New Coptic Orthodox Pope Speaks Against Violence, Attacks

Pope Theodore II (al-Anba Bishoy) of Alexandria has stated that he is not intimidated by the rise of Islamism in Egypt since the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying that, "[For] our part, we work with love and respect, we reject violence and...the idea of attacks on property, people, lives and homes." The new Coptic Orthodox patriarch also spoke out against clergy and monks who have participated in political demonstrations. More here.

Clashes in Egyptian Village Force Flight of Resident Copts

Clashes in Dahshur, a village to the south of Cairo, have left one dead and sixteen wounded and resulted in the flight of the village's Coptic Orthodox residents. The fighting, which occurred this past week, resulted in the torching of multiple shops and homes owned by Dahshur's Copts. More here.

Egyptian President Appoints New Council of Ministers

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has appointed his council of ministers, whose thirty-five members include one Copt although 10 to 20% of the Egyptian population is Coptic Orthodox. (If the government were to give Copts full representation in the cabinet three to seven of the ministers would be Copts.) The new government's Coptic Orthodox minister is also one of two women heading ministries. Of the thirty-five ministers appointed ten served in previous cabinets under either President Hosni Mubarak or the Egyptian Armed Forces, five belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, and one leads a breakaway faction of the Muslim Brotherhood. More here and here. A full listing of the membership in the new council of ministers can be found here.

Abductions Up in Egypt as Syrian Islamists Continue Attacks on Christians, Iraqis

It is being reported that planned abductions of Coptic Orthodox women and girls in Egypt have risen significantly since the overthrow there of President Hosni Mubarak, while in Syria Islamist terrorists fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad continue to terrorize the country's large Christian minorities, including the many Iraqi Christian refugees who fled to the country after the US occupation of Iraq. More here and here.

GOAA Clergy-Laity Congress Passes Resolutions Supporting Greece, Middle Eastern Orthodox

The biennial Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, has passed resolutions calling on the US government to protect the Orthodox Christian minorities native to Syria and Egypt. The Congress also appealed to all Americans to help Greece as it continues to struggle with the effects of its economic crisis. More here.

Coptic Orthodox Representatives Consider Withdrawal from Egyptian Constituent Assembly

The Coptic Orthodox Church is considering withdrawing its representatives from the Egyptian Constituent Assembly, charged with revising the Egyptian constitution, due to efforts on the part of Islamist members of the Constituent Assembly to strengthen the place of Islamic law in the document. More here. H/t to Ad Orientem.

Coptic Orthodox Delegation Meets with Morsi

Metropolitan Pachomius of Beheira, locum tenens of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, visited Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Morsi today to congratulate him on his electoral victory. Morsi assured Anba Pachomius and those with him that he would remain in close contact with the Coptic Orthodox Church and that he would not allow any in Egypt to "condescend" to its native Copts. More here.

New Egyptian Government to Include Coptic Vice-President

It has been announced that newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party intends to appoint a Copt and also a woman to the Egyptian vice-presidencies as a sign of his intention to be a president for all Egyptians, very much in opposition to his previous campaign comments on the suitability of women and non-Muslims serving in the Egyptian presidency. More here.

Alexandrian Orthodox Church Celebrates St. Mark

Pope Theodoros II (Horeftakis) of Alexandria has led celebrations of the new style feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, the founder and first hierarch of the Church of Alexandria, on the 24th and 25 of this month. Participating in the festal services at Alexandria's Cathedral of the Annunciation were hierarchs and clergy of the Alexandrian and Cypriot Orthodox Churches as well as representatives of the Greek government and the Greek and Arab Orthodox communities in Egypt. More (in Greek) here.

The Popes of Alexandria of both the Alexandrian and Coptic Orthodox Churches consider themselves successors to St. Mark and incumbents of the Throne of St. Mark, which in recent history held jurisdiction over all Orthodox Christians in Africa until the autocephaly of the Churches of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Coptic Orthodox Hierarchs Meet with Egyptian Chief of Staff

A delegation of the Coptic Orthodox Church has met with the chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Sami Anan, to discuss last month's 'Bloody Sunday' killing of 27 Copts and ongoing efforts to build a civil, democratic Egyptian state. More here.

Al-Azhar, Brotherhood Scholars Reject Egyptian Islamist Fatwa

Muslim clergymen and scholars from Egypt's al-Azhar University and its influential Muslim Brotherhood have rejected a fatwa recently issued by an Islamist imam forbidding the country's Muslims from voting for nominal Muslims or Copts (amongst others) in the upcoming Egyptian parliamentary elections. More here.

Pope Shenouda Bans Political Campaigning in Churches

Pope Shenouda III (al-Suriani) of Alexandria has banned candidates for Parliament from campaigning in Egypt's Coptic Orthodox churches, calling on the country's Copts who are running for Parliament not to use religious slogans in their campaigns or otherwise mix religion and politics. More here.

Committee Issues Advice on New Egyptian Law on Mosque, Church Construction

A committee appointed to examine Egypt's new law on the construction of places of worship has recommended that the distance between an existing place of worship and a site for the construction of a new one not be included in the law given the needs of Egyptians living in urban areas for more mosques and churches. The committee also recommended that municipal authorities be given responsibility for issuing the necessary construction permits given the failure of the provincial governors to properly handle the issuing of the permits. More here.

Pope Shenouda, Supreme Military Council Meet

Pope Shenouda III (a-Suriani) of Alexandria has met with the members of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces, which currently rules the country, to discuss the repurcussions of the 9 October incident in Cairo that resulted in the deaths of 27 Copts. Prior to Monday's meeting Pope Shenouda and a representative of the Supreme Council reportedly discussed the incident, Copts' demands for a new constitution, and the transitional government's efforts to promote national unity in the wake of the deaths. More here.

Egyptian Jailed for Anti-Islamic FB Comments

Close on the heels of Egypt's 'Bloody Sunday,' in which Egyptian state media called on Cairenes to come and defend the Egyptian Armed Forces from a "Coptic attack," an Egyptian court has sentenced a man to jail for 3 years for allegedly posting anti-Islamic comments on his Facebook wall. More here.

Pope Shenouda to Visit Martyrs' Families

Pope Shenouda III (al-Suriani) of Alexandria will be visiting the families of the victims of Egypt's 'Blood Sunday,' the 9 October clashes that resulted in the deaths of 27 Copts. The Coptic Orthodox Church intends to provide aid to those of the families in need of economic assistance because of their connection to the Bloody Sunday martyrs. More here.

Apparitions of the Mother of God Reported in Cairo, Alexandria

Coptic Orthodox Christians from Alexandria and Cairo are reportedly claiming to have witnessed multiple appearances of the Mother of God last night as Egypt continues to mourn clashes in Cairo that resulted in the death of twenty-eight Copts. A film of one of the apparitions reported in Heliopolis, a Cairo suburb, can be found here. There is no word as to whether anyone in the hierarchy of the Coptic Orthodox Church has verified the apparitions.

Egyptian Government Amends Place of Worship Laws

The Egyptian government has approved controversial amendments to new laws on the construction of places of worship delegating authority to grant construction permits to local municipal authorities and mandating minimum size requirements for new places of worship. More here.

Egyptian Government to Examine Copt, Muslim Conflicts

In the aftermath of the Cairo clashes between Copts and the Egyptian security forces the Egyptian government has committed itself to examining the church construction issues that led to the clashes. The government previously stated it would make it easier for the Coptic Orthodox Church to repair its existing places of worship and build new ones, but incidents have continued to occur between local Coptic Orthodox parishes and Islamists opposed to changes in the status quo. More here.

Fast Called for Victims of Cairo Clashes

Pope Shenouda III (al-Suriani) of Alexandria has called a fast tomorrow (Tuesday) through Thursday/Friday to mourn the victims of the recent clashes in Cairo and for the peace of Egypt's Copts and the nation as a whole. Please join in the fast as you're able - we are witnessing a pivotal time in Egyptian history and next month's elections could change the lives of Egypt's Orthodox Christians greatly, for better or for worse.