The church of the Holy Family in Mallawi, Minya, Upper Egypt has been consecrated after a full renovation process conducted by the Egyptian Armed Forces. A community centre attached to the church was also opened after having been rebuilt by the military.
In a festive atmosphere, the Coptic Catholic Patriarch in Egypt, Anba Ibrahim Ishaq, presided over the consecration ceremony and the opening of the community centre. The church and community centre had been among some 100 churches and Christian establishments that included schools and an orphanage that had been plundered and burned by the Islamists on 14 August 2013. That was to avenge the overthrow by massive popular will and military backing of the Islamist President Muhammad Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regime in July 2014, and the subsequent breakup of a five-week-long MB violent sit-in in Cairo. President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who was then Supreme Commander of the Egyptian Armed Forces, had then promised the military would restore the ruined churches.
Anba Ibrahim thanked Prsident Sisi for making good on his promise, proving thus that Egyptians were all one in pain and joy, in defeat and victory.
Watani International
22 November 2014