Date of source: 23 Jan 2023
"The right person to challenge and break stereotypes" is how Sālī ʿĀzer, a 27-year-old Palestinian Jerusalemite, is usually described. Sālī became the first woman to be ordained as a priest at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land at a ceremony in Jerusalem's Old City that...
Date of source: 5 Feb 2023
On Sunday, the shrine of Imām ʿĀlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in Najaf, Iraq announced the participation of more than two million visitors in the commemoration of the birth of Imām ʿĀlī over the weekend.
The shrine said in a statement received by Baghdad Today that “two million, 320 thousand and 397 visitors...
Date of source: 19 Feb 2023
In 2007, Rev. Dr. Andrea Zakī was elected Vice President of the Evangelical Community in Egypt. During his eight years in office, he has taken great efforts to strengthen relations between the Evangelical Church and other churches and denominations, both in Egypt and abroad.
On February 20 2015,...
Date of source: 21 Feb 2023
On Thursday 16th, the United Arab Emirates saw the opening of the “Abrahamic Family House". By bringing together the three celestial religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) under one roof, the Abrahamic Family House implements the Document on Human Fraternity, signed between the Grand Imām of...
Date of source: 24 Feb 2023
The Reverend Dr. Andrea Zakī, Head of the Evangelical Community, confirmed that there was 95% agreement among the three Churches in Egypt (Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic) on the articles of the Personal Status Law for Christians.
This came during his discussion on the show Naẓara, which was...
Date of source: 10 Feb 2018
During an address to the General Synod of the Church of England Dr. Sāmī Fawzī, Archbishop of the Province of Alexandria of the Anglican Episcopal Church, expressed that same-sex marriage is unacceptable and conflicts with the teachings of Christianity.
“We are grateful for those who stood firmly...
Date of source: 19 Feb 2023
On Friday 17th, The United Arab Emirates opened the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, a day after the Muftī of Oman, Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Ḥamad al-Khalīlī, released a statement attacking the event. The inauguration was a result of the signing of the “Document on Human Fraternity” between the Grand...
Date of source: 19 Feb 2023
The 25th Session of International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) in Jeddah will begin tomorrow under the auspices of Prince Khālid bin Fayṣal, Adviser to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Governor of Makkah Province. Also included are the President of the Academy, Dr. Ṣāliḥ bin ʿAbd Allah bin...
Date of source: 5 Dec 2022
The current leadership of the Coptic Church has a multifaceted reform agenda, both internally in regards to education, monks, rituals and administration, and externally, in regards to opening up dialogues with Western churches confidently and making continuous attempts at rapprochement. This reform...
Date of source: 12 Dec 2023
Pope Tawāḍrūs II has explained the role of women in the Coptic Orthodox Church during his meeting with a group of young Copts from around the world. One youth participating in the meeting asked the Pope about the role of women in the Coptic Orthodox Church in the context of the prevailing discourse...
Date of source: 13 Dec 2022
The Diocese of Public Services in the Orthodox Church is considered to be one of the most important institutions that provides services to all of the Coptic communities in Egypt. It was founded to serve as the developmental division of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Diocese plays a leading role...
Date of source: 14 Dec 2022
On the evening of 14 December, on the sidelines of his weekly Wednesday meeting, Pope Tawāḍrūs inaugurated an exhibition of the Bible, organized by the Bible House of Egypt for one day at the Cathedral of St. Mark in ʿAbbāsiyya.
The Pope commended the Bible House's important role in disseminating...
Date of source: 16 Dec 2022
Bishop Bākhūm stated that President ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Sīsī’s participation in Christmas celebrations has confirmed that he is the president for all Egyptians from all sects and religions. He also confirmed that the Catholic, Anglican, Syrian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox denominations celebrate...
Date of source: 25 May 2023
The joint committee between the Muslim Council of Elders and the Vatican’s dicastery for interreligious dialogue held its first meeting in Bahrain on Wednesday (May 24, 2023). It discussed the role of religious leaders in facing contemporary global challenges and promoting Islamic-Christian...
Date of source: 5 Nov 2022
Abrām Emīl of the Alexandria Patriarchate said that St. Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria witnessed the start of the revival of Saint Mark the Apostle which coincides with the presentation of the relic of St. Mark’s head and the consecration of St. Mark’s Cathedral on Bābah 30 (note: Bābah is a month...
Date of source: 23 Nov 2022
Bishop Sīdārūs added in a statement: “On my part, I strongly rebuked him and he will be disciplined by the church for his statements. As His Holiness Pope Shenūda III has said previously, Protestant marriage is not fornication and is a recognized marriage in terms of public declaration and social...
Date of source: 8 Dec 2022
The meeting was attended by Dr.ʿIyād Naẓīr, Secretary-General of the Islamic Research Academy and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Azhar Magazine, Dr. Muḥammed Suleymān, Head of the Communication Sector at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and Dr. Shaimāʾ al-Demerdāsh, director of a heritage revitalization project...
Date of source: 25 Nov 2022
Beyond the important 2014 constitutional provisions (e.g. Article 3, Article 244) that were granted during the reign of Pope Tawāḍrūs, another result was that the Copts emerged from the 2015 Parliament elections with 38 seats. With the constitutional amendments that took place in 2019, the...
Date of source: 25 Nov 2022
The Mass prayer was presided over by Pope Theodoros II, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria and Africa, in the presence of the Deputy Patriarch Nicosmos, the Greek Ambassador to Egypt, Nicholas Gary Leides, and the Greek Consulate in Alexandria, Despina Khasiogro, as well as other...
Date of source: 25 Nov 2022
According to the press statement of St. Catherine's Cathedral in Alexandria, the celebration included a number of hymns and prayers from the church's choir. Guests included important representatives from the Coptic Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the...
Date of source: 25 Nov 2022
This seminar was primarily an attempt by the Pope to convey his view of community service that doesn’t differentiate between Christians and Muslims in Egypt. In addition, the Pope called on churchmen to support the state's efforts in development projects.
In line with this vision, the Pope visited...
Date of source: 25 Nov 2022
The researchers said that a shift to a culture of peace, non-violence, and tolerance requires a collaborative system that strives to identify and study obstacles and develop realistic solutions that can be implemented on the ground. Dr. Ahmed Zayed, director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, proposed...
Date of source: 25 Nov 2022
The report stated that the Egyptian legislators sought to issue Law No. 10 of 2021 to amend some provisions of the Penal Code related to female circumcision. The amendments included the deletion of any reference to the use of a medical justification, intensification of the penalties, and...
Date of source: 4 Nov 2022
Speaking about his book, Pope Tawāḍrūs said that it deals with an important part of Egyptian history, and added that history is life, as it is the story of humanity, so it must be preserved. He added that the name “man” (al-insān) came because he enjoys the virtue of forgetting, as he can forget...
Date of source: 4 Nov 2022
This question has passed through several historical stages, beginning with the personal status laws of 1938, then the issuance of Law No. 462 in 1955 abolishing the religious councils and referring their decisions to the civil courts, followed by Pope Kyrollos VI’s memorandum in 1962, the two...
Date of source: 31 Oct 2022
Dr. Muhammad al-Ḍuwaynī, Undersecretary of Al-Azhar, said that the dialogue process during the era of the Grand Imam Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib showed the Islamic vision of interfaith dialogue and confirmed the ability of Islam through its principles and tolerance for coexistence and dialogue with other...
Date of source: 18 Oct 2022
In his speech, Dr. Mukhtār Gumaʿa, the Minister of Religious Endowments in Egypt, emphasized that there can neither be compulsion in religion nor violence based on religious beliefs and that the freedom of belief requires the freedom to perform religious rituals.
“There can be no development...
Date of source: 16 Nov 2022
On Thursday, November 10, 2022, King Abdullah II visited the Vatican and met with His Holiness Pope Francis, who leads the largest church in the world with nearly 1.3 billion Catholics.
King Abdullah’s meeting with the Pope focused on the need to maintain interfaith dialogue, to promote coexistence...
Date of source: 16 Nov 2022
The Supreme Council of Muslims in Germany (SCMG) organized a ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding with the International Islamic Fiqh (jurisprudence) Academy (IIFA), which is affiliated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. This partnership is considered as a major leap in the...
Date of source: 16 Oct 2022
When we go back to the origins of the emergence of personal status laws in Arab countries, we find that they developed gradually and in stages until they reached their current shape. We can also note that these laws are similar in most of their articles pertaining to marriage and related matters...
Date of source: 4 Nov 2022
He continued: “In the small booklet entitled Church Education, His Holiness addressed the importance of the teacher, the curriculum, the learner, help, history, the library, and enlightenment. His Holiness stated that the teacher must be a reader, that is, someone who educates himself through all...
Date of source: 16 Nov 2022
The video currently circulating teems with ignorance, absence of wisdom and a lack of awareness of the fundamentals of social values which prevail around the world and throughout human history, regarding the correct understanding of marriage as that between male and female.
The priest, who lacks...
Date of source: 21 Nov 2022
Pope Tawāḍrūs arrived at the monastery alone and was greeted by dozens of monks and proceeded directly to the church altar to offer a prayer of thanks. The monastery’s website did not share any other clips of the Patriarch's session with the monks or further details.The Monastery of St. Macarius...
Date of source: 2 Nov 2022
Major General Aḥmad al-Jaʿlī explained his interest in the study of history, despite being a national security officer, and talked about the content of his thesis, which revolved around the personality of His Holiness Pope Shinūda III.
The thesis includes five main chapters, in addition to an...
Date of source: 21 Nov 2022
In his speech, Dr. Andrea Zakī said: “The ‘Love Never Fails’ team is a living model of coexistence in society, and we thank God that Egypt is rich in love and has the resilience to absorb all shocks and challenges in order to maintain peace and community cohesion.”
For his part, Dr. Naẓīr ʿAyād,...
Date of source: 5 Apr 2022
On Monday, 5 April 2022, a Kuwaiti court acquitted Muhammad Al-ʿAjmī , a well-known activist on social media platforms, known as Abū ʿAsam, of a religion defamation charge, as announced via a tweet by the Kuwaiti online media source, The Council.
Before releasing him on a 500 dinar bail ($1,650) in...
Date of source: 3 Nov 2022
In a speech for the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects conference on November 3rd, 2022, she expressed her sincere thanks to Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafā Madbūlī, for his keenness to include women's projects within the national initiative. She pointed out that the inclusion of women's...
Date of source: 3 Nov 2022
The Coptic Church and the Anglican Communion have good relations at the level of theological dialogue, as two agreements have been signed: the first on the nature of Christ (2014) and the second on the Holy Spirit (2017), which were signed at that time by the head of the Dialogue Committee for the...
Date of source: 4 Nov 2022
Grand Imam al-Ṭayyib will meet at the beginning of the second day with King Ḥamad bin ʿĪsa Āl Khalīfa of Bahrain, and Pope Francis to go together to the Martyr’s Square in Manama to plant a palm tree as an expression of friendship and human brotherhood and in honor of the martyrs. Then, the King of...
Date of source: 4 Nov 2022
On the first day of the forum, the participants discussed the importance of dialogue between religions. Sheikh Abdul Raḥman bin Muḥammad Āl Khalīfa, the president of the High Council of Islamic Affairs in Bahrain, welcomed the participation of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr. Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib, noting...
Date of source: 6 Nov 2022
On Sunday 6 November 2022, His Majesty King Abdullah II received the annual report on the conditions of the Sharīʿa courts and their work progress during 2021.
During his meeting with Chief Justice Sheikh Abdul-Ḥāfiẓ al-Rabta, and the Head of the Sharīʿa Judicial Council, Judge Kamāl Al-Smadī, the...
Date of source: 3 Nov 2022
According to the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Christmas fast is one of the lesser fasts, in which it is allowed to eat fish as a kind of concession in addition to vegetarian food. The church chose the fish for several reasons because of its rich symbolism in Christians history (e.g. it was a sign...
Date of source: 12 Mar 2022
His ordination as Patriarch
After the death of Patriarch Gabriel I, Anbā Cosmas [Quzmān] III was ordained as Patriarch on 28th February 920 CE.
His crisis with the Ethiopian Church
After the ordination of Pope Cosmas as Patriarch, there were controversies between the Coptic Church and the...
Date of source: 9 Aug 2022
By examining the gender inequality that women face in Egypt according to the standard international estimates and indicators, we find that Egypt ranks at the bottom in the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum for 2022, in which Egypt participates annually. Egypt was classified as one...
Date of source: 10 Aug 2022
In its statement on the case of the murder of the student Salmā Bahjat in al-Sharqiyya governorate, the Public Prosecution added, “We warn against this unjustified media rush to delve into the details of the incident and to analyze the personality of the victim and the accused, and the motives for...
Date of source: 18 Aug 2022
Ṭāyiʿ said that he was interested in this analytical study for the following reasons:-
First, the need to represent the role of religious institutions in the past 20 years, especially during the two revolutions of January 25, 2011, and June 30, 2013, that changed the course of events in Egypt and...
Date of source: 5 Jul 2022
Fr. Dr. Andrea Zakī, head of the Evangelical community, said that President ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ al-Sīsī is playing an unprecedented role in the new republic; a state that is built on the foundations of law, equality and citizenship. Zakī added that the new capital has an integrated political and...
Date of source: 5 Aug 2022
How accurate is it to say that the media attacks on Al-Azhar are "systematic" or "deliberate"?
Nathan Brown, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, told BBC News Arabic that any "attack" on al-Azhar in the Egyptian media "is symbolic because the...
Date of source: 7 Nov 2022
The Covenant of ʿUmar is a 9th-century document prohibiting church building, the rebuilding of destroyed churches, and displaying a cross on churches. Historically, the text has been attributed to the second Rashidun Caliph ‘Umar Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (born around 583/584 – 644 CE). This so-called...
Date of source: 15 Oct 2022
Imām Fāḍl Sulaymān: This verse cannot be abrogated though some people, Muslims and non-Muslims, would love to say that it is abrogated. The bad news for them is that it cannot be abrogated because there is a kind of lock placed at the end of the verse.
Here is the verse from my translation of the...
Date of source: 7 Nov 2022
Judge ʿĀdil Mājid, at the time Vice President of the Court of Cassation in Egypt, Judge at the Criminal Chamber, Honorary Professor of Law at Durham University (UK), Legal Advisor to the Arab League of States, refers to two important documents: the Azhar Document on the Future of Egypt of 21 June...
Date of source: 21 Oct 2022
At the “Document on Human Fraternity - A Christian Arab Reading” seminar, Dr. Assaad Elias Kattan [Asʿad Ilyās Qaṭṭān], Professor in Orthodox theology at Wilhelms-University in Münster. , confirmed that the document on Human Fraternity is among the most prominent texts produced by the dynamism of...
Date of source: 22 Oct 2022
Anbā Jrījūrius held various positions, including membership of specialized national councils, member of the Arabic Language Academy, and head of the Arabic translation of the Bible committee. He authored 60 books for courses taught in the Coptic Orthodox Theological College.
According to deacon...
Date of source: 21 Oct 2022
It was indicated in a statement that camping outside the monastery to begin on the first day, corresponding to the 1st of next November, stressing that the participants should abide by the specified dates. The activities are scheduled to last for seven days and will conclude on November 16,...
Date of source: 21 Oct 2022
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Awqāf, the next Friday sermon will be mainly dedicated to the initiative, and will be talking about “the right of the homeland”. In addition, there will be a number of seminars in all governorates of Egypt.
Senior scholars and imams will be...
Date of source: 22 Oct 2022
It was mentioned that Pope Tawāḍrūs II was interested in visiting the worshipers of the Coptic Church in the diaspora and Arab countries. It was indicated that the Pope will be accompanied on this visit by bishop Yūliyyūs of the Bishopric of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services and Fr. Kīrillus...
Date of source: 20 Oct 2022
The organizers of the historic Papal visit to the Kingdom of Bahrain, from the 3rd to the 6th of November, said that about 28,000 people will participate in the public mass, which will be presided over by the Supreme Pontiff, at the Bahrain National Stadium, on the morning of Saturday November 4,...
Date of source: 20 Oct 2022
On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 18-19, 2022, the thirteenth convention of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Middle East was held, including: H.H. Pope Tawāḍrūs II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark; H.H. Mar Ignatius Abhram II, Patriarch of Antioch, All the East and...
Date of source: 29 Sep 2022
The Catholic Archdiocese in Algeria announced that Algerian authorities decided to close Caritas, the international Catholic charitable foundation, which has been providing social and charitable services for six decades, and which in recent months has specifically focused on providing aid to...
Date of source: 19 Oct 2022
During the meeting, a number of issues of shared interest were discussed, in the introduction of which came the topic of the Christian existence in the Middle East and theological dialogues which the Eastern Orthodox family undertook with ecclesiastical denominations, and the efforts which the...