the opening reads (in translation): "The Gospel of the lots of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she to whom Gabriel the Archangel brought the good news. He who will go forward with his whole heart will obtain what he seeks. Only do not be of two minds