Thursday 15 February marked the first feast marked by the Coptic Orthodox Church to commemorate Modern-Day Martyrs,
The date commemorates the martyrdom of 21 christians (twenty Copts and one Ghanaian) who were beheaded for their Christian faith by Daesh “ISIS” in Sirte, Libya, in 2015. It is not known exactly when the beheading took place, but gruesome video footage of the incident was released by Daesh on 15 February 2015. The video sent shock waves through Egypt and the whole world; the Egyptian Air Force retaliated with airstrikes against Islamists targets in Libya. President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi then ordered that a church should be built in the Minya village of al-Our in honour of the martyrs because it was home to 13 out of the 20 Copts who were martyred.
On 15 February 2018, the third anniversary of the Libya martyrs, Bishop Befnotius, Bishop of Samalout consecrated the new church, named “the church of the Martyrs of Faith and the Nation” by President Sisi .
Bishop Befnotius also consecrated a shrine that has been built for the martyrs whose bodies were found in Sirte but have not yet been brought home.
The families and friends of the martyrs, as well as hundreds of Copts, converged on al-Our to attend the consecration Mass. The dominant sentiment was one of pride and joy; pride because the martyrs chose to die rather than deny their faith, and joy because Egypt gave them the honour they deserve. However, family members of the martyrs all called on the authorities to speed up the return of the bodies.
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