Personal message from the Archbishop of Canterbury
A memorial service to mark the first anniversary of the bombing in Alexandria of the Church of Saints Mark & Peter in Egypt, as well as the victims of Atfih, Imbaba and more notably Maspero, was held on Sunday 8 January at the Coptic Orthodox Church Centre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
The service was attended by representatives of Her Majesty The Queen, the Prime Minister, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Bishop Paul Hendricks, Auxiliary Bishop in the Catholic Diocese of Southwark and Fr Mark Woodruff representing the Archdiocese of Westminster were among church leaders in attendance.
The service was led by His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom who spoke about the Feast of the Nativity, being celebrated by the Coptic Orthodox Church on 8 January this year, and that the birth of Christ was for transformation and change, calling for an Egypt that is also transformed to be for every Egyptian citizen, stating the following in his address:
“We must move on from bitterness, but we must also move on from old ways that have fragmented a community and brought a death sentence, albeit unofficial, upon many…we stand and we pray today, we raise our hearts in confidence, and we place ourselves before the Incarnate Word, that as He sacrificed and as those we commemorate today sacrificed, as He reconciled the world, reconciliation may also come to every part of the world, to Egypt, to Nigeria, and to every part that is suffering now.”
In a personal message to the head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury said: “I write to assure you once again of the love and prayer that the Church of England extends for you. We are all deeply conscious of the spiritual gifts poured out upon the Coptic Church and our prayer at the moment is that those gifts will be used in a peaceful new Egypt, where the very best of your history of tolerance and co-operation between communities of faith may be honoured. We pray very earnestly for the good of the whole nation and in the spirit of the prophet Jeremiah, we hope that you will continue to ‘seek the welfare of the city where the Lord has placed you’.
For more information on the Coptic Orthodox Church Centre see: http://www.copticcentre.com/