The military prepares to rebuild churches

A technical committee from the Armed forces has started inspecting all the burnt and destroyed churches in the southern governorates of Sohag and Assuit in Upper Egypt in order for the military to prepare to restore and rebuild these churches, as promised by the Minister of Defence and Chief-of-Staff of the Armed Forces Colonel General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

The churches were ruined at the hands of the Islamists who, led by the Muslim Brothers (MB), went on a brutal, wide-scale rampage against the Copts, their churches, homes, property and businesses on 14, 15, and 16 August. They were attacking the Copts to strike back against Egyptians for overthrowing the MB rule and the MB president Muhammad Mursi, and in revenge for the security break-up of their violent, five-week long Cairo sit-ins to protest Mursi’s ouster; they knew the Copts would not retaliate with equal violence.

These recent inspections by the military technical committee are expected to extend north to churches in Minya, Fayoum, Beni Sweif and Giza.

Among the ruined churches inspected, the committee examined the Assiut church of Mar-Yuhanna al-Maamadan (St John the Baptist) which the Islamists burnt down. The church was also inspected by a committee from the Ministry of Housing. The Bishop, Anba Lucas of Abnoub and al-Fath. said the reports declared the church beyond repair,; it had to be rebuilt. Other churches belonging to the Coptic Orthodox, Coptic Catholic, Evangelicals, and Adventists in the Assiut region were inspected by the army committee and the Housing Ministry committee. Official reports were submitted, but, according to the Coptic Catholic Bishop of Assiut Anba Kyrillos William, no date has been set for the start of any construction work yet.

Father Moussa Ibrahim of Sohag bishopric said that committees from the Coptic Orthodox Melli (Community) Council, the army, and the Housing Ministry have inspected the Sohag bishopric building and church which were also burnt beyond repair by the Islamists, and are filing their reports. He said the bishopric requested that the ruined buildings should be rebuilt.