Christian Churches Torched and Burned Across Egypt

Egypt's unrest keeps rising and the safety of Christians has been targeted with several violent attacks leading to death and destruction in several areas. 

Even the Virgin Mary Church, that has been a peaceful refuge for Shenouda El Sayeh for 67 years was attacked and it is clear things have changed. During the attack, the mob was yelling for Egypt to become an "Islamic state" as they torched and looted the Virgin Mary Church.

Even though things in unrest, no one expected this. "I didn't expect this to happen," El Sayeh said.

The attacks around Egypt have been the country's deadliest since the 2011 revolution to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak. It was reported that 52 churches in Egypt were attacked in a 24-hour span that started Wednesday. Over 30 places of worship were attacked, but it did not stop there. Christians' homes, businesses, church-related facilities and even schools were targeted. 

More attacks continued into Thursday. The attacks have been blamed on supporters of the Islamist movement, the Muslim brotherhood. 

"It's not just about burning churches, it's about burning churches to initiate a response that then spirals into even greater violence -- and that is a very, very dangerous game to play." Angaelos said. 

The rising threat against Christians pushed him last week to issue a statement warning of "a very real risk upon the life of every Christian." Even the Pope (Tawadros II) of Egypt suspended weekly public events for fear of attacks on Christian places of worship and their people.

Angaelos added, "The ferocity and the speed with which it all happened ... was quite surprising."

Wednesday reports came out mentioning the "complete burning and destruction" of its bookshops in the cities of Assiut and Minia, in southern Egypt. The society's general director, Ramez Atallah wrote, "Fortunately we were closed today, fearing such an attack, so none of our staff were injured. The attackers demolished the metal doors protecting the bookshops, broke the store windows behind them and set the bookshops on fire."

The Christians in Egypt have been the minority for years and the target of many attacks in recent years. "In the past two-and-a-half years, we've had more deaths of people just because they are Christians than in the last 20 years," he said, adding that this had not triggered violent retaliation.

There were many cases of moderate Muslims helping out and working to put fires out in different areas. They want to quickly distance themselves from the pockets of extreme Muslim groups. 

We need to join in prayer for the people of Egypt that they would stay safe and begin to settle the unrest in the country.