On Sunday, thousands of worshippers converged
on the St. Mark Cathedral in al-‘Abbāsīyah to attend the Christmas midnight mass
celebration, presided over by Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.
A large
number of bishops from the Coptic Orthodox Church, including His Grace Armia, His Grace Rafā’īl,
the auxiliary bishop for central Cairo, and His Grace Yu’annis, the secretary of the pope, attended the mass.
Amongst the participants were Jamāl Mubārak, the head of the NDP’s Policies Committee [and son
of the president], Dr. Yūsuf Butrus Ghālī, the minister of finance, Engineer Mājid George, the
minister of environment, ‘Abd al-Salām Maḥjūb, the minister of local development and
Usāmah al-Bāz, the political advisor to President Mubārak, in addition to representatives from
the NDP and the parties of al-Wafd, al-Tajammu‘, al-Naṣirī, and al-Jīl.
In his
speech to the congregation, Pope Shenouda thanked President Mubārak for his telephone call to wish him a
merry Christmas. The pope received felicitations on the occasion from various pubic figures, including Libyan
President Mu‘ammar al-Qadhdhāfī, Dr. Ahmad Nazīf, the Egyptian prime minister, Dr.
Ahmad Fatḥī Surūr, the speaker of the People’s Assembly, Ṣafwat al-Sharīf, the speaker of the
Consultative Council, and ‘Amr Mūsá, the secretary general of the League of Arab
States.
Meanwhile, Max Michel, otherwise known as Bishop Maximus, held another Christmas mass at his church
in al-Muqattam, with the participation of no more than 20 people. Under the headline, ‘Max Michel claims he
received congratulations from the minister of culture…The minister dismisses claims’ in Rose al-Yūsuf of
January 8, 2007, Ibrāhīm Jād and Minīrvā Sa‘d wrote about the
"peculiar" celebration held at the Muqattam Church.
Jād and Sa‘d quoted the media official
in the Muqattam Church as claiming that Maximus had received Christmas greetings from a number of Egyptian
officials, including Farūq Husnī, the minister of culture.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive
statement to Rose al-Yūsuf, Ḥusnī denied these claims and stressed the importance of maintaining the
unity of the Egyptian people.
The Evangelical denomination, headed by Rev. Dr. Safwat al-
Bayyāḍī, held another celebration, to which it invited Dr. Muḥammad Sayyid Ṭanṭāwī, the
grand Imām of the Azhar, in addition to a number of politicians and intellectuals. During the
celebration, Dr. al-Bayyāḍī called on all Egyptians to reject violence and to work together towards
the prosperity of Egypt.
Under the headline, ‘Jesus Christ came to raise the spirits of everyone,’ in al
-Ahrām of January 7, 2007 Pope Shenouda wrote about the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ.
Pope
Shenouda wrote, "On the occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ, I would like to speak to you about some of the good
things which he left us in his word."
"…[H]ow God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power,
and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him"
[Acts 10: 38, The Holy Bible, ’New International Version’]. The pope explains that every believer is a
part of Christ’s body, "for we are members of his body" [Ephesians 5: 30].
Jesus cared about people. He
reached out to people who were shunned by society. His love embraced all living creatures and was immeasurable and
unconditional. He cared for prostitutes, the young and the old, the poor and the sick, and all in affliction. "Come
to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" [Matthew 11: 28]. "He has sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim
the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn" [Isaiah 61: 1,
2].
Jesus Christ gave women a place of honor despite the heavy yoke of the Jewish culture weighing on them.
"Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs"
[Matthew 27: 55].
Pope Shenouda concluded, "Jesus was for everyone, working for the salvation of mankind."
العربية