The al-Minyā patriarchate for Coptic Orthodox Christians issued a statement urging the congregation to be calm and do their best to preserve the homeland by supporting the president and working hard.
“Copts in Egypt are accustomed to living under all circumstances but everyone must pray for the president as ordered by the Holy Book,” General Bishop Makarius of al-Minya said in the statement.
Archpriest Salīb Mattá Sawirus, a member of the General Millī (Laymen) Council, said the church is praying everyday in its mass for the president and officials.
In a related development, the Egypt Copts Coalition officially announced nominating Dr. ‘Imād Jād, an expert at the al-Ahrām Center for Political & Strategic Studies, as vice president.
Mursī had pledged that one of his vice presidents would be a Copt.
Jād was the leader of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP) parliamentary bloc in the dissolved People’s Assembly, the lower house of the Egyptian parliament.
The bloc had criticized statements by a member of the Salafī al-Nūr (Light) Party in which he rejected the appointment of a Copt or a woman as vice president under the pretext that the U.S. president did not appoint a Muslim as his vice president. [‘Imād Khlīl and ‘Amr al-Shaykh, al-Misrī al-Yawm, June 30, p. 5] Read original text in Arabic
