Church, Homes Burned in Upper Egypt

Clashes between Muslims and Copts have taken place in the Upper Egyptian city of Edfu after Muslims attacked a parish there that was undertaking the expansion of its church. After setting fire to the church the attackers burned other Copt-owned houses and shops in the area. More here.

Islamists Threaten to Destroy Upper Egyptian Church

Controversy has erupted in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Aswan over the reconstruction of St. George's Church in the village of Elmarinab. The originally church was built over a century ago and was recently renovated using plans approved by the local authorities and reopened in June only to face protests from Islamists from neighboring villages who claim that there was never a church on the site and that they will destroy the church and use its remains as a mosque if Elmarinab's Copts do not agree to remove the church's crosses and domes by tomorrow. More here.

Clashes Occur in Upper Egyptian Governorate

The state prosecutor in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya has ordered the arrest of three local Muslims involved in ongoing clashes in the Minya Governorate this week. So far the clashes have resulted in the death of a Coptic Orthodox Christian and the burning of six homes. Reconciliation meeting have been held between local leaders of the mosques and the Coptic Orthodox Church, but it is understood that the violence is intended to encourage Copts to leave the region, which has a much higher percentage of Copts than Lower Egypt. More here.

End of Clashes Over Harassment in Minya

Calm has returned to the Upper Egyptian city of Minya after clashes on Thursday over a Muslim bus driver's harassment of a Coptic Orthodox girl. Several shops were burned down during the fighting and seven people were treated for gunshot wounds, but no fatalities have been reported. More here.

Suspects in Sohag Clashes Detained

Two suspects in Saturday's violence between Muslims and Orthodox Copts in the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag have been detained pending further investigation into their involvement in the violence, which left eight houses belonging to Copts burned to the ground. The conflict erupted when rumors spread amongst the city's Islamists that a Copt was building an unlicensed church. More here.

Upper Egyptian Police Remove Priest After Muslim Death Threats

Egyptian police have removed a Coptic Orthodox priest serving St. George's Church in Beni Ahmed, Upper Egypt, after a crowd of local Muslims surrounded the church during the Divine Liturgy yesterday saying that they would kill the priest. More here and here.

Ancient Church, Mosques Unearthed in Luxor

Coptic Orthodox and Arab Muslim ruins have been unearthed by Egyptian archaeologists in the Upper Egyptian city of Luxor. The ruins include a church built in a style reminiscent of pagan Egyptian temples and two mosques built after the Arab conquest of Egypt. More here.

Copts End Minya Protests

Copts protesting in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya have ended their protests after Egyptian police promised to find two teenage Coptic Orthodox girls, Christine Ezzat Fathy and Nancy Magdy Fathy, who went missing this past Sunday. The police's promise comes after clashes between the demonstrators and security forces Wednesday that left six Copts and three policemen injured. More here.

Minya Celebrates the Mother of God

Despite growing tensions between Orthodox Christianity and Islam in Egypt some 2 million Copts and Muslims have participated in a feast day of the Mother of God in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya, with many holding signs saying, "Minya Without Sectarianism." More here.

Camelia Shehata Appears on Egyptian TV

Camelia Shehata appeared on a Coptic Orthodox television station Saturday evening to once again confirm her adherence to the Orthodox Faith and her marriage to her husband, a Coptic Orthodox priest in Minya, Upper Egypt. More here.

Egyptian PM Visits Qena

Egyptian Premier Essam Sharaf is visiting Qena as part of his investigations into the widespread protests sparked by the appointment of Emad Mikhail, a Copt, as governor of the area. More here.

Egyptian Presidential Candidate Visits Qena, Nag Hammadi

Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa is visiting the Coptic Orthodox cathedral in Upper Egypt's Nag Hammadi as well as the city of Qena in an effort to reach out to both the region's Copts and its Arab Muslims. More here.

New Coptic Orthodox Governor Suspended

After 11 days of protests by Muslims angry over the appointment of an Orthodox Christian, Emad Mikhail, as governor of the Qena Governorate the Egyptian government has suspended the new governor for 3 months while it looks into the reasons for the protests. More here.

Islamists in Upper Egypt Force Church to Relocate

Earlier this week Islamists staged a sit-in at the entrance of a Coptic Orthodox church in Kamadir, Upper Egypt. When the church's priest came to serve the Divine Liturgy this past Tuesday he was told by the hundreds of Muslims squatting on the parish's property that Copts were "not allowed" to pray there any more. The sit-in began when the local government approved urgent repairs to the church.

The sit-in was resolved through an agreement by which the parish agreed to build a new church 200 meters away from the new mosque recently built near the site of the old church. The new church is required not to look like a church and is to be half the height of the old one. More here.

Egyptian Interior Ministry to Establish Joint Muslim/Orthodox Committee

The Egyptian Interior Ministry has agreed to establish a committee comprised of clerics of al-Azhar University and the Coptic Orthodox Church to deal with "ethnic problems" between Egypt's Arab Muslim majority and its large Coptic Orthodox minority. The agreement between the Ministry and Pope Shenouda III (al-Suriani) comes in the wake of an attack on a Copt, Ayman Anwar Metari, in the Upper Egyptian city of Qena. Although he survived the attack, Mr. Metari had an ear cut off and also had his home and car burned by his attackers. More here.

Nag Hammadi Bishop Claims Polling Stations Closed to Copts

Bishop Kyrillos of Nag Hammadi is claiming that Copts were kept from voting in Saturday's referendum in Upper Egypt by the unannounced closing of polling stations in areas predominantly inhabited by Copts. (Unlike Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt still has villages and towns that are primarily or even completely Orthodox.) More here.

Copts Demonstrate in Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt's Copts are demonstrating against the Governor of Minya, Ahmed Dia-el-Din, over his decision to have a home for the handicapped in the village of Deir Barsha demolished. The demonstrators, some 10,000 in number, are calling for the Minya governor's resignation, saying that he made the decision because they stopped paying him bribes to protect the care home.

The five-storey center in Deir Barsha was built by the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Mallawi to provide care for handicapped children and youth and to give them vocational training. Governor Dia-el-Din inaugurated the building himself 4 years ago and never stated anything was wrong with the building until he stopped receiving bribes from the community this past year.

The Minya governor also recently ordered the demolition of 10 newly built homes in Said Abdelmasih village belonging to Copts. This came after the villagers in the completely Orthodox Christian village refused to donate land for the construction of a mosque near the village's parish church. While the Deir Barsha center is being protected by a sit-in, the homes in Said Abdelmasih were destroyed on 28 February by the Minya Governorate's police and members of the Egyptian Armed Forces.

More here.

St. Shenouda the Archimandrite

Joyous feast! Today's the feast of the falling asleep of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite, a famous monk of the Coptic Orthodox Church from Upper Egypt and the heavenly protector of our reigning Pope Shenouda (al-Suriani) of Alexandria and All Africa. God grant Pope Shenouda, through the blessings and prayers of St. Shenouda, many years! More on St. Shenouda's life can be found here and here.