Free Republic

France's Association of Copts plans to hold a demonstration on Sunday against what it calls "repeated and ferocious" attacks against members of the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt. "The beating up of Coptic citizens are occurring daily in Egypt," the association said, adding that these attacks have been going on for years. The association said it hoped Sunday's protest would raise awareness in France and other countries about the plight of Egypt's Coptic minority. The association cited an incident on 31 May in which 60 armed Muslims allegedly attacked a Coptic monastery in Abufana assaulting dozens of monks and setting...

Two wine presses found in Egypt were likely part of the area's earliest winery, producing holy wine for export to Christians abroad, archaeologists say. Egyptian archaeologists discovered the two presses with large crosses carved across them near St. Catherine's Monastery, a sixth-century A.D. complex near Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula. (See a map of the area.) More presses are likely to be found in the area, which was probably an ancient wine-industry hub, according to Tarek El-Naggar, director for southern Sinai at Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. Weeks after discovering the first wine press, excavators unearthed a nearly identical...

CHRISTIANA, Del. - May 25, 2008 (WPVI) -- A man opened fire at a church fundraiser in Christiana, Delaware Sunday night. It happened around 7:00 at the Christiana Hilton, located at 100 Continental Drive in Newark, Delaware, during a function held by the Saint Mary Coptic Church. A 50-year-old man from Philadelphia was shot in the head. Police say the suspect was in attendance at the fundraiser and opened fire at the conclusion of the victim's presentation to the group.

The weekly show "Questions About Faith" on the Egyptian based Christian Al-Hayat satellite channel features an Egyptian Coptic priest residing in the United States. Father Zakaria Boutrus, the show, and Al-Hayat TV itself, have come under harsh criticism in the Egyptian press. Boutrus and his show have been accused of attacking Islam; of being supported by the U.S. to sow division and strife; and of "mocking the verses of Allah." Al-Hayat TV has been accused of being the work of foreign agents collaborating with the U.S., and Pope Shenouda III reportedly announced his opposition to the station's broadcasts, and denied...

I have heard tales of an amazing work taking place among the garbage workers of Cairo since I was an undergrad. So it was very encouraging to read this article from the February Lausanne World Pulse: Transforming Lives in Cairo's Garbage Villages. Villagers collect garbage from city apartments and recycle it. They are the most despised group of people in Egyptian society. They are not paid by the government; however, they receive small tips from the people whose garbage they collect. The rest of their income comes from recycling garbage. It is one of the most ecologically efficient operations in...

Four family members slain in their Jersey City home JERSEY CITY, N.J.— Four family members were found slain in their home Friday morning. All were bound and gagged, and their throats were slashed, First Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory said. Jersey City police broke down the door to the home about 4 a.m. after concerned relatives said they had not heard from the family for several days, authorities said. The victims were Hossam Armanious, 46; his wife, Amal Garas, 36; and their daughters, Sylvia Armanious, 16, and Monica Armanious, 8. No arrests had been made as of...

CAIRO, Egypt - Muslims and Coptic Christians clashed after Friday prayers over a land dispute, leaving 20 injured, security officials said. Police arrested 50 people following the clash in Minya province, about 130 miles south of Cairo, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The clashes began after prayers when Muslim villagers in Izbat el-Abid protested against the extension of a monastery in a nearby village, claiming the construction was on state property, the officials said. Police had to ask for reinforcements from throughout the province to control the...

Two Coptic Christians were found dead in a village 240 miles south of Cairo, police said. They added that they were investigating the incident as possible sectarian violence in the same village that witnessed some of the worst massacres seven years ago. Police sources said they were investigating the deaths of Sadeq Ishaq, 45, and Karam Andraus, 40, who were shot to death on their farm in El Kosheh... In 2007, a dispute between Muslims and Coptic Christians in the village escalated into a full scale battle as armed gangs took up weapons against each other. The violence left 21...

In Egypt, Religious Freedom or Shariah?Catholics Struggle With Conflicts in Law CAIRO, Egypt, SEPT. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church says that the contradiction in the legal system embodied in the Egyptian Constitution makes life difficult for the faithful. Patriarch Antonios Naguib explained the difficulties of the Egyptian legal situation to the Germany-based group Aid to the Church in Need. The patriarch said that on the one hand, the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and conscience while, on the other, it enforces Islam as the state religion and makes Shariah, Islamic law, the "fundamental source of...

The Holy Virgin’s church at the mid-Delta town of Mehalla was the scene of Coptic demonstrations this week in the aftermath of the disappearance of 18-year-old Amal Zaki Nessim. Amal went to work as usual last Sunday but never came back. Her colleagues at the Mehalla Spinning and Weaving Company said she left work early that day with a friend who is a fully-veiled Muslim woman named Samah. Amal’s family reported her missing and Samah was questioned by the police but claimed she knew nothing about Amal’s disappearance. The Copts demonstrated in wrath, demanding that the police find Amal and...

Another Black Friday for the Coptic Christians of Egypt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted GMT 5-22-2007 19:17:30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the past three and half decades, the Copts (Christians of Egypt) have been targeted by a wave of brutal attacks on their persons, churches, homes and businesses. Ibn Khaldoun Research Center (headed by Human Rights advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim) documented over one hundred and twenty major attacks on the Copts during this period. Another study estimated that over 4000 Copts were killed or injured during this period, not to mention the material losses, in tens of Millions of Dollars, and the state of fear...

Christ, having been lifted up from the earth has drawn all men to Himself. Rising from the dead He sent His life-giving Spirit upon His disciples and through Him has established His Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. Sitting at the right hand of the Father, He is continually active in the world that He might lead men to the Church and through it join them to Himself and that He might make them partakers of His glorious life by nourishing them with His own Body and Blood. [Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the...

Troves of scholarship For 1,500 years, Deir Al-Surian has had a working library. Active steps are now being taken to conserve this rich heritage, says Jill Kamil One of the most well preserved texts is this New Testament Coptic manuscript, 13th century The Coptic monastery known as Deir Al-Surian, or the Monastery of the Syrians, contains more than 3,000 books as well as a vast number of texts in Syriac, Aramaic (the language of Christ), Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic. They date upwards from the fifth century and today, as a result of the revival in Coptic monasticism in recent years,...

VATICAN CITY, DEC 15, 2006 (VIS) - Today, Benedict XVI received His Beatitude Antonios Naguib Patriarch of Alexandria for Catholic Copts who is officially visiting the Holy See for the first time since his election in March of this year. In his French address, the Pope asked the patriarch to give his greetings to all the bishops, priests, and faithful of his patriarchy, as well as to Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria. "The communion in Christ that unites us and all Catholics around the Successor of Peter is best seen in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy,"...

Coptic language’s last survivors By Joseph Mayton First Published: December 10, 2005 Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic, Hieroglyphic and Hieratic. CAIRO: Considered an extinct language, the Coptic language is believed to exist only in the liturgical language of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The ancient language that lost in prominence thanks largely to the Arab incursion into Egypt over 1300 years ago remains the spoken language of the church and only two families in Egypt. Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic, Hieroglyphic and Hieratic, and was the language used by the...

Washington DC, Oct. 04, 2006 (CNA) - The American Coptic Union (ACU) is urging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the continued human rights abuses of Coptic Christians in Egypt during her upcoming meeting with the Egyptian government. The ACU, which is a nonprofit organization that represents Coptic people in the U.S. and Egypt, claims violations against the Copts have been escalating since Sept. 11, 2001, and the Egyptian government has not responded with any protection. The ACU claims Islamic terrorists and the Egyptian State Security Investigation authority continue to attack and persecute the Copts. “The daily horrors of...

General The Wrong Kind of Mass Murderer by Ariel ...Non-Arab Muslims such as the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran; the Berbers ¯ also known as the Amazighes ¯ in ... Once again, Arab racism marches on. ... http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14118Uncle Boutros and Uncle Tom: A lesson in Arab tolerance ...Having written somewhat myself on the subject of the forced Arabization of ... keep in mind that Arab racist attitudes also extended to those who--to jump ... http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=11344Arab leaders 'Reap what they saw', their failed racist attempts distinguishing between blood all these years - terror comes home to roost. http://lightonthings.blogspot.com/2006/04/terror-made-in-arabia-in-islamia.htmlRADICAL ISLAMISM...

Judas 'gospel' is pure fiction Rev. Sam Luptak Jr. New Castle News, 4-12-06 Today, we remember the arrest, trial and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. While Christ went willingly to the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, his arrest came as a result of one of the greatest betrayals in history. One of Jesus' disciples, a member of his inner circle, betrayed him with a kiss. For this action, Judas Iscariot was forever condemned as a traitor. For centuries, that has been the story that we have all known and accepted — until a few...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- One person is dead and more than a dozen others wounded in attacks on worshipers today at three Coptic Christian churches in Egypt. The simultaneous assaults in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria were carried out during Friday Mass by knife-wielding assailants. Police have set up checkpoints but the attackers got away. At least two of 17 people hurt are in serious condition.

Bishop Naguib Replaces Cardinal Stephanos II Gatas VATICAN CITY, APRIL 3, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Retired Bishop Antonios Naguib of Minya of the Copts was elected new patriarch of Alexandria of the Catholic Copts. The new patriarch is replacing Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, 86, who had presented his resignation to Benedict XVI, the Vatican press office announced today. The new patriarch, 71, was elected by the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Coptic Church, meeting in St. Joseph's Convent of the Egyptian Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Cairo on March 20, as established by the Code of Canons of the Eastern...