Sunday, June 22, 2025, witnessed one of the most tragic events in human history when St. Elias Greek Orthodox Churchin the Dweila neighborhood of Damascus was bombed in a suicide attack. The attack targeted the church during the Sunday Mass, with a suicide bomber detonating an explosive belt inside the church. Approximately 25 people, including children, were martyred, and around 60 others were injured. Therefore, I recalled the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His holy disciples:” These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them
Martyrdom has a long history, a path the Church has walked since its inception. The word “martyr” in Arabic is Shaheedand it is derived from the Arabic verbShahad, meaning “to witness.” Linguistically, it originally referred to a person who had information about an event they witnessed and then provided that information, bearing witness to it. This witness signifies bearing witness to the faith one professes. However, the technical meaning of the word refers to a person who is killed for the sake of bearing witness to God.
In Christianity, the word was first applied to the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles who bore witness to Him. Then, it was extended to those who endured suffering and hardship for their faith, whether they were killed or not. Later, the term came to describe those who accepted to offer their lives for their faith.
The journey on the road to heaven, martyrdom, began in the early Christian era, when all of our Lord Jesus Christ’s disciples, except John the Apostle, were martyred. Persecutions continued in every age, reaching their peak during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, whose days historians described as horrific: “His days were utterly dreadful; he killed various kinds of people.” The journey on the road to heaven has continued throughout all ages and times, intensifying at some points and subsiding at others.
Martyrs understood that this world is temporary compared to eternal life, and that they are strangers who will return to their heavenly homeland to live there forever. They kept before their eyes the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “But I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!” They also grasped the profound beauty of eternal life, which St. John the Apostle described in the Book of Revelation:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He saidto me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, “Itis done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things”
As for the persecutors throughout history, they faced painful ends, for the just God does not forget the right of anyone who has been wronged. Examples of these include: Nero, who was removed from power and then disappeared, with no body or grave ever found; Domitian, who was killed in his palace by his enemies, and the Roman Senate decided to erase his name; Decius, who was slaughtered by his enemies; Aurelian, who was betrayed and killed by his close friends; and Diocletian, who abdicated his rule and became severely ill, to the point where it is said he ended his own life.
We pray that God sends comfort to the families and loved ones of the martyrs, and peace to a world groaning under strife, wars, and suffering.
The conversation in “Beautiful Egypt” continues!
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
