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‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات Coptic. إظهار كافة الرسائل

1/20/2015

Saint Samaan #Church #Christian #Jew #Islam #egypt #Coptic

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Saint Samaan #Church  #Christian #Jew #Islam #egypt #Coptic 












In the MoKattam, every Thursday evening mass and public exorcisms take place in one of the cave churches. Dive into an area where miracles are often, and the people extraordinary.
In the Mokattam, every Thursday evening mass and public exorcisms take place in one of the cave churches. Dive into an area where miracles are often, and the people extraordinary.
By Louise Sarant, Community Times
Mansheyet Nasser is mostly a Coptic area situated on the lowest slope of the Mokattam hill. This is the residence of the Zabaleen, or slum dwellers, who cart away the rubbish of Cairo metropolis. Apart from a dozen houses inhabited by Muslims and a small “masged” (mosque) among the dusty roads deprived of asphalt of the neighbourhood, mostly Copts are installed there.
The main road of Mansheyet Nasser, lined with cram-full garbage bags that reach impressive heights, bakeries, butcheries and other religious shops, climbs steeply to what the residents call “el dir”, the monastery, even though no monastery is to be seen. However, five amazing churches are established in this secluded and final area of the neighbourhood. A curvy paved road leads to a wide area back by the impressive raw, colored rock of the Mokattam, carved with holy images of the Christ carried out by Marcos, a polish sculptor.
Partly because of the round cafeteria packed with youngsters, who seem to enjoy this moment of rare freedom, and also the huge cave church know as “Saint Samaan Church” excavated in the rock that can host 20,000 people, the common sense of proportion starts to diminish. Thursday evenings sermons of Abouna Samaan, the priest of Mansheyet Nasser, attract thousands of people each week, some from the Mokattam, others from Cairo.
Microbuses also bring faithful Christians through the narrow and smelly streets of this tiny village. The contrast between the pristine and no-smoking area of “el dir” and the smelly streets of Mansheyet Nasser is startling, and gives an impression of sudden serenity and harmony.

THE STORY OF SAMAAN, THE SHOEMAKER

In order to understand why the father of the neighbourhood, whose name is Farahat, has chosen to baptize himself, as well as the church, Abouna Samaan, it is necessary to go back in time, while keeping in mind the legendary aspect of this tale.
A thousand years ago in Egypt, a rather tolerant Caliph encouraged Muslim, Christian and Jewish teachers to debate controversial issues without anger. A battle of wits started between a Jew and a Christian upon religious matters, and the Jewish teacher, in order to force the Coptic patriarch Abraham to the wall, quoted an excerpt of the Bible that says: “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to the mountain move from here to there, and it will move”.
The Caliph was thrilled because through the accomplishment of this miracle, the Christian faith would be validated and there would be a way of expanding the city eastwards, blocked by the mountain. In case of failure, the future of the whole Christian community would be doomed.
The patriarch was granted three days to achieve this miracle, and started by warning the whole community of the imminent threat upon them, inviting them to pray and feast through the day. On the third day, the patriarch, hopeless, had a vision of the Virgin Mary that unveiled the identity of the man who will accomplish the miracle: Samaan, the shoemaker. Indeed, at sunset on the same day, the mountain rose up three times, and while it rose for the last time, the sun was seen under the mountain. The history, or legend, of the miracle that saved the whole Christian community from an assured extinction is still vivid today, which explains the name both of Farahat and the church.
Many miracles happen in those churches of the Mokattam, which also justify the use of the shoemaker’s name.

THE EXORCISM PROCESS

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On Thursday evenings, the first hour and a half is devoted to praying in the massive church of Saint Samaan and listening to the sermon of Abouna Samaan.
Around 9 pm, the huge assembly parts in two, those who go back to their homes and those who will follow the mass exorcism that is to take place right after the sermon in Mar Girgis Church. This church is considerably smaller than the previous one; still around 2000 people can be seated without a feeling of claustrophobia.
Originally, this church was a cavern filled with 140,000 tons of rocks. The auditorium-like shape of the cave is filled with rows of quite uncomfortable folding seats. In the middle stands a stage where the acts of exorcism are performed, and on both sides of the central stage, two neat queues (one for women and one for the men) are forming. Dressed in black with a bushy grey beard and a wooden cross in the right hand, Abouna Samaan radiates an impression of solemnity and wisdom that is quite striking to the audience.
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A tiny orchestra, led by a dynamic choir and a few instruments is lightening the atmosphere by playing a whole repertoire of songs glorifying Jesus while the exorcisms take place. The lyrics can be easily followed on a big screen that is hung on the wall of the cavern, scrolling on images of happy people. A woman is on stage, standing in front of the priest. Her body is shivering while he firmly presses his wooden cross on her forehead while whispering a prayer. In an instant, she is lying on the stage floor, almost unconscious.
A khadeema immediately covers her body with a white sheet and Abouna Samaan crouches close to the distressed women. Her body is struck by spasms, and her high-pitched screams fill the whole cave. The attention of the audience is total. After hitting her many times with his wooden cross so that her body calms down, he grabs the microphone and asks to the evil spirits inside her: “How many of you are there?” She screams louder, the audience stiffens.
“Six”, she answers.
The priest starts praying for her in the name of Christ and in the name of the cross, then orders her to lift her left leg. “Irfa!” he yells, while the leg of the young woman begins rising under the sheets, thus creating a very unnatural shape. “Put it back down!” yells the priest, and she obeys promptly. On the third time she lifts her leg, he addresses the devil and tells him that now is time to leave this body, and that he will let go of her when her leg touches the floor for the last time.
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At that moment, one of the numerous khadeemas on the stage pours “Baraka” water (from a real Baraka bottle) into the priest’s palm. As soon as the poor woman’s leg is back on the floor, Abouna Samaan sharply splashes her face with the holy water, prompting the immediate release from the evil spirit that inhabited her. She is helped to stand on her two feet again, and is invited by the priest to stomp her feet in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She then readjusts the veil that has been crumpled in the exorcism process, and leaves the cave.
It could sound unconventional, but many Muslim men and women come to Abouna Samaan for an exorcism. It also happens in the Mar Girgis Cathedral in Ramses, where Abouna Makary Younane proceeds with exorcisms every Friday evenings.

8/18/2013

#Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood militias hit Christian churches

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After torching a Franciscan school, Islamists paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war" before a Muslim woman offered them refuge. Two other women working at the school were sexually harassed and abused as they fought their way through a mob.
In the four days since security forces cleared two sit-in camps by supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Islamists have attacked dozens of Coptic churches along with homes and businesses owned by the Christian minority. The campaign of intimidation appears to be a warning to Christians outside Cairo to stand down from political activism.
Christians have long suffered from discrimination and violence in Muslim majority Egypt, where they make up 10 percent of the population of 90 million. Attacks increased after the Islamists rose to power in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that drove Hosni Mubarak from power, emboldening extremists. But Christians have come further under fire since President Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3, sparking a wave of Islamist anger led by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Nearly 40 churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged since Wednesday, when chaos erupted after Egypt's military-backed interim administration moved in to clear two camps packed with protesters calling for Morsi's reinstatement, killing scores of protesters and sparking deadly clashes nationwide.
One of the world's oldest Christian communities has generally kept a low-profile, but has become more politically active since Mubarak was ousted and Christians sought to ensure fair treatment in the aftermath.
Rows of display cases are broken and empty at the Malawi …
Many Morsi supporters say Christians played a disproportionately large role in the days of mass rallies, with millions demanding that he step down ahead of the coup.
Despite the violence, Egypt's Coptic Christian church renewed its commitment to the new political order Friday, saying in a statement that it stood by the army and the police in their fight against "the armed violent groups and black terrorism."
While the Christians of Egypt have endured attacks by extremists, they have drawn closer to moderate Muslims in some places, in a rare show of solidarity.
Hundreds from both communities thronged two monasteries in the province of Bani Suef south of Cairo to thwart what they had expected to be imminent attacks on Saturday, local activist Girgis Waheeb said. Activists reported similar examples elsewhere in regions south of Cairo, but not enough to provide effective protection of churches and monasteries.
Waheeb, other activists and victims of the latest wave of attacks blame the police as much as hard-line Islamists for what happened. The attacks, they said, coincided with assaults on police stations in provinces like Bani Suef and Minya, leaving most police pinned down to defend their stations or reinforcing others rather than rushing to the rescue of Christians under attack.
Map locates cities where Christians have been targeted; …
Another Christian activist, Ezzat Ibrahim of Minya, a province also south of Cairo where Christians make up around 35 percent of the population, said police have melted away from seven of the region's nine districts, leaving the extremists to act with near impunity.
Two Christians have been killed since Wednesday, including a taxi driver who strayed into a protest by Morsi supporters in Alexandria and another man who was shot to death by Islamists in the southern province of Sohag, according to security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
The attacks served as a reminder that Islamists, while on the defensive in Cairo, maintain influence and the ability to stage violence in provincial strongholds with a large minority of Christians.
Gamaa Islamiya, the hard-line Islamist group that wields considerable influence in provinces south of Cairo, denied any link to the attacks. The Muslim Brotherhood, which has led the defiant protest against Morsi's ouster, has condemned the attacks, spokesman Mourad Ali said.
Sister Manal is the principal of the Franciscan school in Bani Suef. She was having breakfast with two visiting nuns when news broke of the clearance of the two sit-in camps by police, killing hundreds. In an ordeal that lasted about six hours, she, sisters Abeer and Demiana and a handful of school employees saw a mob break into the school through the wall and windows, loot its contents, knock off the cross on the street gate and replace it with a black banner resembling the flag of al-Qaida.
An Egyptian walks in the ruins of the Evangelical Church …
By the time the Islamists ordered them out, fire was raging at every corner of the 115-year-old main building and two recent additions. Money saved for a new school was gone, said Manal, and every computer, projector, desk and chair was hauled away. Frantic SOS calls to the police, including senior officers with children at the school, produced promises of quick response but no one came.
The Islamists gave her just enough time to grab some clothes.
In an hourlong telephone interview with The Associated Press, Manal, 47, recounted her ordeal while trapped at the school with others as the fire raged in the ground floor and a battle between police and Islamists went on out on the street. At times she was overwhelmed by the toxic fumes from the fire in the library or the whiffs of tears gas used by the police outside.
Sister Manal recalled being told a week earlier by the policeman father of one pupil that her school was targeted by hard-line Islamists convinced that it was giving an inappropriate education to Muslim children. She paid no attention, comfortable in the belief that a school that had an equal number of Muslim and Christian pupils could not be targeted by Muslim extremists. She was wrong.
The school has a high-profile location. It is across the road from the main railway station and adjacent to a busy bus terminal that in recent weeks attracted a large number of Islamists headed to Cairo to join the larger of two sit-in camps by Morsi's supporters. The area of the school is also in one of Bani Suef's main bastions of Islamists from Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Salafis.
Egyptian gather in the ruins of the Evangelical Church …

"We are nuns. We rely on God and the angels to protect us," she said. "At the end, they paraded us like prisoners of war and hurled abuse at us as they led us from one alley to another without telling us where they were taking us," she said. A Muslim woman who once taught at the school spotted Manal and the two other nuns as they walked past her home, attracting a crowd of curious onlookers.
"I remembered her, her name is Saadiyah. She offered to take us in and said she can protect us since her son-in-law was a policeman. We accepted her offer," she said. Two Christian women employed by the school, siblings Wardah and Bedour, had to fight their way out of the mob, while groped, hit and insulted by the extremists. "I looked at that and it was very nasty," said Manal.
The incident at the Franciscan school was repeated at Minya where a Catholic school was razed to the ground by an arson attack and a Christian orphanage was also torched.
"I am terrified and unable to focus," said Boulos Fahmy, the pastor of a Catholic church a short distance away from Manal's school. "I am expecting an attack on my church any time now," he said Saturday.
Bishoy Alfons Naguib, a 33-year-old businessman from Minya, has a similarly harrowing story.
Egyptians walk in the ruins of the Evangelical Church …
His home supplies store on a main commercial street in the provincial capital, also called Minya, was torched this week and the flames consumed everything inside.
"A neighbor called me and said the store was on fire. When I arrived, three extremists with knifes approached me menacingly when they realized I was the owner," recounted Naguib. His father and brother pleaded with the men to spare him. Luckily, he said, someone shouted that a Christian boy was filming the proceedings using his cell phone, so the crowd rushed toward the boy shouting "Nusrani, Nusrani," the Quranic word for Christians which has become a derogatory way of referring to them in today's Egypt.
Naguib ran up a nearby building where he has an apartment and locked himself in. After waiting there for a while, he left the apartment, ran up to the roof and jumped to the next door building, then exited at a safe distance from the crowd.
"On our Mustafa Fahmy street, the Islamists had earlier painted a red X on Muslim stores and a black X on Christian stores," he said. "You can be sure that the ones with a red X are intact."
In Fayoum, an oasis province southwest of Cairo, Islamists looted and torched five churches, according to Bishop Ibram, the local head of the Coptic Orthodox church, by far the largest of Egypt's Christian denominations. He said he had instructed Christians and clerics alike not to try to resist the mobs of Islamists, fearing any loss of life.
A damaged object lies on the floor of the Malawi Antiquities …

"The looters were so diligent that they came back to one of the five churches they had ransacked to see if they can get more," he told the AP. "They were loading our chairs and benches on trucks and when they had no space for more, they destroyed them."

8/14/2013

#Muslim_Brotherhood militias burned #Coptic churches in #Egypt #Update

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Violence by Morsi supporters leaves dozens of Christian churches, Coptic-owned businesses and properties burnt; fears grow among Egypt's Christian minority of widespread sectarian strife
 Churches across Egypt came under frenzied attack Thursday as the country became convulsed in violent turmoil after security forces forcibly broke up two major Cairo protest camps held by supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Incensed by the bloody crackdown that has claimed more than 500 lives, Morsi loyalists orchestrated nationwide assaults on Christian targets, wreaking havoc on churches, homes, and Christian-owned businesses throughout the country.
Coptic rights group the Maspero Youth Union (MYU) estimated that as many as 36 churches were "completely" devastated by fire across nine Egyptian governorates, including Minya, Sohag and Assiut — home to large Coptic communities.
The group, alongside media reports, said that many other churches were looted or stormed in ensuing street violence Wednesday.
Egypt's interior ministry told reporters in Cairo Wednesday that at least seven churches had been vandalised or torched by suspected Islamists.
MYU spokesman Antwan Adel said at least two were confirmed dead — in the cities of Minya and Alexandria — during the anti-Coptic attacks. No independent confirmation of this tally has appeared.
Adel deplored what he termed "criminal acts and terrorist perception" of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which deposed president Morsi hailed. "They seek to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims," Adel told Ahram Online.
"It's Christians in Egypt who pay the price to overthrow tyranny," Adel said, citing sectarian incidents under long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak through until now.
The sectarian conflagration has set off fears of deeper polarisation and insecurity amongst Christians in a predominantly Sunni Muslim state. Coptic Christians — Egypt's largest minority — make up some 10 percent of the national population of 84 million.
The Upper Egypt governorate of Minya was scene of the lion's share of ًWednesday's attacks. The MYU put the number of churches assaulted in the city alone at 11, with some "completely burnt."
Gebrial Dafshan of Minya's Christians Youth Centre (Al-Wady), which was stormed and engulfed by flames, blamed lax security on the part of the government at Coptic facilities.
"There was no security presence. Even when we called the Fire Department for help they said they were themselves being attacked," Dafsahn said.
Morsi's Islamist backers set dozens of police stations ablaze across Egypt and attempted to storm provincal governor offices following Wednesday bloody crackdown. A group of Morsi supporters also set fire to the finance ministry building in Cairo's Nasr City district, a few miles away from a main Cairo protest camp they manned for six weeks.
Some Coptic Christians appear understanding of what they deem was "the inevitable" violence that would result from dealing with Islamist "terrorists." Yet critics say there should have been pre-emptive measures taken by both the army and police for what appeared to be a likely scenario of widespread chaos.
Forty-one people were killed in Minya Wednesday in violence sparked by security forces storming pro-Morsi camps in Cairo, health ministry officials said.
On Thursday, Egyptian authorities referred 84 people from the canal city of Suez — including members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood movement — to military prosecutors on charges of murder and burning churches, state news agency MENA reported.
Egypt's interim premier, Hazem El-Beblawi, condemned the "criminal acts" against Copts in a telephone conversation with Coptic Pope Tawadros II, who threw his weight behind the army's ouster of Morsi early in July. El-Beblawi vowed to deal strictly with "terrorism," asserting that "unity between Muslims and Christians is a red line."
Egypt's army chief General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi pledged the military would cover the costs of restoration for all damaged churches.
Egypt's health ministry said Thursday that some 525 people were killed and more than 3717 injured across Egypt Wednesday, leaving the most populous Arab nation in ferment.
The unrest led the interim government to declare a month-long state of emergency, with a daily curfew between 7:00pm and 6:00am in Cairo and 13 other governorates.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize laureate who gave his blessing to the ousting of Egypt's first freely elected president, resigned in protest at the use of force instead of pursuing a political resolution to the six-week stand-off between the army-installed government and the Muslim Brotherhood.

UPDATE 

list of Coptic churches his been burned By Muslim Brotherhood terrorists

 1. Church of Our Lady and Saint conclusion of the Coptic Orthodox village Dljh Center Deir Mawas, Minya Governorate burning church and demolished.
 2. Church of St. Mina Coptic Orthodox + Abu Hilal, a neighborhood clinic tribal province of Minya burning church.
 3. Center Baptist Church Beni Mazar, Minya Governorate burning church. 
4. Prince Taodharos Church Street Husseini, Medan Sednawy, Minya fire. 
5. Third Evangelical Church Minya fire completely. 
6. Evangelical church Ezbet Gad Mr., Minya fire completely. 
7. St. George's Church Copts الارثوزكس the land of the archbishopric, Sohag Governorate burning church. 
8. Church Marmriqs and built services electricity Street, Sohag burning.9. Church of the Virgin and the conclusion of Sohag burning news. 
10. Prince Taodharos Church Echatbi Fayoum burning. 
11. Church of Our Lady of Copts الارثوزكس the village Nazlah, Yusuf Center, province of Fayoum burning. 
12. Church St. Demiana village Alzerba, Fayoum burning. 
13. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd + school + church Army Street, province of Suez burning. 
14. Parents Alfrencescan the Church Street 23 Suez burning. 
15. Greek Church Paradise Street, Suez fire completely. 
16. Evangelical Church Army Street, Suez fire. 
17. George Church Street said and Namees province of Assiut fire. 
18. Apostolic Church Street I said and Namees, province of Assiut fire. 
19. Reformed Church Assiut fire completely. 
20. Church of Our Lady row, Asfih, Helwan fire. 
21. George Church Meadow, Qalyubiyah fire. 
22. Urban Mina Church, Giza burning. 
23. Virgin Church Street ten, Boulaq Dakrour, Giza burning. 
24. George Church Arish burning. 
25. Mariouhna Church Street, longing, Minya Governorate burning. 
26. Church of Our Lady Kafr Hakim, Kerdasa, the Giza burning. 
27. St. Mina Church in Beni Mazar-Minya burning. 
28. St. Mary Church Street Center Beni Mazar-Minya burning. 


Statement of churches that have been infringed Muslim Brotherhood terrorists

1. Saint Marmriqs the Coptic Catholic Minya throwing stones + infringement on doors and try to intrusions. 
2. Jesuit Church of the Fathers Menia attempt to storm the throwing of stones and bricks.
 3. Church of Our Lady Street butchers Minya landing Cross and an attempt to storm and arson. 
4. Church of Our Lady 10 Basin province of Qena siege and trying to break into.
 5. Diocese Atfih Helwan Governorate embark on the demolition of the church. 
6. St. Joseph School Minya try to burn it and infringed upon. 
7. School Jesuit Fathers Minya try to burn. 
8. St. George Bacchus Church, Alexandria firing gunshots martyr / Rami Zechariah. 
9. St. Maximus Church Street 45 Alexandria harassment. 
10. Diocese of Malawi Malawi, Minia Governorate firing gunshots Molotov + stones.  
11. Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Deir Mawas Minya firing gunshots Molotov + stones. 
12. Diocese of Saint John the Baptist Qusiya, Assiut stones. 
13. Church of the Virgin Kafr Abdou, 6 October firing gunshots Molotov + stones. 
14. Der vine Atfih, Helwan firing gunshots Molotov + stones. 
15. George Church centrist centrist, Beni Suef firing gunshots + stones. 
1. The Bible Society of Friends of burning. 
2. Youth Center to Fayoum Church facility kindness of God, Fayoum Governorate burning. 
3. Club young Christians Wi-Minya burning. 
4. Franciscan School Suez fire completely. 
5. Copts School Street Husseini, Minya fire.
 6. School Franciscan nuns Beni Suef fire.
 7. Good Shepherd School Minya burning.
 8. Association Jesuit and Frere Minya burning. 
9. Building Emile Wear 10 Basin, Qena fire. 
10. Shops scattered areas Copts in Minya and Abu Qurqas and contorted, and different centers looting and destruction and burning of the number 15 Mahal. 
11. Arksm Shops Luxor fully Fire King / Daniel Joseph and his brothers. 
12. Goods St. Claus Luxor's entire fire king / Akram. 
13. Horus Hotel fire in front of the Temple of Luxor destination + Doreen King / Medhat Maurice Salameh. 
14. Susanna Luxor Hotel Fire fully King Dr. / Murad Subhi. 
15. A Father Angelios home king pastor of the Church of the Virgin and Bishop Abram Bdljh Dljh center of Deir Mawas Minya Governorate house was completely burned. 
16. Gold ship of the Evangelical Authority Minya burning. 
17. Mgae soldiers of Christ for Boys Minya burning.






























5/05/2013

Happy Easter 2013

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Happy Easter 2013

Happy Easter to all those celebrating it all over the world today especially in Egypt ,Yemen and Syria.

 

4/09/2013

how horrible !!!!! Proud Muslims raping Coptic Christians in #Egypt in the daytime

how horrible !!!!! Proud Muslims raping Coptic Christians in in the daytime




Proud Muslims raping Coptic Christians in Egypt in the daytime from semo on Vimeo.
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