Statement of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church Issued after its October 10, 2011 meeting

A meeting of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church was held in the Papal residence in Cairo, Egypt on 10th October 10, 2011. It has issued the following statement:

The Holy Synod was troubled by the incidents that happened yesterday, Sunday; the martyrdom of more than 24 Christians and the wounding of 200 during their peaceful march.

While stressing our Christian faith rejecting violence in all its forms, we cannot neglect that strangers might infiltrate among our sons and commit mistakes that are attributed to the latter.

Still Copts see that their problems are consistently repeated without punishment or legal action against their aggressors or implementation of radical solutions to these problems. The Holy Synod invites the Coptic people to pray and fast for three days starting tomorrow Tuesday so that the Lord dwells with His peace in our beloved country Egypt.