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Egypt opens Middle East’s biggest cathedral near Cairo

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Egypt inaugurated one of the Middle East’s largest cathedrals on Orthodox Christmas Eve, just a day after a deadly bomb blast targeted a church in the capital.

Security was tight as President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi opened the Nativity of Christ in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, 45 kilometres east of Cairo, ahead of Coptic midnight mass.

On the same day, the country’s former military chief also opened one of the region’s largest mosques in the same area.

It was a bold move in Egypt where extremist groups including Isis have repeatedly attacked the country’s embattled Coptic community, who make up an estimated 10 per cent of the 100 million-strong population and face mass discrimination.

Just a day before the inauguration a policeman was killed, and two others injured, trying to defuse a device which had been placed on the rooftop of a mosque near a church in the Nasr City district of Cairo

“This is an important moment in our history,” President Sisi said at the event which was attended by several foreign dignitaries including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

“We are one and we will remain one,” he added, referring to Egyptian Christians and Muslims.

Coptic Pope Tawadros II, who later led the mass, said: “On this day we see you have fulfilled this promise and here we are witnessing a great opening on this grand occasion.”

US President Donald Trump was quick to applaud the opening.

“Excited to see our friends in Egypt opening the biggest Cathedral in the Middle East. President Al-Sisi is moving his country to a more inclusive future,” he tweeted on Sunday.

The security forces were taking no chances at the event which was held in a nearby hotel. Worshippers had to pass through three sets of metal detectors, while armoured vehicles and dozens of ambulances were stationed nearby.

A documentary screened at the opening said that the cathedral has the capacity to hold 8,000 people, making it the largest in the Middle East.

The nearby Al-Fattah al-Aleem Mosque can hold nearly double that number.

Both are located in the new administrative capital, a major development the Egyptian government hopes will supersede crowded Cairo in the coming years.

But many fear the cathedral will only become the target of future attacks in the country that since the 2013 military overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi has been rocked by shootings and suicide bombings claimed by groups like Isis.

Mr Sisi stormed to power in 2014 promising to protect the Christian community, who make up one of his most loyal support bases.

But religious rights activists say that Christians in Egypt do not enjoy the same rights as their Muslim counterparts and are not properly protected by the security forces.

More than 100 Copts have been killed in jihadist attacks since December 2016 alone.

In November Isis claimed to be behind the deadly shooting of a bus of Christian pilgrims in Minya, in which six Copts and one Anglican were killed.

Militants killed a further 40 people in twin church bombings in April 2017, and an Isis gunman in December of that year gunned down nine people in an attack on a church in a south Cairo suburb.

Many fear Mr Sisi’s fierce crackdown on Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, whose leaders have been rounded, killed or forced to flee, has only radicalised islamist youth which has fed recruitment drives by extremist groups.

Several major military operations in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where most of the jihadi groups are anchored, has also failed to curb the killings.

Hundreds of tourists, police officers and soldiers have also died in the attacks.

In late December, a roadside bomb near the famed Giza pyramids killed three Vietnamese visitors and their Egyptian guide.

In 2015 militants claimed to have detonated a bomb on a Russian passenger jet after it left the South Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

No one claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bomb, which was placed inside a bag on top of al-Haq Mosque in Nasr City, Cairo.

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Chinese Bible Distributor Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

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China — In April 2021, Chinese authorities arrested 10 Christians for selling and distributing Bibles in Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia — an autonomous region in northern China. Just last month, a judge sentenced one of these believers to prison.

Ban Yanhong was sentenced on April 15, 2024, to five years in prison for “illegal business operations,” or illegally selling and distributing Bibles to Christians in Inner Mongolia.

Ban Yanhong’s husband, Ji Heying, claimed that authorities charged his wife because they considered her to be a key figure in the group. Five of the original 10 Christians have been released on bail but could still face prosecution for their role in the Bible distributions. The other four Christians are awaiting their trial.

Originally, the 10 Hohhot Christians purchased the Bibles legally from a church in Nanjing associated with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). TSPM churches are the only legal churches in China and are controlled by the Communist government.

In Ban’s case, prosecutors argued that even though the Bibles were initially purchased legally in Nanjing, selling and distributing them in Inner Mongolia by unregistered house church members was illegal.
Sources:persecution

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ആദ്യമായി ഇസ്രായേൽ സർവ്വകലാശാലയുടെ റെക്ടറായി അറബ് ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ വനിത

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ഹൈഫ: ചരിത്രത്തില്‍ ആദ്യമായി അറബ് ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ വനിത, ഇസ്രായേലിലെ സർവ്വകലാശാലയുടെ റെക്ടറായി തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ടു. പ്രൊഫസർ മൗന മറൂണാണ് ഹൈഫ സർവകലാശാലയുടെ റെക്ടറായി തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നത്. ഹൈഫ സർവ്വകലാശാലയിൽ ഇതിന് മുന്‍പ് മറ്റൊരു അറബ് വംശജരായ, ക്രിസ്ത്യാനിയോ സ്ത്രീയോ റെക്ടർ സ്ഥാനം വഹിച്ചിട്ടില്ല. ഇസ്രായേലിലെ വിദ്യാഭ്യാസ സമ്പ്രദായത്തിൽ റെക്ടറാണ് സർവ്വകലാശാലയുടെ തലവന്‍. ഇസ്രായേൽ അക്കാദമിയിൽ എല്ലാം സാധ്യമാണ് എന്നതിൻ്റെ പ്രധാന സന്ദേശമാണ് തന്നെ തെരഞ്ഞെടുത്തിരിക്കുന്നതിലൂടെ വ്യക്തമായിരിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് മൗന പറഞ്ഞു.

മറൂൺ ജനിച്ച ഇസ്ഫിയ എന്ന ഗ്രാമത്തിൽ നിന്ന് ഏകദേശം ആറ് മൈൽ അകലെ കാർമൽ പർവതത്തിലാണ് ഹൈഫ സർവ്വകലാശാല സ്ഥിതി ചെയ്യുന്നത്. 20-ാം നൂറ്റാണ്ടിൻ്റെ തുടക്കത്തിൽ ലെബനോനിൽ നിന്ന് ഇവിടെയെത്തിയവരാണ് മറൂണിന്റെ കുടുംബം. അക്കാലത്ത് സ്കൂളുകൾ ഇല്ലായിരുന്നു. ഉന്നത വിദ്യാഭ്യാസത്തിലൂടെ മാത്രമേ തങ്ങളുടെ നാല് പെൺമക്കളെ ഇസ്രായേലി സമൂഹത്തിൽ സമന്വയിപ്പിക്കാൻ കഴിയൂവെന്ന് അവർ വിശ്വസിച്ചിരുന്നു. അതുകൊണ്ടാണ് പഠനം തുടരാൻ അവർ എന്നെ പ്രോത്സാഹിപ്പിച്ചതെന്ന് മൗന വെളിപ്പെടുത്തി. ഇസ്രായേലിലെ ഏറ്റവും വൈവിധ്യമാർന്നതും ഉൾക്കൊള്ളുന്നതുമായ സർവ്വകലാശാലകളിലൊന്നാണ് ഹൈഫ സർവകലാശാല. 17,000 വിദ്യാർത്ഥികളിൽ 45% അറബ് സമൂഹത്തിൽ നിന്നുള്ളവരാണ്.
കടപ്പാട് :പ്രവാചക ശബ്ദം

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‘We’re Going to Light Up This World’: National Day of Prayer to Lift God’s Word to Combat Darkness

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This year’s theme for the 73rd National Day of Prayer is “Lift up the Word – Light Up the World” from the Biblical passage in 2 Samuel chapter 22. It reads in part: “O Lord, You are my lamp. The Lord Lights up My Darkness.” It is a message that organizers say is needed now more than ever.

“It seemed all we were talking about was darkness,” Kathy Branzell, President of the National Day of Prayer Task Force told CBN’s Faith Nation. “‘Oh, America’s getting darker, our schools are getting darker, my neighborhood’s getting darker.'”

Branzell explained, “While that might feel true, the truth is darkness is the absence of light. This year by lifting up the Word, we know His Word in prayer won’t return void and we’re going to light up this world.”

The annual National Day of Prayer, which was established by Congress in 1952 and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman, is a call for Americans to humble themselves before Almighty God, to seek His guidance, wisdom, and blessing.

Branzell said events like the unrest and anti-semitic protests on college campuses should guide how Christians pray.

“We are praying God’s presence on those campuses. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to come in and for hatred to be diminished and for love to come in and to take over,” she said.

The hope is that the light already breaking through at some schools will spread to others.

Author and speaker Jennie Allen who has witnessed repentance, revival, and mass baptisms on several college campuses said many students are ready to hear the message of salvation.

“Gen Z is different,” Allen said in an interview on CBN News’ The PrayerLink. “They are open to God, and they want to confess their sin. They’re sick of the world and they want something different. Not all of them, but a lot of them.”

“And I think what the older Church needs to hear and believe is that it’s possible,” added Allen. “God is doing it again. He is awakening His people. And so, to pray and to pull those kids into your life and your home and disciple them because they’re hungry.”

In a nation divided by politics, race, and hot-button social issues, organizers realize that only a unified Church can pray with power. That is why the National Day of Prayer is partnering with the National Unity Weekend movement which brings churches together every June to teach on unity and serve their communities.

Bishop Derek Grier of Grace Church in Dumfries, Virginia is the founder of the group.

“If there was ever a time our nation needed unity it’s right now—particularly before we go into this election season,” Grier told CBN News. “And as the Church unites around the things that we have in common, the things that we disagree over become minor. And with that, people in our various communities can run into the church as a place of refuge.”

A refuge of light that outshines the darkness.
Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS

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