Two of the places that we will be visiting during our trip to Egypt will be the offices of the Bible Society of Egypt, and the weekly public Bible Study of Pope Shenouda III, Patriarch of the Church of Alexandria, held in the Cathedral of St. Mark. I just received this email message from the Director of the Bible Society, Ramez Attallah (notice the Arabized Egyptian name "Ramsees"). I thought you all might enjoy this.

Dr. Grafton
____________________________________________________________________

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, 2008 had a very special focus for us, as we celebrated 125 years of Bible Society Work in Egypt. Culminating this year was a historic occasion which was far above and beyond what anyone had dared to dream or hope for.

Held in the Coptic Cathedral on December 3, the three official representatives of Christianity in Egypt - Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant - presided over this significant gathering. The purpose was to thank God, to thank the Church for its efforts and partnership, and to secure the respect and role of the Bible in this country, and the Arab world, for the future.

It was a landmark event, as Pope Shenouda allowed the Catholic Patriarch and the leader of the Protestants to speak from his pulpit for the first time in history. The meeting took place on a Wednesday evening during the set time for the Pope’s weekly Bible study. No other plans would have provided a better location, with over 6,000 people in attendance!

No better timing or arrangements could have been made, as a ‘captive audience’ of millions religiously watches television at this time for the live broadcast of this extremely popular Bible study. The three Egyptian Christian satellite channels, which are sometimes in competition with each other, shared cameras and broadcast the event simultaneously together, with people all over the world watching. The Bible Society promotional film, shown that evening, has never before had such widespread viewing!

We are all ‘flying high’ and people who came or saw it on television cannot believe it really happened. Praise the Lord! As with the other 125th anniversary events held throughout this year, the Bible seems to be the one common uniting ground, the only thing to bring the Churches together.

This momentous and unique event has again confirmed to the Bible Society the incredible love and complete endorsement of all the Churches. It has also provided a platform and opportunity to challenge the Christians of Egypt to do more together and to embrace the shared ground of God’s Word, looking forward to what we can do together for the future.

And we thank you, for your partnership with us, for your faithful prayers for the Bible Work here in Egypt. We appreciate you, and we wish you a wonderful new year in 2009!

Sincerely,
Ramez Attallah
General Director
The Bible Society of Egypt