Mouneer Anis in talks with the late Coptic patriarch Shenouda III.
Photograph by Patrick Comerford.
The Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North of Africa and the Horn of Africa, one of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, refuses money from The Episcopal Church™:
The decision not to receive these funds came after the 2003 decision by TEC to consecrate as bishop a divorced man living in a homosexual relationship. The decision not to receive money from TEC is one expression of the reality that the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa was (and still is) in an impaired relationship with The Episcopal Church. One of our clergy in Ethiopia states our situation in graphic terms: ‘We rather starve and not receive money from churches whose actions contradict the scriptures.’
God bless these grave and brave Christians who suffer so much at the hands of their Muslim neighbours but still refuse to bow to Mammon. Their testimony will not be forgotten, and our feeble prayers for them will be heard by our mighty Lord. Strengthen their hearts and their hands, O Lord, that neither the violence of Islamists nor the extortions of false brethren may keep them from bearing witness to the righteousness of thy kingdom; through the merits of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.
