Because of their love for God and God's love for them, He allowed them to ascend to heaven before us.

+ H.H. Pope Shenouda III
10/12/2011

Help end Coptic persecution in Egypt

This is deeply somber news. Unfortunately, things have not gotten any better since the January 25th protests. Please take a moment to read this letter to be sent to congress and consider signing your name to the petition.

On Sunday, October 9, 2011, the Egyptian Army brutally attacked a peaceful protest in Cairo, Egypt, killing at least 24 civilians and injuring at least 300. In one case, a military tank ran over a protester's head, smashing it to pieces. Mina Daniel, a youth activist who protested in Tahrir for the 18 days of the January 25th Revolution and survived, was among those killed during today's protest. Thugs have also attacked the Coptic Hospital in El-Daher, Cairo, where the injured are being treated. The protesters were made up of Muslims and Christians protesting the burning of a church in Aswan, Egypt.

Continue reading...

We pray that God may have mercy and accept our repentance and bring all this to a peaceful resolution.

UPDATE: Here's another petition. Please consider signing...

This incredible charity is setting out to provide light to the poor using an ingenious light source — solar powered soda bottles. Brilliant!

Check out the video below to learn more:


And, visit the website to see how you can help out:
http://www.isanglitrongliwanag.org

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."
(Genesis 1:3)

32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.
35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:

“They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.”

36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:

THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Matthew 27

  ³ He is despised and rejected by men, 

      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 

      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; 

      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 

       ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs 

      And carried our sorrows; 

      Yet we esteemed Him stricken, 

      Smitten by God, and afflicted. 

       ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, 

      He was bruised for our iniquities; 

      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, 

      And by His stripes we are healed. 

Isaiah 53

Contemplation on Paschal Hymn "Thine is the Power" by H.H. Pope Shenouda III

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9

Christians protecting Muslims while they pray during protests in Egypt. Link

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13:4-7)

Please continue to keep the situation in Egypt in your prayers.

Prayers are very much needed now for the safety of all those currently in Egypt. Nighttime curfews are being ignored as fires are set ablaze against government offices while people riot in the streets.

Follow the story as it develops using the links below and please take some time out to pray for a peaceful resolution.

Aljazeera English Live Online Stream
Justin.TV Streams: Egypt Live, Egypt Uprising Live, More (Also viewable on Mobile devices via App)
TIME
CNN
Huffington Post
Twitter

For those currently in Egypt trying to bypass the blocks on Facebook, Twitter and Google you can try using direct IP addresses:

Egypt : To bypass government blocking of website names, use numerical IP addresses:


Twitter "128.242.240.52"


Facebook "69.63.189.34"


Google "72.14.204.99"

President Hosni Mubarak is expected to speak soon.

I'm deeply concerned with what this means to the Christians who are already under severe persecution in Egypt. Please keep them in your prayers.

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
Exodus 14:14

UPDATE
More ways of circumventing the internet blocking: LifeHacker

UPDATE 2:
A good Twitter feed to follow is that of Gigi Ibrahim, who reports information directly from the ground level.

H.G. Bishop Suriel with a much needed, strong worded reaction to the atrocities going on in Egypt currently. Please take a few moments to listen and pray for our brothers and sisters suffering in our homeland.

I wish I knew about this earlier, but better late than never! Google is at it again getting into the Christmas spirit by running another charity campaign.

This time, just by using Google Chrome and opening up tabs, Google will make a donation to one of five charities of your choice. My personal preferences is charity: water, but they're all great charities. I think this is pretty awesome since I literally open hundreds, if not thousands of tabs everyday!

Visit the announcement page for more information and then get tabbing!

If you don't already have it, install Google Chrome here.
Then install the extension, Chrome for a Cause here.

Grab some cupcakes and/or some cheeks to pinch and just watch:

The Story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church.

Love the design and aesthetic side of things... I don't understand those who don't enjoy those type of things. :)

Just a quick update: It was so great to see that two of the top-20 winners of the Kohl's Cares charity donation schools were from the Coptic Orthodox community.

Good Shepherd Christian Academy (#6)
St. Clement Coptic Orthodox Christian Academy (#11)

I know that money is going to go a long way in support of both these two schools and all the schools in general. God bless!

The blessings of the entire Bible in audio form is now available, free, and doesn't take up gigabytes of space on your iPhone or iPod Touch -- it comes in at just over 2MB! (There's also an Android version on the way...)

The good people over at Faith Comes by Hearing and Good News / Crossway have collaborated to bring you a valuable blessing that you can carry around in your pocket and take out to hear the Word of God at any time, on the go.

The Bible.is app includes a beautifully intuitive interface that allows you to follow along as the audio plays over the headset, or the speakers. You also have the ability to highlight and write notes on specific verses, as well as scrobble through each chapter, or navigate effortlessly to different books of the Old or New Testaments and even share verses with friends on Facebook.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Romans 10:17

Link: iTunes App Store, Bible.is Website