In the midst of the Copts’ sorrow about the losses of those killed by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood since the ouster of Muhammad Mursī on June 3, with nearly 80 churches attacked and destroyed, the Coptic Orthodox Church has began celebrations of Nairūz yesterday. The Church commemorated its dead from the outset of the fourth century and the lives lost in 2013.

Pope Tawadros II presided over the holy mass in St. Mark’s Cathedral. The Pope looked back on the history of the Church, saying that it always had been a church of martyrs.  He  recalled the early days of Coptic Christianity in Egypt and the ancient history of the country (Peter Magdī, al-Tahrīr, Sept. 12, p. 11). Read original text in Arabic.