Coptic Church- Church of Heroes
“For I consider that
thesufferings
of
this
present time are not worthy
to be compared with
the glorywhich shall be
revealed in us.” (Romans
8: 18)
Persecutionsand
martyrdom in Christianity
started from the time Saint
Stephen was martyred.
Suffering and hardship
must follow Christians
regardless
of
their
location. Themain reason
of that is we believe in the
name of the Lord Christ,
who wascrucified on the
Holy Wood of the cross for
our sake. Saint Mark the
apostleand the evangelist
who had a powerful
ministry and our holy
church
whichbenefited
from it is a clear example
to bearing the cross to the
end. He wasthe founder
of the Christian faith in
Alexandria, Egypt. By
God’s power, manypeople
turned to Christianity and
the Christian faith spread
throughout theland of
Egypt. The devil stirred
some Pagans against the
apostle. The Saintknew
about their evil intention,
so, he ordained a bishop,
three priests, andseven
deacons to take care of the
congregation of believers
after hisdeparture. On
the day the apostle was
celebrating the Feast of
the GloriousResurrection
with his congregation,
he was seized by the
unbelievers. They tiedhim
to a tail of a horse and
dragged him through
the streets of Alexandria
fortwo consecutive days.
45
He received the crown of
martyrdom.
Copticsin
Egypt
face
persecution
and
discrimination for the
sake of the Lord. At
SaintMark’s Cathedral, a
number of Christians were
martyred as they were
celebratingthe Feast of
Palm Sunday. A suicide
bomber blew himself up
at the gate of thechurch.
The international news
reported that the wife
of one of the martyrs
hadpublicly forgiven her
husband’s
murderer.
What a strength of faith!
Theycarried their faith
proudly. Despite they were
threatened by attacks on
thechurches and lots of
bodies were torn to pieces
and scattered on the
floor,Christians continue
attending liturgies and
other
church
prayers
declaringtheir willingness
to die for their faith. May
the holy blessings of our
churchheroes be with us.