Egyptian Copts pray for church
The National , Nadia abou el Magd, Foreign Correspondent
Priest Thimosaois Yanni stands before the altar
KAFR El SHEIKH // The smell of burnt wood is heavy in the air at the Sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary, in northern Egypt, after a fire this week swept through one of Christianity's most important landmarks.
Blackened wooden benches and melted air conditioners lay abandoned in the courtyard of the church in Sakha, where the holy family are said to have taken refuge as they fled Bethlehem and the bloody rampage by King Herod's men. The neighbourhood is called Pekha-Issous - Coptic for "Jesus's foot" - as it is here, 140km north of Cairo, that the two-year-old Jesus is said to have left an imprint on a stone from his infant foot.
The church was erected near the area where the holy family settled more than 2,000 years ago. It has been renovated several times since then, including in 1848, during the time of Mohammed Ali, an Ottoman leader, and again in the 1960s.
The fire on Monday destroyed the church's altar and damaged the icon of the Virgin Mary carrying the baby Jesus Christ. It dates back to 1565. Also damaged was the marble structure that held the icon. It was made in 1591. The church now has another icon on display, framed in glass.
Boutros Boutros, the deputy bishop of the archdiocese of Kafr el Sheikh, Dameyetta and the St Demiana monastery, said the fire was caused by an electrical fault. He said Muslims in the area were among the first to help extinguish the flames before the fire engines arrived, dismissing any speculation that the fire was the result of recent sectarian tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians.
"There is no sectarian tension in Sakha, only constant love," said Thimosaois Yanni, a Coptic Christian priest, who, like most Copts, has a small green tattoo on his wrist.
This was the first fire at the church since its establishment. There are no fire alarms in the building, although officials are now considering installing one.
Gen Ahmed Abdeen, the governor of Kafr el Sheikh, promised to extend all help, including sending a delegation of experts to see how the church could be restored.
"The man [the governor] is trying to treat our bleeding wound," said Gamal Gerges, an official with the church. "We have to be thankful."
Like the rest of Egypt's some 2,300 churches, there is a constant police presence outside the Sakha church. Copts need presidential permission to build or repair a church, a restriction they have asked authorities to lift.
This week, the Coptic Church issued a strongly worded statement to Hosni Mubarak, the president, calling for guarantees of protection amid increasing attacks against their members.
On May 31, armed Muslims attacked Abu Fana Monastery in the southern town of Malawi. One Muslim was killed and three Coptic priests were briefly taken hostage and later hospitalised with injuries.
It was reported that the clash was over a land dispute. Thousands of Copts protested afterwards.
Also that month, a jewellery shop owned by Copts in Cairo was robbed, and four Copts, including the owner and his relatives, were killed. A few days later, another jewellery shop owned by Copts in Alexandria was robbed by a thief in a woman's niqab. There were no injuries.
The interior ministry has insisted that the thefts and the fighting are not related to religion.
About 10 per cent of Egypt's 78 million population are Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts. Many Copts said the government is not doing enough to protect their rights, and that widespread discrimination occurs.
Nevertheless, there were efforts to set up a reconciliation meeting between Copts and Muslims after the monastery attack, but it was turned down by Pope Shenouda III, 85, who has been the Orthodox pope of Egypt for almost 40 years.
Muslim hardline groups accuse the church of trying to set up an alternative government for Christians in Egypt.
"The Egyptian Church has presented herself as an alternative to the ruling regime for the Copts since 1970s," said Al Gamaa al Islamiyya (Islamic Group), a former extremist group that waged a violent campaign against the regime, Copts and tourists in the 1990s, before it renounced violence in 1997.
"Does the government have to kneel in front of the church asking for clemency in advance, offering its, and all Muslims', blood because of a stealing incident by a thug?" the group said on its website recently.
"The recent clashes were not the first and are likely to increase," said Nabil Abdel Fattah, a commentator on religious issues in Egypt. "Muslim-Christian tension has become a part of daily life in Egyptian society since they erupted in the 1970s," he said, adding that in many recent disputes, "the religious aspect takes the upper hand over the national".
Nashaat Nazem Nicola, 26, an engineer at the Sakha church, said, "I have no problem being Copt in Egypt. But yes, we are discriminated against in holding key government posts."