“I COULD BREATHE EASILY”:
A VOICE FROM EGYPT’S CHURCH

BY MARY JOSEPH

What is it like to practice your faith when your freedom of belief is under threat? Our Cairo-based Communications Officer Mary Joseph shares her experience of living through a time when Christians in Egypt have felt additionally vulnerable.

A few weeks into Lent, as Christians were immersed in daily church prayers and charitable activities, they were hit with the news of the slaughter of Coptic Orthodox priest Arsanious Wadeed on the streets of Alexandria.

A short time later, a Christian woman appeared in a video on the internet denouncing Christianity. The Church and Egyptian authorities later announced that she had been kidnapped and forced to post the video, and that they had reunited her with her family.

But the media was already rife with unsettling comments from both Christians and non-Christians. Tension builds up on social media over issues relating to religion, and everyone feels responsible for defending their own. Moderate voices are almost drowned out under the increasing waves of tension. Only when the authorities take action do things settle down for a time until another incident reignites sour feelings.

Immediately after these incidents, I prayed daily asking the Lord to protect all Christians and churches, especially during Holy Week, when Christians, even those who do not frequent church, usually attend.

The build-up of tension comes from the accumulation of attacks against Christians, especially during Lent and Easter. On Palm Sunday 2017, two churches in Alexandria and Tanta were targeted with suicide bombings that killed 47 people and left 126 injured.

Although Christians in Egypt appear not to be under systematic attack, separate incidents against Christians do occur and stir up feelings of insecurity, vulnerability, and even dissociation from society. It keeps one wondering who might next be subject to a discriminatory attack based on their identity and when.

For months, I put my long hair up in a bun after repeated incidents on the Cairo metro and on the street when women would cut the hair of Christian girls because they were not veiled. I still do so when walking in crowded areas.

As Easter Monday crowned Holy Week and we went home safely after a family gathering, I could finally breathe easily, now that Easter week had passed peacefully without any incidents to mar this very special time for all Christians in Egypt and the Middle East.

MARY JOSEPH

SAT-7 Communications Officer | Mary Joseph is based in Cairo, Egypt. She has also lived in Australia and worked as a journalist in secular and religious media. Her passions are reading, writing, traveling and photography.