Maspero…one year later, the name still conjures up images full of pain and fear. One year later, our tears have not dried, our questions still unanswered. We still feel sorrow and pain at
Maspero…one year later, the name still conjures up images full of pain and fear. One year later, our tears have not dried, our questions still unanswered. We still feel sorrow and pain at the loss of our brothers, fathers, husbands, uncles, yet the bittersweet joy still remains that they were added to the long list of Coptic martyrs, which lately seems to keep growing.
But the question that still looms overhead is, what is next? Our families in Egypt are living in a world where they do not know what tomorrow will bring. Each day brings new declarations and appointments from the new president. Uncertain whether to hope for the future or fear it, they are trekking through life with a prayer in their hearts that tomorrow will be devoid of bloodshed.
During the last few years needless to say the Copts have endured many tragedies. Even the names of certain cities once glorified have become synonymous with horrific events. Nag Hammadi, long known worldwide for the discovery of what has become known as the Nag Hammadi Library, or the Gnostic Texts, is now remembered for a pointless shooting which killed six Copts as they left their Christmas Eve service. Alexandria, which was once the pride of Egypt, named after Alexander the Great, is now known for a senseless act of violence, which killed many innocent Churchgoers on New Years Eve.
Finally Maspero, the grand site of the Egyptian broadcast building is now the site of the bloodiest massacre of Copts in modern history, and unfortunately the nightmare is not over, but continues. There are still reports of Islamist mobs pillaging Coptic homes and businesses and killing their owners in some instances, and it still goes unpunished by the new government.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression.” That time came one year ago on October 9, 2011 when hundreds of brave Copts carried their lives in their hands and marched peacefully in Maspero because they were tired of watching their churches burn. This was a brave act for which they should never be questioned or criticized.
Despite the horror, and the pain of remembering this tragedy, we should never lose hope and faith in the ever-existing presence of God. I am reminded of a Tibetan saying, “Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength” with every tragedy our strength is renewed and our faith strengthened finding comfort in the words of Jeremiah the prophet, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22, 23).
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Julie Mossad attends Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her beloved uncle, Magdy Fahim Mossad, at age 67, was one of the 27 Coptic martyrs run over by army tanks while demonstrating in Maspero on October 9, 2011.