Hundreds of U.K. Christians gathered together in a day of prayer for Egypt on Saturday as protests against President Hosni Mubarak reached crisis point.
The prayer day was the brainchild of Christian Solidarity Worldwide and United Action for Egyptian Christians and as a direct result of the well-publicised increasing marginalization and persecution of Christians there. There have been 53 incidents of sectarian violence from 2008 to 2010 in Egypt.
Approximately 500 Christians from various denominations and traditions attended the event, including Bishop Angaelos, the general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain.
Speaking on Egypt’s present political, social and religious crisis, Bishop Angaelos urged Christians to focus their prayers on healing the brokenness of humanity.
“We pray for God’s healing. We pray for strength. We pray for guidance for everyone in Egypt at the moment, those who are protesting, the security forces, the army the President as he stands today, and whatever happens after that. We are sure that we’re in God’s hands,” he stated.
The bishop said Christians should strive to fill Egypt with light, and spoke at length about their determination to stay in Egypt.
“As a church we’ve been there for 2,000 years. We’re a resilient bunch. We’re not going anywhere. We’re the indigenous people of Egypt and we’re staying in Egypt and people need to realize that. I do not mean that provocatively but defiantly,” he said.
“So we pray for the continuity of the church. We know we will stay. We know we will be there. We are just praying that our brother and sisters are able to worship and express themselves peacefully without persecution without marginalization.”