Matai Copts—Matai is a Minya city some 220km south of Cairo—have started construction of the church of Mar-Girgis (St George) which will also double as their diocese headquarters church. The new church is being built on the site of an old church which was pulled down a year ago, and permits were obtained for a new one to be built on the same site, but a dispute with a local prominent Coptic family hindered any construction on the land. The dispute has now been resolved, however.
Matai Bishop, Anba Gawargios, had presided over Midnight Mass on the eve of the Feast of the Resurrection last Sunday 28 April in a large marquee set up on the site of Mar-Girgis’s to serve Holy Week prayers and Easter Mass. But a fire erupted in the huge marquee, which could accommodate some 1000 worshippers, during the early hours of Good Friday, 26 April. The fire ate up the marquee and all the contents inside it: the sanctuary set up there, the worship utensils, pictures, books, benches, microphones, electric fittings, and all else on the site.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the locals expect it to have been sparked by an electric short circuit, since no one at all was around the site when the fire erupted.
The prosecution and criminal investigation authorities are working on the matter.
It was expected that, in the aftermath of the fire, no prayers could be held on the site. But Matai’s Coptic youth waited for the criminal laboratory inspection to be over, then hastened to clean up the site and fit it out for prayers. So Good Friday prayers and Easter Eve Mass were held there. But the congregation is doubly elated now that construction of the new church has started.
Watani International
30 April 2019