Oriental Orthodoxy in Egypt

A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt's capital on Sunday, quickly filling it with thick black smoke and killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children.

Egypt's president on Sunday inaugurated a new cathedral for the Coptic Orthodox Church and one of the region's largest mosques in a highly symbolic gesture at a time when Islamic militants are increasingly targeting the country's minority Christians.

The Greek Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned Friday's attack by a gunman on a Coptic Christian church and a Christian-owned shop near Cairo in Egypt that left 11 people dead.

At least 23 people have been killed and 25 wounded when a bus carrying Copts came under attack in Egypt.

According to reports on Friday, gunmen opened fire at the bus headed to a monastery near the town of Minya.

TANTA, Egypt—Like the Jews before them, Christians are fleeing the Middle East, emptying what was once one of the world’s most-diverse regions of its ancient religions.

They’re being driven away not only by Islamic State, but by governments the U.S. counts as allies in the fight against extremism.

Security at the three official Coptic Orthodox churches in Athens - in Polygono, Menidi and Kypseli - has been increased in the wake of two attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt on Sunday that left dozens dead.

The suicide bombings at the churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday left 44 dead. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.

At least 36 people were killed and more than 100 injured in bomb attacks on two Coptic churches on Palm Sunday, in the latest assault on a religious minority increasingly targeted by Islamist militants.

Archbishop Ieronymos pledged his allegiance to the Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, who, he said, are "being persecuted by fundamentalists."

He made his comments in his address to Pope Tawadros II, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, who is paying a six-day official visit to Greece which began on Thursday.

Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel believes the killing by militants of the Islamic State group of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya represents a sad proof of the use of religion as a pretext to justify terrorist acts.

Photo credit: (c) Cristian NISTOR / AGERPRES PHOTO