Keraza Nos 1,2 dated Friday 4 January 2002 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Greetings of Different Christian Churches in Egypt for Christmas ------------------------------------------------------------------ On Tuesday 25 December 2001 morning, Pope Shenouda drove on to the Greek Catholic Patriarchate at Daher Cairo where he greeted Patriarch Gregorius Lahham who had with him Metropolitans Zogby and Antaky. Pope Shenouda was accompanied by Bishop Joannes, Heg Jeremiah Avva-Mina, Mr Gerges Saleh and Dr Rushdy Wassef. Then the party drove to the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate where they greeted the Patriarch Cardinal Stephanos II who was accompanied by Metropolitans, Bishops, priests and monks and Metropolitan Andrawes Salama. They spent a nice time of Theological and Spiritual talk. The party drove then to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate where they met with Patriarch Petrus VII who had many of his faithful. The visit was a chance to talk about issues concerning Orthodox Churches. At noon, the Pope returned back to prepare for the Theological Seminary Lecture. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Miscellaneous News ------------------------------------------------------------------ At the Patriarchate in Alexandria, Pope Shenouda met with Archbishop Mounir Hanna Head of the Anglican Church in Egypt and a delegate of the Archbishop of Canterbury. They discussed some church matters and studied the relation of the Archbishop with the MECC. On Thursday 20 December 2001 morning, Pope Shenouda visited the Residence of the late Bishop Gregorius where he visited his personal 4-rooms library at the HICS (Higher Institute of Coptic Studies) which HH shall transform to a Library for the Theological Seminary. A Papal Decree No 13/31 was issued merging the library of the Theological Seminary with the Library of Bishop Gregorius as declaration of the latter's contribution and ministry in the Theological Seminary since his graduation. In his visit, Pope Shenouda was accompanied by HG Bishop Joannes and they were received by Mr Mounir Atteya and Ms Soheir Fahim the secretary of late Bishop Gregorius. On Monday 17 December 2001 evening, Pope Shenouda received Rev'd Riyad Jarjur of MECC who was accompanied by Archmandrite Dr Hanna Attallah the spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The meeting was concerning the status of Palestinians in the Holy Land. The meeting was attended by HG Bishop Raphael and Mr Gerges Saleh. On Wednesday 2 January 2002, a Liturgy was celebrated to commemorate the 2nd memory of our martyrs at El-Kosheh. The liturgy was celebrated at El-Kosheh by Abba Wissa the Bishop of the diocese, Bishop Joannes delegate of Pope Shenouda and a big number of priests. On Thursday 20 December 2001 morning, Pope Shenouda received His Excellency Mr Michael De Calabrey the new Ambassador of Canada to Egypt who is also a nephew to the well known Jean Vanier who consecrated his life for the service of the handicapped. The 1st secretary at the Embassy accompanied his Excellency. Much of the talk was about the Mentally Disabled. The meeting was attended also by Bishop Joannes and Sister Ruth who is responsible for the Mentally Disabled Ministry at BLESS Bishopric of Ecumenical and Social Services. On Wednesday 19 December 2001 morning, Pope Shenouda received Dr Ramez Attallah the Director of the Bible Society in Egypt who was accompanied by the senior staff of the Society. They discussed some issues concerning the translation of the Bible and they offered HH with the most recent prints of the Bible. And according to their will, the Pope gave his Wednesday weekly lecture to the theme "The Bible is Light". ------------------------------------------------------------------ First Live Video Conference for Pope Shenouda with the Coptic Clergy and Youth in Melbourne ------------------------------------------------------------------ Coptic youngsters in Melbourne have longed for a long time to see and listen to Pope Shenouda. Therefore, a Live Video Conference took place on Monday 24 December morning (10:00 am Cairo Time - 19:00 pm Australia Time) for youngsters attending the youth convention there. This is an important and historical event whose seed was planted by HG Bishop Suriel. Advanced technology was used. Thus leaving a great impression in the souls of Coptic Australian youngsters in their relation with the mother church and Pope Shenouda despite thousands of miles separating continents (more than 20 hours flight). This meeting took place at Pope Shenouda Centre for Organisation and Information Technology. The meeting was attended in Cairo by Bishop Joannes, Heg Jeremiah Avva-Mina and the Engineers at the Centre. In Melbourne, it was attended by Bishops Moussa and Suriel, 13 priests and more than 300 youngsters. The meeting that lasted for 2 hours, was introduced by Melbourne deacons chanting the hymn Eksmaroot and the Pope began by a prayer. Bishop Suriel welcomed the Pope and Bishop Moussa introduced the new project that was blessed by the Pope. Then the Pope talked about "the Image of God". Then the priests presented themselves, before an interactive discussion was led between the youth and HH. The Pope concluded this first historical meeting with a prayer and the attendance asked for other coming meetings. The preparation for such a meeting began 4 months ago (since August 2001) through co-operation, co-ordination and studies between Pope Shenouda Centre and the Diocese of Melbourne. In Cairo, the Centre rent ISDN lines from the National Communication Authority while in Melbourne the Diocese recruited a specialised company to do the job. The engineers checked the centre's video cameras reliability and compatibility with computers. And the last week before the event, pre-tests were intensively conducted between Cairo and Melbourne through satellites. ------------------------------------------------------------------