Cairo – The Coptic Orthodox Church has made known the name of the first monk who died from coronavirus: Father Sawiris, of the Monastery dedicated to St Paul the Hermit, not far from the Red Sea. Born in 1959, graduated in medicine in 1982, Sawiris (aka Hani Victor Fanus) was a prominent representative of young monks who followed the long teaching of Patriarch Shenuda III. When Pope Shenuda died on March 17, 2012, the name of Father Sawiris was also on the list of 17 candidates for his succession.
In Egypt too, the extraordinary measures imposed to limit coronavirus infections have strongly influenced ecclesial life, causing the closure of churches and monasteries and the suspension of meetings and pilgrimages. In this emergency context, the initiative taken by the Coptic Orthodox diocese of Aswan stands out, which in recent days had to issue a press release to warn the population against the potential scams of unknown characters who present themselves in private homes passing themselves off as representatives of the Local Church, with the excuse of bringing water and “healing” oil, to be used to escape the danger of contagion or to treat the symptoms of the pandemic. This way of acting – reads the statement – “does not correspond to the faith of the Church”, which did not give anyone the mandate to go around private homes to distribute “thaumaturgical” products in the time of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Source: Agenzia Fides
