Pope Shenouda III pleads for Egypt’s Christians
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The Middle East is the birthplace of Christianity and home to some of the world’s most ancient Christian denominations. Egypt’s Coptic Christians trace their roots back 1900 years and they are under increasing pressure.
Pope Shenouda III is the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church and he is pleading for calm after a violent response to a church bombing in Alexandria on New Year’s Day which killed 21 churchgoers and wounded many more. Security has been increased at churches across Egypt, as Copts prepare to celebrate Orthodox Christmas on Friday.
Coptic Christians descended from the ancient Egyptians. Their church split from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in 451AD because of a theological dispute over the nature of Christ, but is now, on most issues, doctrinally similar to the Eastern Orthodox church.
Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt’s population, complain of discrimination, such as the legal requirement for them to obtain presidential permission to build churches.
In the interview, Pope Shenouda said the state must address Coptic complaints.
“There are laws that are painful to some, and despite our commitment to the laws, the pain is still there, and this needs to be addressed,” he said.
A plethora of other Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Armenian churches are present in smaller numbers in Egypt.
THE COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA
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Holte,
It’d odd that people are often surprised by the amount of Christians in the ME. Don’t know if the figure changed,at the time of the Nakhba there were about 10% Christians in Palestine as well. Tariq Aziz, Iraqi foreign minister is one too.
If it wasn’t for the prophets and desert gods of the middle east, what sort of world would we be?