Some people might think that ongoing Anti Semitism in Egypt is a phenomena that is restricted to Muslims. That is not really the case. Statements by Muslim religious leaders have been covered by the press, but little attention has been given to the Coptic Church, which has had its share of Anti Semitism.
Christian books are filled with Anti Semitic remarks and stories especially the “Sineksar”, the official Church book of Saints in which you can find stories that include Blood Libel.
Pope Shenouda II, the leader of the Coptic Church has made statements in the past that included many Anti Semitic views. In an interview on the Egyptian Television on the 8th of April 2007 he said: “the Western Churches were wrong to exonerate Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and criticized recent statements apologizing for Christian anti-Semitism.”
“Asked whether Jews were “Christ-killers”, responsible for the crucifixion, Shenouda stated, “The New Testament says that they are,” and asked rhetorically whether the Vatican was “against the teachings of the New Testament?”
He further added a hilarious statement on why he had banned Christians from going to pilgrimage to Jerusalem by saying: “Shenouda stated he had banned Copts from visiting Israel for fear they will “be influenced by the Israeli media, and we will not be able to prevent this. Who knows what ideas they will return with?”
Pope Shenouda is not the only Coptic Church leader that holds Anti Semitic views. Father Morcos Aziz Khalil in a recent article in Nahdet Masr Newspaper devoted his entire time to bashing the Jews. He said: “The Jews saw that the Church is their No. 1 Enemy and that without Priesthood the Church looses its most important component, thus the Masonic Movement was the secret Zionist hand to create revolution against the clergy. The Zionist Ideology has kept its conspiracies a secret buried in silence.”
He then added that the Zionist Movement has tried to work in Egypt through Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventists and that those organizations are merely a cover that has American Zionists behind it.”
A new element was added to this ongoing smear and hatred campaign after the decision by the Catholic Church to change a Prayer that was insulting to Jews. While Bishop Morcos dismissed the matter as an internal issue inside the Catholic Church and that the Catholic Church is free to change its internal rituals, Father Salib Matta Sawires was quick to express his disapproval. He said: “For us the fact remains that the Jews will be responsible for Christ’s blood as they themselves said in the Bible unless they convert to Christianity.”
It is of course a waste of time to argue with minds like these that believe that the Jews living after 2000 years after the crucifixion are responsible for that. More hilariously sad is the reason the Pope gave for banning pilgrimage. Fear of Israeli media influence!
While an explanation can be found in the Church’s attempt to position itself as patriotic as the rest of the country, it is sad that Christians that face an ongoing hate campaign and discrimination would show the same to others.
Truly Sad.
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3 comments:
It truly is both funny and sad to take the “Sineksar”, a historic book of Saints as a sign that Copts are Anti-Semitic, the part that does speak negatively about Jews is there, and it's not all over the book as you said, it's stated once or maximum twice and written HUNDREDS of years ago, if we will considered historic literature a sign of continuous and existent anti-Semitism, then we can say that all Christians in the west are Anti-Semitic and all Germans are still Nazis, because hundreds of years ago they had much worse literature written about Jews or because just few decades back Germans mass murdered Jews.
As for Shenouda, he also once said that Islam was peace while THOUSANDS of Copts have been slaughtered AND STILL ARE BEING SLAUGHTERED by the hands of Muslims in Egypt but this is something you don’t write about of course, and you completely dismissed the fact that Copts are treated as hostages and dhimmis, and hundreds of Copts are being kidnapped by State Security to manipulate priests of Coptic church to say statements dictated by the State, and the church DOES NOT dare issue a statement that opposes the policy of the state, BECAUSE MILLIONS OF COPTIC LIVES depend on it.
Shenouda and the Coptic Church have guns pointed at their backs when they speak about Israel, Islam, politics and the Jews. On the other hand, as Copt that was raised in the Coptic Sunday school, I am appalled that you didn’t say that Copts are being taught that the ROMANS killed Christ, and that JEWS are our only friends in the region, but of course adopting an apologetic stance for Islamofascism, with the absence of the true knowledge of miserable state of Copts in Egypt and how this restrains their political discourse isn’t something you’d be willing to consider.
Truly Sad!
Dear Mr. Anonymous,
While this post is more than 2 years old, it is still interesting to see that it has invoked a comment on your behalf.
Let me address your comments.
I did not claim that Copts are Anti Semitic. Nowhere in this post has this claim been made. Please highlight where I said that. My claim was very clear:
“Some people might think that ongoing Anti Semitism in Egypt is a phenomena that is restricted to Muslims. That is not really the case. Statements by Muslim religious leaders have been covered by the press, but little attention has been given to the Coptic Church, which has had its share of Anti Semitism.”
The fact that a book written hundereds of years ago has Anti Semitic passages even Blood Libel accusations, does not make Christians Anti Semitic. History is merely the past if it is denounced. This book however remains accepted by the Church and read from every Mass. Maintaining these stories and not removing them is surely a sign of something being wrong. No sensible German today defends Mein Kampf. If he did he would be called an Anti Semite.
Your statement that the book “speaks negatively about Jews” is simply inaccurate. The passages are Anti Semitic. They accuse the Jews of killing Christian Children to use their blood for Passover. This is not simply speaking negatively about the Jews.
As for your comments regarding the Pope, they are simply inaccurate. “Thousands of Copts” have not been slaughtered, Copts are not “treated as hostages”. Your exaggeration of the persecution in Egypt is actually quite remarkable. There are no “guns pointed at their backs”.
As to being “appalled” by my failure to mention what is taught at Sunday school, I feel quite amused at the idea. I am happy that at YOUR Sunday school you were taught that Romans killed Christ. I am not sure why you assume others were as well? Surely you must know that there is no one curriculum for all Churches. Surely you must know that the Church does not teach that in its sermons.
As to “adopting an apologetic stance for Islamofascism”, I must say I have never read a funnier accusation.
You truly made me laugh.
Thank you.
Actually, originally and recently the Coptic Church forbade Copts from visiting Jerusalem because some of the Coptic church's property within the compound of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem) was taken from them without their permission.
I will not argue that statements that the Jews should not be 'forgiven' for Christ's death are antisemitic. Antisemitism is a cancer that exists all over the world. But the forbidding of Copts to go to Jerusalem is about the property the Coptic church lost.
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