Statement by His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom –
Another day in Egypt with another Coptic Christian murdered; this time a priest from Beni Suef, Upper Egypt, who was in Cairo collecting humanitarian aid for vulnerable members of his parish. Fr Samaan was paying a pastoral visit to a family in Cairo and returned to the church where he was earlier to collect his mobile phone. On the way, he was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant who chased him, stabbed him repeatedly, and then brutally killed him.This incident makes us once again ask so many questions. Why should a priest not be able to walk safely down a street, especially a suburban street in Cairo? Why should he be chased by a man brandishing a deadly weapon and have no one run to his aid; in actual fact, everyone was running away. Why, when he lay drenched in his own blood did the ambulance service not arrive for over an hour, and then not treat him? Why, when the police finally arrived, and he lay dead, was a crime scene not secured and forensic evidence not collected to enable a robust and serious investigation? Why is his assailant immediately deemed mentally incapable without professional diagnosis, and why, if he is incapable, and a known violent criminal, is he left in the community with weapons within his reach?
After the initial shock and the immense sadness, today is a day that brings anger and I am not apologetic for that anger. I would be just as angry if this was any other person being dealt with in this way, in any other part of Egypt or indeed any other part of the world. Yet he is a Christian, a Coptic Christian, and a Coptic priest, which makes it all the more close and all the more painful.
Just this week I have been with a Coptic delegation from Cairo seeking grants to serve not only the Coptic community but the wider Egyptian community. Grants that would cover health, education and poverty eradication. Where was this wider Egyptian community however when Father Samaan ran terrified through a street being chased by a violent criminal, and where was it when he lay dying and alone? Where was it when the assailant attacked him repeatedly, and where will it be while his family and congregation grieve the loss of their father, husband, brother, pastor and friend? These are questions that need to be addressed at every level of Egyptian community and leadership.
Crime cannot be totally eradicated, but at least it needs to be properly investigated, prosecuted, and shown to be a violation against the whole state and not just its immediate victim.
The immense pain of this incident and all that have preceded it, including: child kidnapping, forced conversion, individual targetting, bus attacks and church bombings against the Coptic Orthodox community in Egypt, leads us to hold more strongly onto the words of our Lord God in Exodus 3:7: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry…for I know their sorrows.” Coptic Christians who have endured injustice, persecution, and loss of life for centuries without retaliation, repeatedly forgiving unconditionally, deserve to live with respect and dignity in their indigenous homeland.
While recognising that anger may often open a path to hatred or resentment, there are times at which it is a natural expression of a human emotion, and reaction to a sense of deep injustice. I am sure that I am not alone in my anger, but that it is shared by every law-abiding person of any belief and indeed of none, who has witnessed this vicious and inhumane attack. In the midst of this anger and this sadness however I continue to pray. I pray repose for Father Samaan, I pray for his family, I pray for his community. I pray for the wider Egyptian Christian community that feels more and more vulnerable and targeted daily against a backdrop of negligence and injustice. I pray for the wider Egyptian society, that becomes more and more discredited and compromised as these incidents continue to happen.
This anger is not void of forgiveness, but cries out for accountability and justice.
___________
Photo Credit: Catholic Herald
http://copticcentre.blogspot.fr/2017/10/statement-by-his-grace-bishop-angaelos.html?m=1
الأحد 15 أكتوبر 2017
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ترجمة حرفية باللغة العربية )
لبيان نيافة الأنبا / أنجيلوس
أسقف عام الكنيسة القبطية الأرثوذكسية فى المملكة المتحدة
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Statement by His Grace Bishop Angaelos
General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom
———————–
Another day in Egypt with another Coptic Christian murdered; this time a priest from Beni Suef, Upper Egypt,
who was in Cairo collecting humanitarian aid for vulnerable members of his parish. Fr Samaan was paying a pastoral visit to a family in Cairo and returned to the church where he was earlier to collect his mobile phone. On the way, he was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant who chased him, stabbed him repeatedly, and then brutally killed him.
بيان من غِبطة الأسقف / أنجيلوس
أسقف عام الكنيسة القبطية الأرثوذكسية فى المملكة المتحدة
—
يوم آخر فى مصر بقتل قبطى مسيحى آخر
هذه المرة كاهنا من بنى سويف بصعيد مصر
كان فى القاهرة يجمع المساعدات الإنسانية لأفراد رعيته الضعفاء. كان الأب / سمعان يقوم بزيارة إفتقاد ورعاية لأسرة فى القاهرة وعاد إلى الكنيسة أينما كان فى وقت سابق لإستحضار تليفونه الجوال.
وعلى الطريق هجم عليه سَفَّاح وغدره بطعنات متكررة ومن ثَمَّ قتله بوحشية
.
This incident makes us once again ask so many questions.
Why should a priest not be able to walk safely down a street, especially a suburban street in Cairo?
Why should he be chased by a man brandishing a deadly weapon and have no one run to his aid
in actual fact, everyone was running away.
Why, when he lay drenched in his own blood did the ambulance service not arrive for over an hour, and then not treat him?
Why, when the police finally arrived, and he lay dead, was a crime scene not secured and forensic evidence not collected to enable a robust and serious investigation?
Why is his assailant immediately deemed mentally incapable without professional diagnosis,
And why, if he is incapable, and a known violent criminal, is he left in the community with weapons within his reach?
هذا الحدث يجعلنا نسأل مرة أخرى كثيراَ من الأسئلة.
لماذا لا يستطيع أى كاهن السير بأمن وأمان فى الشارع وخصوصاً فى ضواحى القاهرة ؟
لماذا يجب أن يكون مطارداً من رجل يحمل سلاحا مميتا ولا أحد يسارع لنجدته ؟
فى الحقيقة الواقعة كل شخص كان يهرب بعيداً.
لماذا، وهو غارقاً بدمه لم يصل الإسعاف لأكثر من ساعة، ولا يُعالجه ؟
لماذا، وهو صريع عندما وصلت الشرطة أخيرا ، كان مكان الجريمة غير مؤمَّن وأدلة الطب الشرعى لم تُجمع لتمكين تحقيق قوى جاد ؟
لماذا يُعتبر الجانى على الفور مُختلاً عقليا دون تشخيص أخصائيين
ولماذا، طالما أنه مُتخلِّف عقلياَ، ومعروف عنه العُنف والإجرام، يُترك فى المُجتمع بأسلحة ضمن يديه ؟
After the initial shock and the immense sadness,
today is a day that brings anger
And I am not apologetic for that anger.
I would be just as angry if this was any other person being dealt with in this way, in any other part of Egypt
or indeed any other part of the world.
Yet he is a Christian,
a Coptic Christian, and
a Coptic priest,
which makes it all the more close and all the more painful.
بعد الصدمة الأولى والحزن الهائل
اليوم يوم يستدعى الغضب
وأنا لن أعتذر لهذا الغضب
سأغضب لو حدث هذا مع أى شخص آخر بهذه الطريقة وفى أى مكان آخر بمصر
أو فى الواقع أى جزء آخر من الدُنيا.
إلاَّ أنه ليس بعد يجعل جميعها أكثر عُمقاً وأعنف ألماً
كونه مسيحى
مسيحى قبطى
كاهن قبطى
.
Just this week I have been with a Coptic delegation from Cairo seeking grants to serve not only the Coptic community but the wider Egyptian community.
Grants that would cover health, education and poverty eradication.
Where was this wider Egyptian community however when Father Samaan ran terrified through a street being chased by a violent criminal,
and where was it when he lay dying and alone?
Where was it when the assailant attacked him repeatedly,
and where will it be while his family and congregation grieve the loss of their father,
husband, brother, pastor and friend?
These are questions that need to be addressed at every level of Egyptian community and leadership.
هذا الأسبوع كنت مع وفد قبطى من القاهرة يسأل مِنح وعطايا ليس فقط لخدمة المجتمع القبطى فحسب لكن كل المجتمع المصرى الأوسع.
مِنح وعطايا لتُعويض وتغطية متطلبات الصحة والتعليم وإستئصال الفقر.
إلاَّ أنه أين كان هذا المجتمع المصرى الأوسع حينما ركض وجرى مسرعاً مذعوراً هارباً فى الشوارع أثناء غدر مجرم سفاح عنيف بالأب / سمعان ؟
وأين كان عندما وقع وحده المغدور به ليموت بمفرده دون سواه ؟
أين كان ذلك المُجتمع المصرى الأوسع عندما هاجمه السفاح بطعنات متكررة ؟
وأين سيكون بينما أسرته وبيعته حزانى لفقدان أبوته
الزوج الأخ القس والصديق ؟
هذه أسئلة تحتاج لإجابات وتوضيحات وردود وأفعال من جميع المستويات فى المجتمع والحكومة المصرية
.
Crime cannot be totally eradicated, but at least it needs to be properly investigated, prosecuted,
and shown to be a violation against the whole state and not just its immediate victim.
مُستحيل إستئصال الجريمة تماما
غير أنه على الأقل تحتاج لتقصى وتحقيق حقيقى وشفاف وملاحقة قضائية
وإستبيان كونها انتهاكا للدولة كلها ليس فقط ضد ضحيتها الحالية
.
The immense pain of this incident and all that have preceded it,
including : child kidnapping, forced conversion, individual targetting, bus attacks and church bombings against the Coptic Orthodox community in Egypt,
leads us to hold more strongly onto the words of our Lord God in Exodus 3:7:
“I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry . for I know their sorrows.” فَقَالَ الرَّبُّ : « إِنِّي قَدْ رَأَيْتُ مَذَلَّةَ شَعْبِي الَّذِى فِي مِصْرَ وَسَمِعْتُ صُرَاخَهُمْ مِنْ أَجْلِ مُسَخِّرِيهِمْ . إِنِّي عَلِمْتُ أَوْجَاعَهُمْ
Coptic Christians who have endured injustice, persecution, and loss of life for centuries without retaliation, repeatedly forgiving unconditionally,
deserve to live with respect and dignity in their indigenous homeland.
الألم الجم لهذا الحدث وجميع ما سبقه
مُتضمناً : اختطاف الأطفال والأسلمة الإجبارية القسرية وإستهداف الأفراد وهجمات حافلات الرحلات وتفجيرات الكنائس ضد المُجتمع القبطى الأرثوذكسى فى مصر
يقودنا للتمسك قوياً بكلمات إلهَنا فى سفر الخروج الإصحاح 3 الآية 7 :
“لقد رأيت بالتأكيد اضطهاد شعبى الموجود فى مصر وسمعت صراخهم . وأعرف أحزانهم”
فَقَالَ الرَّبُّ : « إِنِّي قَدْ رَأَيْتُ مَذَلَّةَ شَعْبِي الَّذِى فِي مِصْرَ وَسَمِعْتُ صُرَاخَهُمْ مِنْ أَجْلِ مُسَخِّرِيهِمْ . إِنِّي عَلِمْتُ أَوْجَاعَهُمْ
. المسيحيون الأقباط المُحاطين بالظلم والاضطهاد وفُقدان الحياة لقرون من دون قصاص
والتسامح المُتكرر من غير شرط
يستحقوا العيش بكرامة وإحترام فى وطنهم الأصلى
.
While recognising that anger may often open a path to hatred or resentment, there are times at which it is a natural expression of a human emotion, and reaction to a sense of deep injustice.
I am sure that I am not alone in my anger, but that it is shared by every law-abiding person of any belief
and indeed of none, who has witnessed this vicious and inhumane attack.
فى حين الإعتراف والإقرار أن الغضب يفتح غالباً طريق للكراهية أو البُغض
يُوجد أوقات يكون فيها الغضب تعبير طبيعى عن ردود أفعال إنسانية، وتفاعل من الإحساس بالظلم العميق.
وثقتى أننى لست وحدى فى غضبى هذا بل إنه يشاركنى فيه كل شخص مُلتزم بالقانون من أى مُعتقد
وفى الواقع لا أحد ممن شهد هذا العُنف الوحشى الغير إنسانى .
In the midst of this anger and this sadness however I continue to pray.
I pray repose for Father Samaan,
I pray for his family,
I pray for his community.
I pray for the wider Egyptian Christian community that feels more and more vulnerable and targeted daily against a backdrop of negligence and injustice.
I pray for the wider Egyptian society, that becomes more and more discredited and compromised as these incidents continue to happen.
فى خضم ذلك الغضب وهذا الحزن إلاَّ إننى سأداوم الصلاة
أسأل الرب راحة للأب / سمعان
أصلى من أجل عائلته
أتضرع من أجل بيعته.
أطلب معونة الرب لأجل الشعب المسيحى المصرى الأوسع الشاعر بالضعف والمزيد من الاستهداف يوميا علي خلفيه من الإهمال والظلم.
أصلي للمجتمع المصرى الكبير أن يصبح أكثر وأكثر مصداقية ويبعد عنه الخطر مع استمرار حدوث هذه الحوادث
This anger is not void of forgiveness,
but cries out for accountability and justice.
ذلك الغضب ليس فارغاً من المغفرة
إلاّ أنه صارخاً باكياً لأجل العدل والقصاص
.
مصري مش بدوى
Is this an isolated incident or a recurring pattern of fanaticism/terrorism? The status co will not solve this problem and consequently Egypt will not get up from the mire it is in. The desirable changes cannot be brought about by the Copts in Egypt nor those in the Diaspora. The changes have to be firm, decisive and by the enlightened Muslims in Egypt and elsewhere. So much has been written about this ugly problem down the ages. The remedies have not been but placebos. Our faith sustains us, our Lord protects us but most of our Muslim brothers look the other way. They are hereby warned that they too will be victims of the same threat that threatens their Christian brothers. I shout out ألاه أكبر. Allah-Akbar which means ‘God is Great’ which I believe wholeheartedly. Saba E. Demian, M.D.