Pope Shenouda celebrates Easter Monday at Wadi el-Natron
6/4/2010
Amr Bayoumi
Pope Shenouda III celebrated Easter Monday yesterday with bishops and monks from the Coptic Church at the Father Bishoy Monastery in Wadi el-Natron.
Father Marcos, head of the media committee and bishop of Shubra el-Kheima, said members of the Holy Synod and Coptic families sat on the ground in the garden with Shenouda to have breakfast. The group chanted hymns written especially for the pope and ate eggs, cheese and meat for breakfast.
According to Father Marcos, the festivities began at 6 AM and included a speech by the pope. The pope urged the bishops and priests to take care of the poor, ill and elderly, especially given the high cost of living in Egypt.
Marcos said the pope’s well-known sense of humor prevailed during the meeting, particularly when answering the families’ questions.
Marcos said the pope also met with 60 girls from the Shubra el-Kheima’s Virgin Mary orphanage and gave them and their supervisors feast gifts. The pope told the girls a story and advised the older ones to obey their husbands especially in the first few months of marriage when the husband and wife are not yet used to each other.
