Bishop Aghabious added that renovating 4 churches, including two ancient churches and service buildings that were torched after the dispersal of the Brotherhood’s sit-ins in Rabaa el-Adaweya and Nahda squares on August 14, would cost 7 million EGP.
He pointed out that a committee from the Ministry of Housing had carried out an inspection of the affected churches, but they have not yet received any response from any governmental entity on rebuilding them.
He stressed that Christians in Deir Mawas have experienced difficulties in their jobs and movements for two months, and added that Christians in Minya are subjected to clear persecution, and this persecution has become a policy by the state.
The bishop demanded equality for all Egyptians before the law, and that Christians obtain full rights without discrimination.
He pointed out that the number of the Christians who have been kidnapped and released after paying ransoms to the kidnappers in the villages of Deir Mawas from February 2013 to October 22 has reached 11 cases. He added that the reason behind such kidnappings is the poor security performance in prosecuting the perpetrators and instigators in these incidents.
He stressed that the Diocese of Deir Mawas would cooperate with another church institution to rebuild and restore the private property of Christians, including houses, shops and pharmacies, which were damaged in the recent violence acts by Islamists.
“Some repairs and construction works have already started in a number of villages in the district and they are about to finish,” the bishop added.
He pointed out that Christians in the villages of Deir Mawas, Minya, have faced difficulties in their jobs and movements for two months because of the terror they suffered after attacks by Islamists on August 14, but they are gradually returning to normal life.
“More than 130 Christian families in the district’s villages have been displaced from their homes; some of them left their homes due to threats of death or abduction and others due to burning of their homes,” explained the bishop, who added that he did not know if those who left their homes would come back or not, but the church is taking care of them in their new locations.
“The biggest concentration of Copts all over Egypt is found in Minya, and since the revolution of 1952, there has been a clear persecution suffered by Christians in Minya, which has become a policy by the state,” the bishop said.
The bishop referred to incidents of violence against Christians that took place under late President Anwar Sadat, as well as the ignorance of Mubarak to attacks on Copts, and finally the rule of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, which Bishop Aghabious believed was “the worst period suffered by Egyptians in general and Christians in particular.”
Bishop Aghabious called on officials to promote equality between all Egyptians before the law without distinction between citizens on any basis, and to give Copts their rights on an equal footing with Muslims.