Dr. Helmy el-Namnam, The Minister of Culture, Dr. Haitham el-Hag Ali, head of the Egyptian General Book Organization, HG Anba Pavle, Bishop of Alexandria youth and Montazah sector churches, HG Anba Elarion Bishop of West Sector Churches, Fr. Roweise Mokros, General rapporteur of the Patriarchate in Alexandria, and Dr. Anwar Moghis, head of the National Center for Translation, inaugurated the book exhibition in St. Mark Church in Alexandria, the first chuche established not only in Egypt but in Africa.
Helmy el-Namnam said, We are in the first established Church and the seat of the Pope. We saw attacks on churches occurred on August 14, 2013, and we remember the quote of the Pope that a homeland without churches is better than churches without a homeland. We come here to emphasize the existence of culture everywhere. The age of churches is more than 20 centuries and Al-Azhar exceeded 10 centuries and this is not strange and all civilizations arise from the human conscience.
Al-Namnam stressed that Egyptian history has not recorded a single case in which the Egyptian Church has asked for foreign intervention or protection. The solution to correct some young people’s thoughts of the churches is to come here and to organize cultural activities that bring people to watch and learn and to improve our limited knowledge of the Church and Christianity. Like Abbas el-Akkad who wrote about the Christ geniality, but this genre of books no longer exists, and what we do today is just the beginning and other steps will follow.
HG Anba Pavle said that reading is entertaining and enlights human mind as god inspired with holy books as a man without reading may in some cases resemble other beings.
The Church presented its shield to Helmi Al-Namnam, Dr. Haytham Al-Hag Ali and Mohamed Fayrouz, Head of the Central Department of Marketing of the Book Authority. The Minister of Culture presented the shield of the Book Authority to Anba Pavle, Bishop of Alexandria Youth and Montazah Churches, Fr. Roweis Morkos , General rapporteur of the Patriarchate in Alexandria.
The book exhibition includes publications of the Book Authority, including churches in Egypt, Coptic churches in ancient Egypt and Coptic art in Egypt, publications in various fields and series issued by the Authority with huge discounts, in addition to books of the family library and children’s books. The exhibition also includes the publications of the National Center for Translation.
