“No monopoly on suffering”

To mark the Coptic Orthodox Church’s Feast of Modern Day Martyrs, the Coptic Church in London advocated for all victims of religious persecution worldwide under the theme …

The date 15 February will always be etched in the memory of Copts as the gruesome day on which video footage was aired showing 21 Christian men in orange jumpsuits being marched single file on a beach in Sirte, Libya, where they were made to kneel to be beheaded by their black-clad, masked captors. Twenty of the Christian men were Coptic migrant workers from villages in Upper Egypt; the 21st was a Ghanaian, Matthew Ayariga, who stood by his Coptic friends’ steadfast faith. They had been captured by Daesh (Islamic State) in Libya and executed for refusing to decline their Christian faith. As each Christian was held for beheading, they audibly uttered “Oh my Lord Jesus”.

The Coptic Church declared the 21 martyrs of faith, and a church was built on order of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in their honour in al-Our, the home village of 13 of them. The Coptic Church decided to designate 15 February the date the beheading was made public an annual feast to celebrate modern-day martyrs.

In September 2017, the bodies of the 21 were found in Sirte. The 20 Copts were brought home in May 2018, and put to rest in a special shrine at the church in al-Our. But the Copts were not happy; the Coptic Church officially asked the Libyan authorities to bring the 21st martyr, the Ghanaian Matthew Ayariga whose body had not been claimed by any relative, to be buried with his co-martyrs. He was brought to Egypt in October 2020 amid Coptic jubilation.

H FHPL RS LF R YRFD H

The Feast of Modern-Day Martyrs, also denoted Contemporary Martyrs Day, has been regularly celebrated by the Coptic Church inside and outside Egypt.

This year, Anba Angaelos, the Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London and Papal Legate to the United Kingdom, sponsored a webinar on 15 February to mark the feast. The webinar was hosted by Refcemi in conjunction with the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of London.

Refcemi is the Coptic Orthodox Office for Advocacy and Public Policy in London, founded in October 201 by Archbishop Angaelos who is widely recognised for his extensive advocacy work; as a result was conferred the honour of Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty ueen Elizabeth.

Refcemi works to address a broad range of advocacy issues, especially that of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) around the world, from the intrinsically Christian perspective of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, the presence of the image and likeness of God in every person, and His granting of all His humanity the right to choose, believe and worship freely.

‘Refcemi’ is the Coptic word for ‘advocate’.

RLFHV R HD

The recent Refcemi webinar event was titled “No monopoly on suffering”, and marked Contemporary Martyrs Day by advocating for those of all faiths persecuted around the world. Archbishop Angaelos, Director of Refcemi, stressed that “emphasis would be on solidarity in advocacy for communities around the world suffering violations to freedom of belief around the world”.

Speakers included Archbishop Angaelos, Fiona Bruce MP, Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for FoRB; The Lord Alton of Liverpool; The Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Truro; Mervyn Thomas CMG, Chair of the UK FoRB Forum; and Gareth Russell, Founder and Director of Jersey Road PR. The seminar was chaired by Dr Ewelina Ochab, Deputy Director of Refcemi.

Speaking on the significance of this day, Archbishop Angaelos said: “The Coptic Orthodox Church is in a unique place, through its own experience of persecution across the centuries, to speak for those of all faiths and none who continue to suffer today, those whose voices are not heard.”

L L D HVV

“If we look at our suffering alone,” Archbishop Angaelos said, “we lose something … we need to look further than ourselves.” He said that the suffering, courage and valiance of the 21 was seen by all, but there was unseen suffering by persons all over the world on account of their faith: Christians, Jews, Uighur, Rohingya, Hazara… “If we can stand together tonight, and act … we can be light in the darkness that surrounds us.”

Christopher Chessun, Anglican Bishop of Southwark, then read a word on behalf of Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who could not participate in person. Archbishop Justin said that the suffering of the 21 martyrs testifies to the overwhelming love of Christ who transformed our lives by His suffering and sacrifice on the Cross. But love needs freedom, the Archbishop said, because it is freely given. “But we are assured of victory, because the martyrs show us that wherever that freedom is taken away, the love of Christ still triumphs,” he said.

D V E RR HH R H F

Bishop Christopher then gave his own word, recalling his pilgrimage to Egypt three years ago accompanied by Archbishop Angaelos who spoke then of the twin pillars of martyrdom and monasticism in the Coptic Church. “We saw ample evidence of that,” he said. “We saw a discipleship rooted in devotion and prayer in the thriving monasteries we visited. We saw also much evidence of the refusal to deny our Saviour against forces that would distinguish life rather than allow life in Him to continue…” Bishop Christopher talked of the suicide bombings in Cairo and Alexandria churches in 2016 and 2017, reminding that they claimed more than 46 lives, including seven Muslim policemen and policewomen; also the three-year-old Lucinda. Tellingly, he said, her name has been given to many Coptic girls born since.

In the UK, he said, there was no such suffering, “but it is right that we should advocate for others who are hindered, ignored, threatened or even killed … for all those persecuted for their faith.

R LYH E R R H

Lord Alton of Liverpool began by recalling the saying “forgive and forget” which he said he did not entirely agree with. “We should certainly try to forgive, he said, “but not to forget …remembering is what draws us together on this day … to recall the martyrdom of the 21 saints who were brutally beheaded by Islamic State.”

“During visits to Egypt and more recently to Iraq – in the cradle of civilisation and the cradle of Christianity – I have met members of the ancient Churches whose own deep faith and gentle love and extraordinary dignity stands as a rebuke to those who persecute, defile, abduct, rape, and even murder them.

“Elsewhere I have seen, too, how Muslims – such as the Uyghurs and Rohingya – and people of all faiths and, indeed, or none – can be on the receiving end of other hateful ideologies …” D H D HE H R V

“Whenever I think of what happened in 2015 on that bloodied beach in Libya,” Lord Alton said, “I cannot also help thinking of Matthew Ayariga, a young West African, probably from Ghana.

“Matthew’s decision to stay with his brothers is an extraordinary expression of common humanity and an example of solidarity, sacrifice, and love … When the Jihadists told him he would be freed if he rejected Jesus Christ, he responded by saying: ‘Their God is my God’.

“Matthew, in this extraordinary act of love and solidarity was willing to give his liberty and his life rather than walk away from his Coptic brothers.

“It stands as a rebuke to us all who remain silent in the face of the persecution of 250 million Christians worldwide.

“His act of extraordinary solidarity shames so many of us when we consider our tepid response – often based on political expediency, institutional considerations, or trade and business – to the persecution experienced by religious and ethnic groups the world over.”

R D H D D SH VHF LR S HDVH R

Bishop of Truro, Philip Mounstephen, said that it was right that the event of marking the memory of the 21 should become a fixture on the calendar, because of the enduring issue of the large numbers of people who suffer and are killed for their faith. “[This] is a great evil,” he said. That 83 per cent of the world population live in countries with high or very high restrictions on freedom of religion is simply unacceptable, he said, and that 80 percent of the persecution is directed against Christians is simply intolerable … and it is getting steadily worse.”

Bishop Philip said that the world is facing a huge challenge, but there is newfound political will to tackle it. He called upon the UK government to take action on the issue of FoRB. “And I ask the Church to be no less engaged, committed and active on this issue”

Turning to the spiritual side, Bishop Philip said that persecution was nothing new to the Church of God. He quoted St John who when in exile for his faith wrote: “Your brother and companion in the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance that is ours in Jesus”.

During the meeting of the Church of England general synod a week earlier, he recalled, a speaker said that he’d been constantly praying for an end to persecution in the Middle East. To which one brother from the region said ‘No, my Lord! In the West where there is no persecution, there is a lack of joy and love for the Lord Jesus, and if the removal of persecution meant that for us, please Lord don’t take it away’.

FR D HPH D LYH HV LPR LHV

The floor was the given to Fiona Bruce MP,

UK Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for FoRB. Ms Bruce said it was right to remember on Contemporary Martyrs Day the horrific fate of the 21 beheaded by Daesh, but “we owe it to them and their families to act so that such events do not happen anymore.” Sadly, she said, far too many of them occur in many places over the world, yet even so, she said she wished to encourage everyone that large numbers of individuals, institutions, and even countries have stepped up efforts to confront such abuses. She praised the UK efforts on this front, saying that the parliamentary group concerned with FoRB has grown to be one of the largest and most active cross party groups. She said this should encourage similar groups in other countries, and spoke of UK’s successful international effort on that front, such as with the G7 summit last year.

Live testimonies followed, highlighting the plight of the Shia Hazara in Afghanistan, the Yazidi in Iraq, and the Uighur in China.

SHD S H LE H VD V

Then it was time for Mervyn Thomas CMG, Chair of the UK FoRB Forum to speak. Awareness of religious persecution, he said, is not enough. He spoke of the need to engage government, civil society, and the international community in efforts for freedom of religion or belief. “We need to move from awareness to action in order to bring freedom,” he said. He spoke of his founding, together with his late friend David Atkinson MP, a CSW in 1 7 for advocacy work in regard to Christian persecution in Eastern Europe. “Ten years later, When communism fell throughout Europe we found ourselves questioning if there was still any need for the work we were doing,” he said, “But we soon discovered that Christians were being persecuted in other countries in the world. In 2002, we saw firsthand the persecution of the Rohingya in Burma. As a Christian, I had to ask myself if my standing up against persecution goes beyond the Christian community The answer was right there in the Bible. Proverbs 31:8 says: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” And in Luke 10, Jesus says the parable of the Good Samaritan. “Who is my neighbour ” Mervyn Thomas reiterated.

RPH L R H D R VH YHV

Finally, Gareth Russell, Founder and Director of Jersey Road, took the floor. He started by saying how divided the world is, between sacred and secular, left and right, conservative and liberal, east and west. “Yet the reality is that individualism, postmodernism and secularism have failed, and the world continues to look for a different story that would reveal purpose to life and connect us to something other than ourselves. And although religion has become more peripheral, its message has never been more needed.”

“As a PR firm,” Mr Russel said, “we work to write stories of the good work and service of faith communities, to communicate a hope in something other than ourselves.” He called for cooperation between religious entities and the media. “There is need in the media for religious literacy,” he said. “The media has been often seen by religious groups to be the enemy. But if we are to tell the stories we need bilateral cooperation.” Stories on persecution can resonate with the public and the many who embrace no faith by emphasising the injustice and exposing the evil.

“As with the story of the 21, we can raise awareness beyond borders and advocate freedom of religious beliefs for all,” Mr Russel said. The video footage posted by Daesh showing the beheading, he said, was meant to intimidate the faithful and spread fear. Instead, it became a shining example of steadfast faith to the whole world.

RSH D L R PD

Archbishop Angaelos concluded the event by appreciatively thanking all who took part, and all supporters and active workers on freedom of religion or belief. There is so much work waiting to be done,” he said, “There’s so much suffering. When we act together we bring hope and light into the lives of many.”