CRANSTON, RI, February 3, 2011
The pastor of the state’s only Coptic Orthodox Church says that while many Christians have been taking part in the street protests in Egypt that have caught the world’s attention, he also knows Christians there “don’t feel safe at all” out of uncertainty over what may lie ahead.
“We don’t know who is to come after,” said the Rev. Marcos Girgis, whose parishioners have been communicating with friends and relatives in Egypt. With 200 families, St. Mary and St. Mena Church has 10 times as many people as it did when he was assigned there 22 years ago.
He said American Coptic communities nationwide are so concerned that they conducted three days of prayer and fasting for peace.
“We are praying to God to protect the land and its inhabitants. We are very concerned about peace in Egypt,” he said.
The priest said his biggest concern is the possibility of a takeover of the country by the Muslim Brotherhood, which, he said, would make Egypt a “second Iran.” He said the Brotherhood would likely impose Sharia law on the populace which, he said, would be disastrous for the country, especially the country’s 15 million Christians.
At the same time, Father Girgis said the government under Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has not always been a protector of Christians either. First, under former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and then under Mubarak, Pope Shenouda III, the Coptic Church’s top spiritual leader, was kept under house arrest from 1981 to 1985, he said, partly to satisfy the demands of Muslim extremists.
Christians held demonstrations following a gunman’s attack on a crowd of Christians at a Christmas Midnight Mass in 2009, the burning of churches and the kidnapping of Christian girls, and again on New Year’s Day this year when 28 Copts were killed and more than 100 wounded by a suicide bomber in a church in Alexandria.
“The government never took any action against those people, and that’s why the Christians were upset all year long,” said the priest.
As to whether he thought Mubarak should be forced to immediately step down, Father Girgis said he has heard people in the church take various sides but that, as a pastor, he doesn’t want to get drawn into such discussions.
“The mission of our church is spiritual,” he said. “It’s not politics.”
