Posts Tagged ‘Coptic Church’

Egypt’s Copts at the crossroads

Friday, February 19th, 2016

One never ceases to be astonished by the huge discrepancy between one assessment of the number of Copts in Egypt and another: the figures range from 5.7 percent of the overall population (and therefore a little less than 5 million people), according to the official census taken in 1996, to the 15 percent or even Read more

Coptic Christians — ‘people of the Cross’

Friday, March 27th, 2015

The murder of twenty one Christians by Islamic State in Libya brought condemnation from around the world. Their murder puts them in a long history of persecution of the Coptic Church. Martyrdom was not new to them or their people. For nearly two thousand years, their Church had prided itself as being the Church of Read more

Coptics want to buy Timaru’s Chalmers Church

Tuesday, September 30th, 2014

A small group of Coptic Orthodox Christians say they are in the process of buying Timaru’s Chalmers Church. This is the second time they have tried to buy this church. If a sale goes ahead the group will rename it St George’s Coptic Church. Businessman Dean van Buuren purchased the church, Friendship Centre and neighbouring Read more

Coptic pope proposes one Easter date for all Christian churches

Friday, May 16th, 2014

In a letter to Pope Francis, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church Tawadros II has proposed making one date for Easter celebrations for all Christian Churches. Differences in Easter dates are based on differences between the Julian calendar, which eastern churches follow, and the Gregorian calendar of western churches. Finding one Easter date for Read more

The Coptic Church in peril: the end of Christianity in Egypt

Friday, September 20th, 2013

On 15 October 1970, Anwar El Sadat succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser as President of Egypt. Viewed as a mediocre man, Sadat’s true qualities were not realized by Nasser’s old guard until it was too late. Having crushed his internal opponents in May 1971, Sadat faced the overwhelming challenge of trying to find a way out Read more

Neighbours ok with church: Rugby club complains

Tuesday, May 7th, 2013

The Christchurch Rugby Club is complaining that privately owned land adjacent to its land is no longer available to it. The club, who currently needs to access to its neighbour’s land to turn its park lights on and off say the private land is part of the club’s history and it will cost the club Read more