Copts mourn Egypt Violence

HUNDREDS of Coptic Christians gathered at Bexley to mourn members of their faith last week as federal and state governments spoke out against religious violence in Egypt.The St Mary and St Mina’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral was packed last Tuesday with Coptic Christians who met to pray for those killed during a protest in Cairo the previous Sunday.

The religious minority was protesting against persecution that saw Christian homes and a church burnt down recently when Egyptian security forces tried to disperse the crowd, using jeeps and armoured vehicles that rammed into dozens of people, killing them.

Magdi Mikhail, of Sylvania, said 800 to 900 people met at the Bexley cathedral before joining Copts around the world in three days of prayer and fasting.

“We were praying to commemorate the innocent people who lost their lives,” he said. “It was a prayer for their comfort and their soul.”

Mr Mikhail, an Egyptian-born former Sutherland Shire councillor, went to Canberra and Sydney last week to witness state and federal politicians decry religious violence in Egypt.

“They all spoke very, very strongly against what happened in Egypt,” he said.

Sutherland-based Hughes MP Craig Kelly put a motion before Federal Parliament on Thursday that recognised and condemned attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt. Mr Kelly said that for Egypt to “persist on the present course is to court catastrophe”.

A statement released by the Sydney Diocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church said the motion “soothed the hearts of thousands of Copts around Australia”.

 Source: St George & Sutherland Shire Leader: http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/copts-mourn-egypt-violence/2327171.aspx