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Synod Partnership with the Synod of the Nile

News from Cairo

The Synod of Southern California and Hawaii and the Synod of the Nile in Egypt have had a formal partnership for more than a decade. There have been a number of exchanges with representatives of this Synod visiting Egypt, and representatives of the Synod of the Nile visiting this Synod. Dick and Marge McIntosh of Los Ranchos have most recently served as coordinators of the partnership for this Synod. Dick received a communication from one of our partner contacts at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. Please join in the prayers of the Synod for our partners in Egypt.

The February 7 2011 letter:

Description of what has happened recently in Egypt and evaluation of the current situation:
On New Year’s Eve, Egypt was blustered by the bombing and killing of 23 Christians as they were leaving the mass in one of the large Orthodox Churches in Alexandria! For the first time among similar incidents, the majority of citizens responded in grief and anger. The average Muslims were so prompt and genuine in refusing and condemning such terrorist attacks against Christians that the government could not treat the matter lightly as it usually does in similar circumstances. That day, I realized that Egypt was not the same any more. People were getting impatient with the lack of transparency and fake handling of serious problems!

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By the 20th of January, 80,000 young Egyptians, probably motivated by the boldness and revolutionary spirit in Tunisia, had already responded positively to an invitation on facebook and Twitter to gather for a peaceful demonstration at the Liberation Square in Cairo (the largest square in Cairo, which lies in downtown Cairo) on the 25th of January. The government did not take that move seriously, thinking that it was no more than an internet activity that cannot bring out anything significant. Surprisingly to everyone, including the government, there were over 250,000 persons demonstrating at the Liberation Square and many thousands in several other major cities and towns across the country. The demonstrators had some legitimate requests such as: (1) serious solution for the increasing phenomenon of unemployment; (2) Increasing the very low salaries that put many Egyptians under the poverty line; (3) the dissolution of the Egyptian newly-elected parliament due to the conviction of every one of faking the last elections; (4) Changing the constitution in a way that guarantees true democracy, especially in the election of the president; (5 ) Limiting the terms of presidency to two terms only; Condemning and facing corruption and conflict of interest, especially that resulted from the “marriage” between authority and capitalism (since both the parliament and the government included some very wealthy and, probably corrupted business people)!

Until January 28 the regime had nothing to offer to the outraged demonstrating youth! Accordingly, and after the Friday Islamic prayers, hundreds of thousands of people left the mosques across the country in demonstrations, raising the ceiling of their requests and asking for the resignation of the cabinet and the departure of President Mubarak! Unfortunately, violence erupted between the police and demonstrators. The Egyptian TV and radio announced that President Mubarak ordered the army to help the police in restoring the nation’s security. However, suddenly, and in a mysterious, scandalous and unprecedented way, the police withdrew not only from the demonstration points, but also from all their daily positions and services, including, police stations, streets, traffic, prisons, important state building they were guarding, etc!! Pictures showed army tanks and vehicles coming into streets. The matter took quite a time during which there was at least 2-3 hours of a vacuum.

This issue resulted in a kind of chaos in the whole country, since thousands of criminals broke out of prisons and started igniting fires, destroying and robbing banks, homes, businesses, shops, cars, in addition to stealing weapons and clothes and ID cards of police personnel. Damage and destruction reached tourist sites, courts, museums, state buildings, etc. Late that evening, the president gave a speech, declaring that he would assign a Vice president for the first time during the 30 years of his reign and asking the cabinet to step down to be replaced under a new prime minster. Although the two appointed men are well respected, people felt unsatisfied and kept demonstrating!

Many opposition parties and political powers, such as Muslim brotherhood, suspected to be supported by outsiders, exploited the Chaos and participated actively to increase it to its ultimate level. On Tuesday evening (two days ago), Mubarak gave another speech which genuinely and seriously addressed almost all what the demonstrators requested from the first day! He made it clear that he had no intention to run in the coming presidential elections but he wanted to use the few remaining months to supervise a safe and democratic transition of power and the constitutional amendments in the articles related to the election of the president. Most people received his speech positively, but many young demonstrators, are still standing till this moment at Liberation Square, requesting only Mubarak’s resignation!

Yesterday there was very violent encounter between thousands of Mubarak’s opposition, who want him to leave, and thousands of those who received his last speech positively and felt that he and the newly assigned leaders must take their chance to execute the pledges they made! Since the problem started, Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have been set under Curfew for long hours each day.


Where is Egypt going now?
No one knows! We feel in a vicious cycle and in a state of lack of trust between the regime, the opposition, the young youth who do not strongly belong to any party, and many internal and external powers that have hidden agendas and want to exploit the current chaos.

What is the current status of the seminary and the church in Egypt?
The current incident has nothing particularly intended against the church or Christians in Egypt. Christians fear that in the midst of such lack of stability, Muslim brotherhood or any Islamic power might exploit the chaos and jump into power! As almost every house, institution or building in Cairo, we, the professors of the seminary with our children and workers who live on campus, are taking shifts in guarding the seminary against robbers and attackers until police returns to assume full power and restores security.

Prayer requests:
• Restoring the security in the nation and the lost authority of the state!
• Arresting the criminals who escaped from prisons and are keeping people terrified and bringing accountable previous leaders who through corruption allowed this security vacuum to happen.
• Setting an end of divisions, violence and disturbing and destructive demonstrations.
• Smooth and dignified transition of power.
• Positive spirit of all parties and genuine desire to reach an acceptable resolution to current problems during the negotiations to which the president had called.
• Fresh opportunity for real democracy and development and in Egypt.

Thank you all for your prayer, kind care and concern!