Promise of equality lifts mood for Orthodox Christmas celebration
Tight security protects Christians at Mass
People are happy and the barrier of fear has been breached. We have seen the worst already; it’s over.
EVON LUTFI
CHRISTIAN FROM THE CITY OF ASSIUT
CAIRO — Millions of Egyptian Christians thronged churches across this mainly Muslim nation for Orthodox Christmas mass Monday, held amid unusually tight security in response to fears that Islamic militants loyal to ousted President Mohammed Morsi would target churches.
Islamists claim that Egypt’s Christians played a disproportionately large role in the mass protests that preceded Morsi’s ouster in a July 3 coup.
But congregations brimmed with hope ahead of a key vote on a new constitution that enshrines equality and criminalizes discrimination.
Traditional midnight mass was forgone in many churches, especially in southern Egyptian strongholds of radical Muslims, in favour of earlier services so worshippers could avoid returning home late at night when streets are empty, raising the possibility of attacks.
An August wave of attacks, blamed on Islamists, left dozens of churches destroyed, burned or looted. Christian homes and businesses were also targeted.
“We will pray under the night sky,” said Adel Shafiq, a Christian from Dalga, a town south of Cairo, who was attending Mass in one of the churches looted and burned in August. “There is no roof and no windows. People are here wearing scarves and hats to fend off the night cold.”
Police armed with machine- guns manned sandbag positions outside Cairo’s towering St. Mark’s Cathedral, seat of the Coptic Orthodox pope. Hours before Mass, sniffer dogs were deployed against the risk of explosives.
During the service, plainclothes security men stood guard just metres from the altar to keep an eye on the congregation as Coptic Pope Tawadros II led the prayers. Cabinet ministers, army generals and politicians, mostly Muslims, attended the service.
“We pray for the safety, peace and calm of Egypt and we pray for every man on its kind land,” Pope Tawadros said in a brief sermon. “We have total confidence that God is watching over our nation even at the time of crisis.”
Elsewhere in Cairo and other cities, streets leading to large churches were sealed off and checkpoints were set up in areas with sizable Christian communities as armoured police and army vehicles roamed the streets.
Metal detectors were placed at many church entrances, and checks on churchgoers led to long lines.
Despite the tight security, “People are happy and the barrier of fear has been breached,” said Evon Lutfi, a Christian from the southern city of Assiut, a stronghold of radical Islamists and home to a large Christian community. “We have seen the worst already; it’s over,”
Christians account for about 10 per cent of Egypt’s 90 million people. Mostly members of the Orthodox church, one of Christendom’s oldest, they long have complained of discrimination by the nation’s Muslim majority. They have heavily invested in the anti- Morsi movement in the hope of gaining equal rights with their Muslim compatriots after his removal.
The amended constitution Egyptians will vote on Jan. 14 and 15 in a nationwide referendum would enshrine equality between all Egyptians and instructs the next parliament to bring in legislation to facilitate the construction and maintenance of churches. It also removes language in the 2012 constitution that critics feared could pave the way to the creation of a purist Islamic state, something that gravely alarmed Christians.
Christians received a huge morale boost Sunday when the country’s interim leader, President Adly Masnour, made a rare visit to St. Mark’s Cathedral and met with the Coptic pontiff. His visit underlined efforts by the military- backed government to project an image of inclusion ahead of the referendum.
It was the first visit of its kind since socialist leader Gamal Abdel- Nasser attended the cathedral’s consecration ceremony more than 40 years ago.