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PAST NEWS ARCHIVE

[H.H.  Consecrates Church] [Youth Activity Day] [King's Park 06] [God Loves Me Activity Day] 

[Pioneer Centre] [Drayton Manor Theme Park] [The Ranch & Snowdon Trip] [Medjugorje Trip] 

[Essex Monastery Trip] [Egypt 06/07] [Kenilworth Group Visit] [New Website 30/11/07]

[King's Park Feb 07] [Nigeria Mission Trip 07] [Website 2nd Year]

The Coptic Diocese of the Midlands & Affiliated Areas U.K. Web Site - Launched 04/02/06

The Website that was promised & hoped for more than 3 years ago is finally online. It is the The official website of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Midlands & Affiliated areas U.K. Includes articles, contact details, Valuable Downloads, important Coptic Links, information of what goes on in the diocese and details of its activities and places of worship. The address is: www.copticmidlanddiocese.co.uk

New Priest Ordained in Birmingham

On 6-11-2005, HG Bishop Missael of Birmingham ordained a new priest who is: Fr. Peter Fathy. Our congratulations to Birmingham and the new priest. (Taken from the El-Keraza English Magazine)

H.H. Pope Shenouda III Consecrates the church of St. Mary & St. Abu - Seifein

On Sunday 19/2/2006 H. H. the Pope consecrated the church and dedicated the altar to the Virgin and St. Mercurius of the Two Swords, their graces who participated with H.H. in the consecration prayers were: Bishop Rowais, Bishop Missael, Bishop Antony, Bishop Demian, Bishop Bernaba, Bishop Gabriel and Bishop Kirollos Ava Mina. The altar was consecrated as well as the Icon of the Apse, all the icons of the Iconostatis and all the church's walls which were drawn by Deaconess Sawsan the artist. (Taken from  the El-Karaza English Magazine)

Youth Activity Day 11/03/06 at Birmingham Coptic Centre

The activity day on Saturday kept us all entertained.

From the tuneful worship, the indoor games (stretching the mind and legs J), and the outdoor games. The big news of the day was in the football. The girls (who were always offside and had Fr. Peter in their team), beat the boys 10-7! However the boys won a moral (and ethical ) victory; with Fr Peter getting the only ‘yellow card’ of the day….using inappropriate tactics to keep Joe away from the ball!

King's Park, Northampton

Proverbs 8

17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. 18 Riches and honour are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness. 19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver. 20 I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, 21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.

Isaiah 44

3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; 4 They will spring up among the grass Like willows by the watercourses.' 5 One will say, `I am the Lord's'; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, `The Lord's,' And name himself by the name of Israel.

We came to seek Him, knowing that He only has the best gifts, and that He wants us to inherit His wealth. And he reminded us that we are his, called by him.

Truly we have been visited by our good Lord and spent three days up in the mountain with Him. On the 31^st of March we were blessed to have His Grace Bishop Paul with us at a weekend conference for young adults in Northampton. His Grace is the Bishop of Mission in the Coptic Church and had come to the UK from his base in Kenya, East Africa.

The weekend provided a great environment for young people to grow in Christ. The theme was discipleship and there were over eighty people present from quite a variety of places including European countries. There were heartfelt prayers and praises, talks by His Grace, led-discussion groups where we were all able to voice our opinion and share with each other. There was also time for fellowship with each other and exchanging fresh ideas between parishes whilst strengthening links between parishes among young people. The evenings were relaxingly yet beneficially occupied with two films, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Revelation of St. John.

The conclusions to the talks and discussions were that to be a true disciple one must have the Lord Jesus Christ as King and Master, and no-one else.

We pray that the Holy Spirit that touched us will continue to transform us and use us as servants of His cause for the glory of His name and His church.

God Loves Me Activity Day, Sunday School

- We started the day with the holy liturgy which was done by Fr. Peter, we all attended and had communion
-Straight after the mass we went to have breakfast/lunch, which was ready for us in the kitchen.
-When we all had our meals, Auntie Nana showed us how to make JELLY. Everyone of us chose his favourite fruit (banana or strawberry) to add to his/her jelly, which we prepared and had to leave to set in the fridge for one hour.
- While the jelly sat in the fridge, we went outside with Auntie Samia for some outdoor games, we ran and played together, lots of people were there too, including Fr. Peter.
-After that, we went back to the kitchen as we had another session of crafts, we made some lovely Easter cards ,and had lots of photos taken showing the cards we made.
-As soon as we finished our crafts hour, we went to watch a video about Easter, it was not very long but very good.
-Fr. Peter tested us with questions about the film we watched, we were all excellent and everyone of us had a present.
-Then it was time for EATING THE JELLY...it was DELICIOUS.
-At the end we prayed, and were ready to go home.

It was lovely day, we enjoyed it so much, we had fun, missed all those who didn't manage to be with us (and prayed for them). Also felt how much God has blessed the time and made it enough for all this fun we had, we also felt how much loves us by letting us have such wonderful time together and blessing us with our lovely friends. Hope we have this day repeated again soon.

Pioneer Centre

Arriving at the Pioneer Centre was generally swift for most of us. As soon as we settled in everything had already started, we had our first talk with Bishop Paul followed by a fantastic film of Mother Theresa. Saturday unravelled itself, packed with tonnes of events including a Coptic youth burst at football, so everyone was overjoyed (apart from the  injured) until it came to another of Bishop Paul's fiery heart-filling talks. After supper some were still keen to watch Portugal loose to Germany whom edged in front of England in the World Cup. Then again we watched another film about the word spread in the poor Japanese vilages in which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Sunday Morning we attended the Holy Liturgy followed by another talk and finally Checking out.

Drayton Manor Theme Park

At around 12:00 pm everyone had finally gathered together. The first ride we waited for was Maelstrom, from below it never looked like that much fun really. Listening to the common high pitched screams just trapped us into thinking it a BIG JOKE. After finally seated on the ride and half way through most of us changed our minds. After a "near-vomit" experience. After the first thriller it filled us with encouragement and most of us, faith...

Next door was G-Force, the most horrifying view in a lifetime. But this ride, was with the presence of 7 year old Michael embarrassing a little (especially when he said it was great at the end!). At one or two points we were about to give up because we waited 45 minutes  for 1. The beginning.... Travelling extremely slow upside down... A white-knuckle journey through 385 metres of rolls, tight camelbacks, high backed curves and loops at over 70 kph!

Then the famous Shockwave. 45 minutes for 1 again but with twists and turns of which forced you to scream Jesus Help me! or at least perform the sign of the cross to have mercy onus, to give us peace for the only stand-up rollercoaster in Europe. Over 1600 feet with 4 inversionsat 53 mph. Unfortunately Michael Youssef and Joe did not choose the best of seats, as they were extremely and dangerously loosened, with attempts to notify the staff so they had to scream for the lives instead for the first time that day.

64 riders on 2 massive gondolas swing through 360 degrees at a height of nearly 25 metres  and a force of 3.8 Gs. It really does turn your world upside down! Yes it is the most fearful of fearful rides known, Pandemonium. This time there is a picture as evidence. Then Again Joe chose a similar seat whilst Michael managed to get both his legs stuck where there should only be one, so as for the staff hovering their hand over the button heard a shout for "HELP" went over and sorted him out.

No explanation required to express the experience.

We also attended the Splash Canyon ride, a white water raft ride that’s "guaranteed excitement!" well it was just floating around, nothing happening till the very end where 3 of the passengers get soaked, Andrew, Michael and Joe. But Marina and Jackie happy to survive and get a drop or two on them.

Then Finally what was least expected of... to benefit any water... Stormforce 10. "Recreating a lifeboat rescue and features three spectacular drops at 3Gs and a speed of 35 knots." The queue was a stress. We thought the ride a mess. But found it the best!

Rumours had spread that people at the back were soaked most, then the rumours changed on the front seats, so trying to stay out of the way Michael and Joe sat at the back and Andrew in the row in front. Luckily Andrew, Jackie and Marina Survived the waves. But as for Michael and Joe, who were already having a hard day, they ended up drenched to the point that they could not attend the Raising of Incense that evening. The photo of their suffering is near the beginning of this report.

The Ranch & Snowdon Trip

Written by Michael Youssef

"At about 8.00PM Friday 25th August, Abouna Youhana, Aunt Heba, Mark Georgy, Joe and I, set off from our meeting pointing just north of Birmingham with 4 or 5 cars travelling behind us. We were set off for north Wales and expecting a simple straight forward 2-3 hour journey, to Snowdonia in North Wales.  We took a longer route as the original one was unsafe. At last we arrived at our destination, The Ranch, part of a Christian Organisation that only employs Christians and is an activity centre that caters and provides accommodation. Well when we arrived  we just had a cup of hot chocolate, then thanked the Lord in prayer for guiding us safely to the ranch. Next we trotted off to our rooms and finalised the room allocations, which Joe and I had to copy down around 10 times.
 

We woke up early the next morning with difficulty and went down to the main hall to do morning prayers from the Agbeya in further thanking to God for delivering us to this place. After the prayers we ate some breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, cornflakes and toast. Our entire Church group was made up of about 40 members,  mostly from Birmingham Church.  though it was a variety of ages, it actually worked perfectly, like a dream. The group of 40 was split into 3 activity groups. The activity groups made a rota of these three activities: 1-Hill and Valley walk; this was a very enjoyable but also quite tiring 3 hour walk in the small hills and valleys of Wales, 2-Archery; For most people this was their first time doing archery and people learnt extremely quickly. The group was split into two and there was a competition for who could score the most points or in 1 case, you need to avoid hitting the Mars bar. 3-The Challenge Course; a member of staff at The Ranch made this challenge course very exciting. The idea of The Challenge Course is that it challenges you in many different aspects such as balance, strength, speed, heights and faith. These were the main activities and were great fun.

The religious theme of the weekend was The Prophet and King David. We watched a film about him, had workshops and discussions about him and speeches from Abouna Youhana. We learned about how he forgave others, had absolute faith in God,  was so humble,  his great love to God, others or even to his enemies and his meaningful repentance which became an example and a hope for all of us , to the contrary of Saul who was proud of himself and completely lost his way, his kingdom and at last himself.

On the evening of the last day the entire group travelled via mini-bus or cars to the beach to enjoy the sand, play rounders, football and gather round the camp-fire eating freshly cooked delicious sausages. On the very last day after breakfast we greatly thanked the staff and then had a final prayer together. Once we had departed from the ranch we set off to Mount Snowdon. And took an hour train ride to the top. The views were the most magnificent we had ever experienced, especially while in the midst of the clouds.

If you didn’t come we hope you come next time. May God be with us all."

Medjugorje Trip

Written by Michael Youssef [Click here for the trailer]

On Friday 20^th October about 25 people set off from the Coptic centre in the morning. We were anticipating a peaceful, interesting, purifying experience. We all boarded the bus and set off on a two-hour journey to London Luton. The bus journey seemed to go by very quickly and before we knew it we arrived at the airport. There we met up with about 6 people from London completing our group. From the airport, after checking in our bags we boarded the flight towards Split the second city in Croatia. Once we arrived at Split we learned about the country’s history. What used to be Yugoslavia, since 1991 became, due to political unrest and religious tension, six countries Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia- Hercegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Medjugorje lies in Bosnia-Hercegovina. From Split was a three-hour bus journey to Medjugorje crossing the border between Croatia and Bosnia.

On the way there was a brilliant tour guide named Vodka. At the beginning she made a joke that scared a lot of people. She said that the driver had only passed his driving test 2 days ago. This made a massive uproar and laughing, a few seconds later she revealed that it was only joke and people where very relieved. On the way there she explained a little bit about the visionaries and their apparitions of the Mother of God Saint Mary. The Whole group were intrigued by all of this and felt they were going to a very holy and blessed place. We also watched a video about the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. When we finally arrived there we were exceedingly tired and entered our Hotel. We were amazed at how beautiful and clean our hotel was. We could not see even a hint of dirt. The floor was shining and polished and Crucifixes of Jesus Christ in every bedroom and on most walls. Immediately, our hosts greeted us and we felt very comfortable and at home. After hours of travelling we sat on the dining tables and we ate. The catering and food at the hotel were amazing and everyone was satisfied. After this we went to bed and we were pleased how clean and tiny the room and how much furniture and space we had.

 On Saturday morning we arose from our beds and ate breakfast. Our first scheduled event was seeing one of the visionaries named Yacob. He is the youngest of the visionaries aged at 10 when he first saw the mother of God. He gave a speech full of integrity and we found his talk very interesting. Each of the visionaries receives ten secrets and before they receive all ten secrets they see St Mary everyday but when they have received all the secrets they only see her once per year. Yacob received all ten secrets in 1998 since then he sees her on the 24^th of June every year (the anniversary of the first apparition). After this we took an hour’s journey to the town of Father Yoko and we visited his parish where we he was due to give a talk. We listened to his talk about living in the spirit and reading the bible daily to let the Holy Spirit live within you.

 The next morning we were due to go to apparition hill where our lady appeared for the first time we were told by Vodka information about this place. The hill took us about 20-30 minutes to climb and the place felt holy and spiritual at the top was a grand statue of St Mary and a large cross. After this we visited a place which was set up by a Nun for drug addicts who needed physical, mental and spiritual healing. We went inside to listen to a talk given by two men who came here at when they were in their early 20s as drug addicts and criminals but after a few years they were completely transformed into honest people worshiping Christ. The next day after that we decided to climb a mountain named cross mountain which is a 532m mountain which has a giant cross on the top which was built in 1933. This was to protect it from storms and undesirable farming conditions. The Cross Mountain was divided into 14 section or “stations” as they were called. We climbed up this mountain and we said a prayer and a meditation at each station, it was a strenuous climb but eventually we got to the top. At the top we all felt blessed and close to God. However we had to go back down which was more difficult than the way up.

 That night we visited the Cathedral of Medjugorje which was very beautiful and spiritual. The next day was our final day where we visited a place called the Oasis of Peace which was a quiet Monastery where they pray for peace. There we listened to a talk given by a Belgian nun, and we went to the chapel where there was a beautiful cross (see picture at top). That ended our extremely pleasant experience of Medjugorje and thanks to God it was a complete success. May God bless us all and be with us on all our trips.

Essex Monastery Trip

Written by Martha & Helen Gendy

After we arrived at the centre, we got onto the minibus and got ready for the long journey. In the bus we listened to a lecture on how to live a Christian life. Then everyone read a chapter of an explanation of the Invocation of the name of Jesus and summarised it to the rest of the group. After having many refreshments and stopping at several services, we finally reached our desired destination at around 5.00 p.m. On arriving we were welcomed by Sister Theodora, a Greek nun.

We entered the church, which was completely dark and silent. All we could see were the icons on the iconostasis, illuminated by three little lights. This was extremely useful because there was nothing to get distracted to. The Jesus prayer was said over and over again in lots of different languages. Towards the end of the service, the departed saints, monks and nuns and the present monastic community were prayed for. Then four nuns went to the upstairs gallery and sang in French with lovely angelic voices. The lights were switched on and the service ended. We stayed behind to pray and take a group photo.

Afterwards we were led to the services where they grew several types of fruits and vegetables. They also had an orchard. To our content, it was time for dinner; whilst we were eating pasta, there was a monk reading verses from the Bible. Later we had some biscuits and juice and found out more about the monastery’s history from Sister Theodora and Sister Hannah. After we were all fed and watered we walked to the bookshop. We purchased some items, took a few more photos and said our good-byes. Before leaving, Sister Theodora presented us with prayer beads and a picture each to remember to say the Jesus prayer. We jumped onto the minibus and set back to the centre. On the way back we were told two stories with some very important morals and we also reflected on the trip.

Egypt 2006/2007

St. Nicholas & St. Barnabas Churches in Kenilworth Group Visits the Coptic Centre

Written by Su McClellan, Youth Worker

On Sunday 21st January 2007, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Young People's Home Group visited the Midlands Coptic Orthodox Centre.  The Copts come from Egypt and are one of the oldest Christian communities in the world.  We began the day by joining the congregation for the 2 3/4 hour liturgy.  This was an education for all of us as we experienced music that the Pharaohs would have been familiar with as the Copts have taken ancient Egyptian music and added Christian words as well as prayers in Coptic, Arabic, Greek and English.

After the service we were welcomed by Fr John and Bishop Missael and we gave them a letter written by our Bishop John sending them his greetings, before moving to the church hall for food and drinks. Bishop Missael then presented all of us either with an icon or a necklace before giving our curate Craig a very large Orthodox priest's crucifix with the words "I give you this as a priest in the Church of God". Needless to say Craig was very moved.

We then all attended Sunday School where we learned about the meaning of the word Epiphany.  Every time one of the young people answered a question correctly they were given either a small picture or a key ring.  The quality of the teaching was superb and each of us took something away from it.

We then had the opportunity to share our impressions of the Liturgy and ask any questions before moving on to yet more food (sweet meats and Danish pastries) before playing games together.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming the young people from the Coptic Centre to St. Nicholas in the near future.  We were very grateful for such a warm welcome and it will be great to return the favour. 

New Website! - 30/09/2007

With the grace of God, we were thankfully able to finish a brand new website interface for the Diocese of the Midlands & Affiliated Areas U.K. You will find new things such as:

Sayings of the Fathers

Two new Newsletter Services

A Daily Verse

A Church Info. box (Which Month, Feast Fasting or not, Tune type)

A Whole New Interface

Updated downloads

An Early Church Fathers Complete Collection (Library)

New Articles (Coptic Orthodoxy, H.H, Pope Shenouda, Diocese History)

Easier access to important Information

Broadcasts of Aghapy TV Live & hopefully the Coptic Centre in Birmingham

Dr. Nabil Baky Conference in Birmingham Audio added to Library Audio

11-Alhan Show Videos available at the Library Videos page.

February 2007 Northampton Conference

In February 2007 there was a beautiful conference in Northampton about living as a Christian.  The main speaker was Abouna Anthony from Washington DC, who gave us 5 awe-inspiring talks.  Those who listened to the talks felt blessed to hear such jewels of wisdom not only spoken with eloquence but also with a light-hearted humour.  The conference was blessed also by the presence of our beloved Anba Boulis and some of the priests from our own UK churches, who showed each other such love, respect and joy when in each other's company that the words spoken in the talks had even more meaning and beauty.  Abouna Anthony talks about the verse in John 10:10 that says, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" and he talks about why most of us are not living this incredible life that God wants to give us and how we can life the abundant life with Christ.

NIGERIA MISSION TRIP 2007

What makes a perfect mission trip? Good food, good group, a safe trip maybe, meeting some nice people…. Is this what Mission is really about.....

In a recent contemplation, I read the following verse from Jeremiah 20: 9 “But if I say, I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name, His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” Here Jeremiah is saying that he cannot possibly keep the Word of God to himself, the Word to him is like a fire… Jeremiah recognises that He has to share the Word of God with others. Do we have that same passion? Do we feel that God’s Word is like a fire in our hearts, a fire that cannot be put out, something that we must share with others?

A true servant of God, as Jeremiah was, felt that desire, the desperation to share with others, who his God is….

 What I loved about the Mission trip in Nigeria, is that we would always start our day with Quiet Time, time where we would sit with Jesus on our own, and enjoy His presence. I cannot put into words what it is like to feel the presence of Jesus with you, to hear Him through His word, to feel Him guiding you. Quiet Time for us, was our sustenance and food, without it, we had nothing to share with others during the day. Each day, it was essential that we would spend as much time as possible with our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we could receive from Him the words to share with those that we would meet.

 I felt that a huge part of our Mission trip in Nigeria involved each and every single one of us, learning to enter into a deeper relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. To love Him more, to understand more about His beautiful character and nature, to experience His heart towards us, to be immersed in His promises and to be led by Him. Without doing all this, how could we say as Jeremiah did, that the Word of the Lord is like a fire in our hearts, a fire that we cannot under any circumstances keep within us?

Whilst in Nigeria, we would normally send at least one group to preach in the market place, it was during those times that we really saw how amazing God is when He works in us to speak to others. It was during those times, that we realised how important it is, to feel as Jeremiah felt, that the Word of our Lord is like a fire in our hearts that cannot be contained in us, it must be shared with others!!

It was essential that we also learnt that whilst it was important to spread the Word of God in the villages, and in homes, this was not enough. What would happen after we left, after we had finished preaching? We were meeting people that wanted to be with our Lord, that wanted to praise Him and pray to Him and be in a close relationship with Him… so what next? Well, we were also blessed to take part in the building of a new Coptic Orthodox Church in the village of Calabar!!

I cannot tell you, how many miracles, our Lord Jesus did, to help us start building the Church. One example was that the Governor of Calabar was refusing to allow us to build, but after prayer and the intervention and power of our Lord who is above all, we met with the Governor and he granted us permission to build the new Church, and so the Africans built… (and we tried to help, although we were probably more of a hindrance!) I pray that God will continue the great work that he started in Calabar, and that the Church would be filled with many people who will continue to spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout Calabar and unto the ends of the World.

I realised in our trip to Calabar, that God wanted to show us what Mission was truly about. Learning to Trust in Him, allowing Him to speak through us, having His word in us like a fire in our hearts, that we cannot contain.

Are you scared to share the Word of God with others, be it at Work, at Home, or in the Street? Is there something stopping you? Ask Jesus to break you free from fear, ask the Lord to set you free from embarrassment and to place in your heart, the feeling that Jeremiah had, that His word is a fire in our hearts. Simply allow God to work in you, and watch the amazing wonders that God will do in your life.

February 4th. Celebrating 2 years of www.copticmidlanddiocese.co.uk .