Prince Charles visits Coptic Church in Stevenage
18/12/13
Prince Charles visited Stevenage today (December 17) to pay tribute to the “remarkable” tolerance of worshippers at the Coptic Orthodox Church Centre.
Visiting the centre off of Broadhall Way, the heir to the throne was joined by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad – a religious advisor to the king of Jordan who has pushed for interfaith dialogue in the Middle East.
Welcomed by Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the church in the United Kingdom, he attended a brief service at the St George cathedral before greeting members of the faith.
He was then gifted two icons, each bearing the image of St George. One was for himself and one was for the his grandson, the young Prince George.
Bishop Angaelous said: “It is an absolute privilege to welcome you here to our Coptic Centre.
“On behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Church community here we present this icon to you as a memorial of this visit.”
He added that the gift was given as a sign of their “fellowship and appreciation.”
Receiving the gifts, Prince Charles said: “I can’t tell you how touched I am to be given this wonderful icon and indeed the other icon for my eldest son and daughter-in-law and my small but rapidly growing grandson, George.
“All I can say is that these icons will be treasured as very special reminders of the all too brief opportunity to come and visit you all this morning, here in Stevenage.
“If I may say so it’s been a great privilege to join you for a short service and also to witness the extraordinary way in which so many of you support this church in the United Kingdom.
“As I discovered, so many of you travel in from a long way away every Sunday to be here. It is a remarkable demonstration I think of the importance of your church to all of you.
“And the fact that so many of you support it in so many different ways, going out and feeding homeless people on the streets, and in so many others that are so often unseen and unheard.”
The Prince also spoke out about the oppression suffered by Coptic Christians in the homeland of their faith, Egypt.
He said: “Today I just wanted to join you to express deepest concern, deepest sympathy and solidarity with all of you.
“I have heard you all have relations in Egypt and all I can tell you is that we pray with all our hearts for their safety and for their continuation in a country where the Coptic Christians have played such a vital part.
“If I may say so I’ve been so full of admiration and respect for the way in which the Coptic Christians have been so full of forbearance and their long-sightedness is remarkable, and their lack of retaliation even more remarkable.
“For that I think we all them all a remarkable debt not only of gratitude but of respect for living out your Christian faith in the way that you do.
“So I do hope that you will give my kindly thoughts and wishes and prayers to your relations during this period of Christmas; a special time of peace. Thank you again for your welcome.”
One of those he met was London resident Huda Lassar, 51, who originally comes from Syria.
She told the Advertiser: “He asked me about what’s going on in Syria and said it’s heartbreaking what is going on out there.
“I said keep us in your prayers and we hope it comes to peace soon in Syria and he said, in Arabic, ‘enshallah’ meaning God Willing.
“To stand and talk with me when he knew I was from Syria is wonderful, especially when he said that word in Arabic.
“The Christians in the Middle East are not foreigners, we are indigenous, so if you ask a Christian when we came there we’ll say since Jesus’ time.
“We don’t want to leave the Middle East, we want to live with the Muslims as our neighbours and friends.”
