Bishop of Egypt writes on the eve of election result
Please remember Egypt in your prayers at this time of political upheaval and the Christian church as our friend Bishop Mouneer Anis writes on 19 June 2012
My dear Friends,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
“We don’t know who will be the president, but we know You are here.” This was a prayer from a member of our Church for the Deaf in Old Cairo. This prayer touched my heart as it conveyed mixed feelings of anxiety and assurance.
The feeling of this young man is in fact the feeling of all Christians in Egypt. We are anxious because the presidential election may bring a political Islamist to be our president. But at the same time, we have the assurance that we are in the hands of the Lord, and He promised that the gates of Hades will not overcome his Church.
As I write these lines, there are strong rumours that Muhammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, will be the next president of Egypt. However, the official results of the election will be announced on Thursday the 21st of June. 25 million Egyptians went to cast their vote. According to the media, over 12 million voted for Muhammed Morsi and the other 12 million voted for Ahmed Shafiq, who served as the Minister of Aviation under Mubarak. This means that 50 percent of the voters want an Islamic government, and 50 percent want a secular government.
It is interesting to see that in the parliamentary elections, 18 million people voted for the Islamists, and 8 million people voted for the non–Islamic parties. This means that those who were enthusiastic about an Islamic government has decreased by around 6 million, and this is the general feeling in Egypt now. This decrease in trust happened after the attempts of the Islamists to control everything, including writing the Constitution.
In the middle of this uncertainty, the Lord drew my attention to the story in Ezekiel 17, which tells of the struggles between kings and kingdoms. This story reminds us that the one who has the final say in everything is the Lord Himself. The chapter ends with this verse; “All the trees of the forest will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.”
Indeed He is in charge, and this is the source of our assurance.
May the Lord bless you!
+ Mouneer Egypt
The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis
Bishop of the Episcopal / Anglican Diocese of Egypt
with North Africa and the Horn of Africa
President Bishop of the Episcopal / Anglican
Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East