AFRICA/EGYPT - The Coptic Church celebrates the 21 "martyrs of Libya" a year after their massacre

Tuesday, 16 February 2016 martyrs  

Samalot (Agenzia Fides) - Today numerous Bishops and priests of the Coptic Orthodox Church will take part in the Divine Liturgy celebrated at the church in Samalot in honor of the 21 Coptic Christians killed a year ago in Libya by jihadists affiliated to the self-styled Islamic State (Daesh). The solemn liturgy represents the culmination of a series of masses and prayer meetings and reflection dedicated to the figures of the "martyrs of Libya", organized these days in the diocese of Samalot, in the Egyptian province of Minya.
The figures of the 21 Copts martyred by the Daesh executioners are also mentioned in many other parts of the world. On 10 February, their commemoration was held at the chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster, and was attended by several members of the two Chambers of Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The 21 Coptic Egyptians were kidnapped in Libya in early January 2015. The video of their beheading was put online by jihadists websites on 15 February. A week after their barbaric massacre, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II decided to register the 21 martyrs in the Synaxarium, the book of the martyrs of the Coptic Church, establishing that their memory is celebrated on 15 February. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 16/02/2016)


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