Merry Christmas … and may the Feast of the Nativity of Christ overflow with joy, peace and good health.
Copts celebrate Christmas on 7 January, 29 Kiahk on the Coptic calendar. With more than 64 years behind it and now into its 65th, the weekly Watani has always hit the newsstands on Sundays, and has been often advertised as “the leading Sunday paper”; this is how Watani came to be known and how much it is linked to Sunday.
Throughout its years, however, special occasions or events had called for special editions of Watani, and for the paper to be printed prior to its regular weekly date in order for it to reach readers on time for the occasion in question. Yet even when the paper hit the newsstands on a weekday preceding its normal Sunday date, it carried the date of that Sunday for historical archiving purposes.
Today, Watani publishes a special edition to commemorate the Feast of the Glorious Nativity of Christ on 7 January. For the first time ever, the date of the issue reads Saturday 7 January 2023 instead of Sunday 8 January. This might appear as a minor change, but it marks the celebration of the Glorious Nativity of our Lord, and will be a precedent to follow in the future when needs be.
For the occasion of the Glorious Nativity of Christ—the feast of joy and peace—I extend my heartfelt wishes to the pastor of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his Holiness Pope Tawadros II, and to all Coptic metropolitans, bishops, clergy, Church servants and members of the congregations. I also extend my best wishes to our beloved heads, pastors, servants and congregations of other sister Churches. I pray to the Lord to bless our nation, protect its people, and to bestow on us the blessings of security, comfort, and peace.
Watani International
7 January 2023
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