{"id":50969,"date":"2017-10-15T14:14:26","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T12:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=50969"},"modified":"2017-10-16T11:05:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T09:05:47","slug":"%d8%b5%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d8%ac%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%b2-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%85%d8%b5-%d8%b3%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b4%d8%ad%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%87-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d8%b5%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d8%ac%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%b2-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%85%d8%b5-%d8%b3%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%b4%d8%ad%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%87-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%87\/","title":{"rendered":"Funeral service of martyr Fr. Samaan Shehata, pastor of St. Julius of Aqfahs Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"><strong>In\u00a0an atmosphere\u00a0of grief over the loss of the father and shepherd, the\u00a0congregation of St.\u00a0Julius of Akfahs Church in Ezbet Gerges received the body of the priest of the church, Fr. Samaan Shehata, who was martyred on Thursday morning.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"> The prayers were held in the presence of Their Eminences Bishop Stephanos, Bishop of Baba\u00a0and Al Fashn,\u00a0Bishop Raphael, Bishop of\u00a0Downtown Cairo churches\u00a0and Secretary of the Holy Synod, Bishop Gabriel, Bishop of Beni Suef,\u00a0Bishop Agathon, Bishop of Magaghah and Adwa, and a number of priests, monks and huge numbers of the congregation.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #800000; font-family: 'andale mono', times;\"><strong>HG Bishop Raphael\u00a0delivered a sermon and said &#8230;<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">&#8220;With all faith and hope, we\u00a0bid farewell\u00a0to heaven a precious soul for the Church, the soul of Father Samaan, the whole Church, headed by HH Pope Tawadros II parade him\u00a0to heaven.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">He added: &#8220;I have several messages I want to send through you, a number of messages we would like to send.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">The first, he said, we address to the Lord Jesus Christ: \u201cWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. For your sake we are being killed all day long\u201d (Rom 8: 36-39). He said that persecution and terrorism shall not shake our faith or our love for Christ.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\"> The second message,\u00a0is to Fr Samaan. Again, the Bishop quoted the Bible: \u201cWhen he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they upheld\u201d (Rev 6:9). \u201cWe tell Fr Samaan: \u2018Blessed are you! You used to stand [on earth] in front of the altar, now your soul is under the altar with those slain for the Word.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\"> The third message was addressed to those who loved Fr Samaan and are pained by his murder:\u00a0Bishop Stephanos, Fr Samaan\u2019s family and friends, and to all Copts the world over. \u201cPlease do not give Satan a chance to shake our love or faith. We should stand firm and realize that we tread a path full of peril till we reach the Kingdom of Heaven. Fr Samaan and all the martyrs have gone that way before us, and we too might tread the same path. But we are ready and willing, because that\u2019s what our Christian faith and our clerical calling prepares us for.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\">Bishop\u00a0Raphael\u2019s last message was to the security authorities in Egypt. \u201cSince 1972,\u201d he said, \u201cterrorist acts and attacks against Copts have steadily escalated. Even though, admittedly, security measures alone cannot stem the tide of crime against Copts, these security measures have been severely flawed. Criminals are seldom caught; when some are caught they are frequently not brought to justice. This is practically a carte blanche for whoever wishes to commit crimes against Copts, since they can be sure there would be no retribution.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: &quot;andale mono&quot;, times;\"> \u201cBut our lives are not cheap,\u201d he said, \u201cand crimes against us will not go unanswered. If there is no justice on earth, Heaven will exact justice.\u201d He raised a strong warning: \u201cBeware the justice of Heaven. We raise our case to Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S9ewOis7M4M\" width=\"620\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AuQx3aRsngE\" width=\"620\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pgunY2pRiLM\" width=\"620\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ImiWtfaozhg\" width=\"620\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DEd_R-7XeLk\" width=\"620\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times;\">[epa-album id=&#8221;50981&#8243; show_title=&#8221;false&#8221; display=&#8221;full&#8221;]<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In\u00a0an atmosphere\u00a0of grief over the loss of the father and shepherd, the\u00a0congregation of St.\u00a0Julius of Akfahs Church in Ezbet Gerges received the body of the priest of the church, Fr. Samaan Shehata, who was martyred on Thursday morning. The prayers were held in the presence of Their Eminences Bishop Stephanos, Bishop of Baba\u00a0and Al Fashn,\u00a0Bishop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":50997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,40,74,39],"tags":[9664,7257,4657,4149,9665,352,1330,9691,9690,988,1350,340],"class_list":["post-50969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-photos","category-74","category-videos","tag-fr-samaan-shehata","tag-funeral-service","tag-martyr","tag-pastor","tag-st-julius-of-aqfahs-church","tag-352","tag-1330","tag-9691","tag-9690","tag-988","tag-1350","tag-340"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51085,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50969\/revisions\/51085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}