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Have You seen this!!!
I was on youtube and i came across these videos, its in three parts, watch em and tell me what you think, and your views on it.
God Bless
God Bless
Comments
I just wish we could do something.
Anymore views are appreciated
God Bless
Thank u for this post. I was wondering what life was like for Christians in Muslim dominated Egypt. Now i know why many leave. It is so heart breaking. Still i know our Almighty Gods plan is perfect. In Ethiopia, after years of fussing and fighting...Muslims and Christians mostly live side by side in peace, even marrying. i mean there are always some disagreements in life, but if it is between Christian and Christian it is the same between Muslim and Christian....people just disagree sometimes.
Good can overcome evil. Christ's cross was buried under loads of rubbish until the Blessed Queen St. Helena went with her own two hands and dug it out.
Baby Mina in video 3 is soooooooooo beautiful. What a brave family.
Thank you for calling Ethiopia "your country". I am actually from the western part of the world but had the priviledge to be baptized and live in Ethiopia for aprox. 9mths.
I like that about ethiopians also, that they "do not flinch" and have not been conquered by any of their enemies, which have been many.
God bless you
No, Egypt was not always dominated by muslims, Egypt was (from what i understand):
1.Pharaohs
2.Greeks and Romans
3.Copts
4.Muslims
That i from what i understand..... and the muslims did not take over Egypt till the uprisisng of islam and the invasion of muslims ( in 639 A.D. )
When islam took over the Coptic Egypt, they gave the Copts 3 options:
1. Die as Christians
2. Pay lots of Taxes (that is how we are still Copts today, because our ancestors paid the taxes)
3. Convert to islam
So from my understanding The muslims weren't there for a very big chunk of time in Egyptian history.... only very early in the seventh century...
The main aspect of the Christian existence in the cited coutry of Egypt is that when the Copts present their Christian principles they are quintessential to the vitality of the State. When the Copts have acted foolishly and in emulation of the despicable aspect of the majority in the country or the Western secularism, they have been a shameful representation of Christianity.
There are poor in Egypt that are beyond the description of poor. www.care4needycopts.org
This is all so heartbreaking! There are probably many people being martyred today in Egypt, Ethiopia and other places.
The Holy Scriptures say those who seek to save their lives will lose it, and those who lose their lives will save them.
I feel brave now in the safety of my home, but if i go to Egypt and say to the present pharoah.....let my people go....When i am tortured and thrown in jail, i wonder if i could endure.....Or maybe 'pharoah' can be 'persuaded' as St.Moses did, to free God's people!!!
pray for me
joe
The same choices were given to Ethiopians when the muslims started war with them. Some died as Christians, some paid them off, some converted to Islam.
This is all so heartbreaking! There are probably many people being martyred today in Egypt, Ethiopia and other places.
The Holy Scriptures say those who seek to save their lives will lose it, and those who lose their lives will save them.
I feel brave now in the safety of my home, but if i go to Egypt and say to the present pharoah.....let my people go....When i am tortured and thrown in jail, i wonder if i could endure.....Or maybe 'pharoah' can be 'persuaded' as St.Moses did, to free God's people!!!
you do realise there is no Pharaohs in Egpyt.... there is more of a president-dictator kind of guy... he is so old now... and that would be very nice of you to try to go talk to him and tell him to free all Copts and to get them to be treated equally....
Coptic Pharoah,
I do not think she is literally saying the leader of present day Egpyt is a Pharoah;-) .Note the quotation mark that encloses the term Pharoah.Elsi is invoking the biblical verse of Moses, where he challenged the Pharaoh to let his people go and she is, I might add ,correctly applying the same non-violent principles to the modern day injustices committed against the actual stake holders of Egypt,the Copts.
God Bless
Since it is, Ilovesaintmark,who gave the link to the video, I would like to know what s/he thinks.
Firstly, why do you feel such pity on the people of el Zabaleen???
I have been there, and although I must say that hygene wasn't present at all in the area where they lived, the churches (there were many) were absolutely beatiful and big.
From what I've heard and seen, those people are pretty poor yet they manage to make a living doing an honest job: collecting and recycling garbage. They sell the recycled stuff.
They might be poor in money and hygene, but my impression was that they were rich in spirituality and love for God.
Secondly, we keep talking about the unfair treatment of Copts which is absolutely true, I know this from relatives and friends living in Egypt. As a Copt you most probably won't get treated equally. Yet I really think it's wrong to speak about Egyptian muslims this way. Many of them were originally copts who converted a long time ago. But regardless, I'm Egyptian and proud of my country and its history. And I believe in an Egypt with both muslims and christians. We shouldn't be disrespectful to Muslims, I know many of them and they're definitely not all evil .. In fact, I've had and still maintain contact with muslim friends and I've never had problems with them and I love them.
Whoever said 'Mohammed (HBUH)' by which I guess you meant hell be upon him, I humbly say that I don't think this is the way us christian should be talking. We are ambassadors of Christ on earth, people should see us and glorify our lord who is in heaven. When we are disrespectful to others and their religious leaders, what message are we sending???
How can we expect love and respect from our Muslim brothers in Egypt when we speak in such a manner about their religion???
I would also like to share a thought I've been having with you guys:
Maybe the fact that our church doesn't have it easy in Egypt is for the best. For in weakness the Lord shows His strength. I mean look at the Catholic church in the Middleages, it became too rich, too powerful, too involved in politics and too corrupt. Which drove many people away, with reason I might add, there are records of popes with children and popes selling papers to people with absolvence from sin so they could enter heaven if they had one!!!
Our church has been persecuted from its beginnings and never lost strength, to the contrary, Copts are very religious and have great faith. Whereas many (not all) 'christians' living in the west where there is complete equality and freedom to practice their religion don't even believe in God. In Europe there are so many empty churches, yet in Egypt where it's difficult to build them, you find them always full of believers (thank God for that)
Srry for the long comment , God Bless, plz pray for me
In answer to your question, I am a guy. I chose the name: "Ilovesaintmark" because it forces everyone to pronounce those words. St. Mark has been forgotten in so many ways, and that includes the great saints: Severus and Dioscorus. By using this name, in my own small way, I am reminding everyone of our roots, the mission that he carried, and the vine branch that he procured from Jerusalem and planted in Egypt...the fruits of which we have now in the Sacramental Life of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
I have posted a lot about the issue of the poor. They are being ignored in all regards. I do not know how people can be so callous towards their brethren and specifically to them as Brethren to Our Lord.
I believe strongly in the concept of the tithe as the minimum, but I believe people are just indifferent and unwilling to open their hearts, ears, and eyes to the suffering. I almost think their is a psychological withdrawal so as not feel the responsibility and be able to carry foward with one of Our Lord's Greatest Missions.
Fund raisers, drives, boxes are all reminders, but I feel the main feature comes from the spirit of charity within us. There should be a cycle of Christian spiritual nurture, outpouring of love, charitable giving, a lesson learned in spirit, and then the cycle repeats. This is the ideal.
I believe the ultimate lesson is going and living in these conditions even for one day to appreciate the desperate aspect of things. Yet, there is a certain blessedness in their existence. The road is two-way. There is so much we receive when we return to the Lord that which belongs to Him. I find myself choked up every time I try to express myself on this matter.
I came from Shoubra, which is a blessed borough of Cairo. Whenever I return for a visit in Egypt, I do not stay in the hotels, I just stay with my family there. I do not do it out of pity but out of reverence for spending every possible moment with them. I choose not to go anywhere except to spend it in the bosom of my family. They are all professionals, but even in their best, it does not equal to the luxury of Western existence.
I do not feel that posting names and amounts donated do anything to foster others to carry with the same example. I do believe there should be an emphasis and remembrance at every level, including collections in the Sunday School classes, and even from the pulpit.
I have mentioned before that I usually do not accept gifts from my friends and colleagues. I give them a small card with my parish address and a request to donate to the poor in Egypt. In this way, I am enlightening them to the plight of our People...the People of God in Egypt.
You know, Hezekial, I have even gone the route of being nasty to try to shame people into remembering the poor, but even that does not work. All I can do is my best with my own resources to present to God as an offering and a sacrifice. I thank Him not that He has given me so much, but rather that He has given me the opportunity to extend this act of mercy. He is in effect allowing me to participate in the Godly plan. He is giving me a chance to help my own soul. He is giving me a chance to keep from doing a wrong. If one puts these resources to this task it is also kept from any temptation and use for any possible bad action.
I do not know Hezekial. I just do not know what to say.
i know it sounds harsh... but that is what lots of us (including me) do it ( not in those exact words or scenario... but u get the point) ... we go to God when we are in trouble and need Him.. but when everything is ok..... we don't pray as much as we used to, we don't read the Bible as much, we get too busy for Church...
We have to thank God for those muslims in Egypt and be happier the more they presure us ( i know it sounds weired and kind of stupid.. but that is the truth) because the more they presure us, the stronger our faith becomes and the closer to get we get....
God qorks in mystirious ways... in this case by sending us muslims
It's alright we are all sinnners here ;). I know it does not come easy to us, but Christ teaches that we should love our enemies...pray for them. I think that is why the Christians and Muslims get along in Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie built Churchs and Mosques and taught tolerance.
The Devil has deceived the whole world.
I am from a place where the majority claim to be christians but are mostly backstabbers! I am not angry with Christianity though, i'm angry with ignorance and the Devil.
Hezekial,
In answer to your question, I am a guy. I chose the name: "Ilovesaintmark" because it forces everyone to pronounce those words. St. Mark has been forgotten in so many ways, and that includes the great saints: Severus and Dioscorus. By using this name, in my own small way, I am reminding everyone of our roots, the mission that he carried, and the vine branch that he procured from Jerusalem and planted in Egypt...the fruits of which we have now in the Sacramental Life of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
I have posted a lot about the issue of the poor. They are being ignored in all regards. I do not know how people can be so callous towards their brethren and specifically to them as Brethren to Our Lord.
I believe strongly in the concept of the tithe as the minimum, but I believe people are just indifferent and unwilling to open their hearts, ears, and eyes to the suffering. I almost think their is a psychological withdrawal so as not feel the responsibility and be able to carry foward with one of Our Lord's Greatest Missions.
Fund raisers, drives, boxes are all reminders, but I feel the main feature comes from the spirit of charity within us. There should be a cycle of Christian spiritual nurture, outpouring of love, charitable giving, a lesson learned in spirit, and then the cycle repeats. This is the ideal.
I believe the ultimate lesson is going and living in these conditions even for one day to appreciate the desperate aspect of things. Yet, there is a certain blessedness in their existence. The road is two-way. There is so much we receive when we return to the Lord that which belongs to Him. I find myself choked up every time I try to express myself on this matter.
I came from Shoubra, which is a blessed borough of Cairo. Whenever I return for a visit in Egypt, I do not stay in the hotels, I just stay with my family there. I do not do it out of pity but out of reverence for spending every possible moment with them. I choose not to go anywhere except to spend it in the bosom of my family. They are all professionals, but even in their best, it does not equal to the luxury of Western existence.
I do not feel that posting names and amounts donated do anything to foster others to carry with the same example. I do believe there should be an emphasis and remembrance at every level, including collections in the Sunday School classes, and even from the pulpit.
I have mentioned before that I usually do not accept gifts from my friends and colleagues. I give them a small card with my parish address and a request to donate to the poor in Egypt. In this way, I am enlightening them to the plight of our People...the People of God in Egypt.
You know, Hezekial, I have even gone the route of being nasty to try to shame people into remembering the poor, but even that does not work. All I can do is my best with my own resources to present to God as an offering and a sacrifice. I thank Him not that He has given me so much, but rather that He has given me the opportunity to extend this act of mercy. He is in effect allowing me to participate in the Godly plan. He is giving me a chance to help my own soul. He is giving me a chance to keep from doing a wrong. If one puts these resources to this task it is also kept from any temptation and use for any possible bad action.
I do not know Hezekial. I just do not know what to say.
IloveStmark,
Thanks for your post. I agree that St Mark is very often forgotten. Infact, our church fathers who defended and helped spread Orthodoxy are more often remembered than the great apostle who sow the seed of life. I also feel,that St Joseph the fiancee of our Blessed Virgin is not treated with the same respect and diginity as other Saints in our church. This is vividly revealed by the fact he is not included in the commemoration of Saints and that we have virtually very few or none churchs named after him. I do hope, that someone takes notice of this and grant St Jospeh his rightful place within the ranks of the heavenly hosts
I appreciate your dedication and love for the poor.As the David Psalimst said: Blessed is he who considers the poor;The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive,And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness;You will sustain him on his sickbed..I only encourage you to keep it up and continue to lead by good example. I basically agree with your point.Charity is a virtue and its beauty is its anonymity.St Paul had adressed this great virtue beautifully in his epistles to the Cornithians (Chapt 13).When I talked about setting a fund drive here at Tasbeha, It was not about posting names and amounts.It is my way of nudging those who would like stretch their helping hand to the poor.I believe,the internet could be a wonderful tool of collecting donations for the poor. There is a successful story that I am aware of which was organized by the Eritrean Tewahdo Orthodox Church and the gov.It involved adopting the poorest of the poor in Eritrea.In order to include all religious segments of the society, it was proposed to give the project a non religious nature to stave off eventual polarization and discrimination between some minorites. An extensive study found out that some 9000 families had no house bread winners and needed assistance.The idea of adopting a family for 2 years and beyond was born.The burden to help the poor fell on those diasporic Eritreans .Today, those families have a sort of welfare system and no one is going hungry anymore. The 2 years have passed and those who adopted a family or 2 ,and mind you many other nationalities also joined in this holy endeavour pledged to help for the rest of their lives.To make this possible,the Internet helped a great deal and since ther was a tremendous amount of will to help, the story has been a resounding success. We, at Tasbeha org could also exploit such an apportunity.For example, I have in mind a monastry in the El Miniya area of Egypt that I would like to collect donations for.So far, apart from my own limited personal and inconsequential little help, I could not do anymore.There,I have seen poverty and how the small monastry with its meagre resources attempts to alleviate the problems of the needy villagers on a daily basis.At times,some of the burdens ,such as expenses for marriage is a daunting task.Very often,I think about them and I do pray to the Lord to let some bucks rain from the skies so that I could take it to them with the next plane personally.
Speaking of Shoubra, did you by any chance witness the apparition of the blessed Virgin at the church of St Demiana back in the late 80's? Any great stories to tell? So far, I have not been able to find a Video footage or a real picture that was taken from there.If you happen to know the existance of any, let me know.
I have a couple of comments to make
Firstly, why do you feel such pity on the people of el Zabaleen???
I have been there, and although I must say that hygene wasn't present at all in the area where they lived, the churches (there were many) were absolutely beatiful and big.
From what I've heard and seen, those people are pretty poor yet they manage to make a living doing an honest job: collecting and recycling garbage. They sell the recycled stuff.
They might be poor in money and hygene, but my impression was that they were rich in spirituality and love for God.
Secondly, we keep talking about the unfair treatment of Copts which is absolutely true, I know this from relatives and friends living in Egypt. As a Copt you most probably won't get treated equally. Yet I really think it's wrong to speak about Egyptian muslims this way. Many of them were originally copts who converted a long time ago. But regardless, I'm Egyptian and proud of my country and its history. And I believe in an Egypt with both muslims and christians. We shouldn't be disrespectful to Muslims, I know many of them and they're definitely not all evil .. In fact, I've had and still maintain contact with muslim friends and I've never had problems with them and I love them.
Whoever said 'Mohammed (HBUH)' by which I guess you meant hell be upon him, I humbly say that I don't think this is the way us christian should be talking. We are ambassadors of Christ on earth, people should see us and glorify our lord who is in heaven. When we are disrespectful to others and their religious leaders, what message are we sending???
How can we expect love and respect from our Muslim brothers in Egypt when we speak in such a manner about their religion???
I would also like to share a thought I've been having with you guys:
Maybe the fact that our church doesn't have it easy in Egypt is for the best. For in weakness the Lord shows His strength. I mean look at the Catholic church in the Middleages, it became too rich, too powerful, too involved in politics and too corrupt. Which drove many people away, with reason I might add, there are records of popes with children and popes selling papers to people with absolvence from sin so they could enter heaven if they had one!!!
Our church has been persecuted from its beginnings and never lost strength, to the contrary, Copts are very religious and have great faith. Whereas many (not all) 'christians' living in the west where there is complete equality and freedom to practice their religion don't even believe in God. In Europe there are so many empty churches, yet in Egypt where it's difficult to build them, you find them always full of believers (thank God for that)
Srry for the long comment , God Bless, plz pray for me
I feel pity for us all because we all suffer together. I feel sadness for anyone who has to live in the conditions the so called 'Zabaleen' do. I think the Devil would like to see us all living like that. I live in affluent country, yet people have taken to throwing their garbage in the trees!! The news reports that the worst dumping area is next to our incinerator plant??!! And your right - in all our affluence and wealth we have very little priests who will come to our homes and minister to us and our family's - even with all our 'sweet' smells God has found us wanting, unworthy. Our churchs are empty - only full for funerals now-a-days, but it seems no one takes heed or see's the need for more Christian love and spirituallity in their lives!? I wonder will we have to live in a dump before people realize the importance of giving God His due??!!?
Remembering to give thanks and praises to God for every condition in every condition!
I think the Devil would like to see us all living like that.
There is away around this, i know its hard.
and this goes for me before any other human on the planet
but if we pray and put of hope and out worries on God the devil cant make us upset and we will live a life of happiness
and the devil will hate it because God turned the devils evil into good.
God Bless
Pray for me a sinner
Save & Become Saved!