Martyrs on a Universal Altar
Loving God to the end. The example of the Martyrs teaches us the Works of Mercy
From the time of the final division between Catholics and Orthodox until today, each church has had its own saints and martyrs, rarely in common
On May 11, 2023, there was an extraordinary event, Pope Francis announced the inclusion of 20 martyrs from the Coptic Orthodox Church and one from non-Christian Ghana in the Roman Martyrology.
And so on Thursday, February 15, 2024, on the occasion of the first commemoration in the Catholic Church of the 21 Coptic Martyrs killed of Libya, an Ecumenical Prayer was held at St. Peter’s Basilica precisely in the Choir Chapel.
“Copts are proud of the persecutions they had to endure beginning with the martyrdom of their patron St. Mark, especially during the Roman era.”
When even Emperor Diocletian had traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, to personally practice persecution. Because of the large number of martyrs among its faithful and their courage in going even to death to bear witness to the faith, that Coptic Orthodox Church is in fact called the “Church of Martyrs.” Today it constitutes the largest Christian community in the Middle East, and in Egypt where it originated, it represents the largest religious minority in the country, being professed by about 15 percent of the population.
The Coptic Church is mostly Coptic Orthodox (less than 1 percent of the Egyptian population is non-Orthodox Coptic). There are also Catholic Copts, and Evangelical Copts. The word Coptic means Egyptian.
A courage, that of the Copts, demonstrated in front of the world by the 20 Egyptians and one Ghanaian who on Feb. 15, 2015, had their throats slit on the beach in Sirte, Libya, where they were on business. They were killed by the men of the self-styled Islamic State (IS), in one of the blackest periods in the region due to religious fundamentalism.
“These martyrs were baptized not only in water and the Spirit, but also in blood, with blood that is a seed of unity for all followers of Christ,” Pope Francis said in a video message on the occasion of their commemoration on Feb. 15, 2021.
It was powerful and cruel that the killing of these martyrs was filmed and broadcast to their families. I would say it was a martyrdom for them as well. The simple and genuine faith of these men affected the world. They were imprisoned and tortured by this ISIS armed group and never rebelled. In the broadcast videos we see their faces looking at the sky on that beach where they were martyred, as if they were mirrors of Heaven.
They were simple workers from a village in a town called Minia in the center of the Nile Valley in upper Egypt. Very humble, without studies, they believed without question in the existence of God and His Son Jesus. Even when they had the chance to deny Him in order to save themselves, they did not.
Their example teaches us to endure the harassers, until our last breath
The bodies of the 21 Copts were found buried in a mass grave, dressed in the same orange robes they were wearing at the time of their execution. A church named after the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland was built in their honor in Al-Aour, visited by worshippers from all over Egypt.
Here then is living the Work of Mercy of praying for the living and the dead, but there the dead who are alive continue to pray with the gift of their lives for all of us, including their killers.
In fact, upon entering that “Shrine” Church located in Minia, in their hometown, you feel a special presence that cannot be defined. You are invaded by the divine and it is like touching a current that binds heaven and earth and forces you to bow before the greatness of pure, unconditional, most simple love!
Image
- Nevin Shoukry
- Image digitally created by spazio + spadoni
Source
- spazio + spadoni
- https://www.causesanti.va/it
- Coptic Orthodox Church of Milan