Vatican Ecumenical Commissioner Cardinal Kurt Koch led an ecumenical prayer in St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday evening in memory of Libya's 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs. He honored them as outstanding witnesses to the faith.
“The only revenge that Jesus knows is the cross, that is, the categorical rejection of violence and love to the end”, recalled Cardinal Koch in St. Peter's Basilica. The martyrs followed Jesus in this attitude.
“The Passion of Christ is the first martyrdom and at the same time the model of the martyrdom of Christians who follow him and give their lives out of love for him – and thus participate in his martyrdom”, emphasized the cardinal.
“The Coptic-Orthodox martyrs who were so cruelly murdered in Libya on February 15, 2015, and whom we remember today with gratitude for their testimony of faith, recalled a reality that we try to forget or even suppress, but which Jesus clearly affirmed.” A servant is not greater than his master – if they persecute me, they will also persecute you, Jesus said to his disciples. “From these words of Jesus we must realistically conclude that following Christ can lead to martyrdom as the highest testimony of love,” said Cardinal Koch.
Representation of the 21 Coptic Orthodox martyrs
Martyrdom is “a central aspect of Christianity,” which is also evident today: “80 percent of all those who are persecuted today because of their faith are Christians. Christianity is currently the most persecuted religion. Christianity has once again become a martyr church.”
The 20 Egyptian Coptic guest workers and their Ghanaian colleague were murdered by Islamic State terrorists on a beach in Libya in February 2015. The video of their beheading was posted online by jihadist websites on February 15, 2015. Just a week later After the massacre, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II decided to include the 21 martyrs in the Synaxarium, the Coptic Church's book of martyrs. His memorial day is celebrated on February 15th. Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians venerate her as a saint.
Rare inclusion of non-Catholic martyrs in lists of Roman martyrs
In May 2023, Tawadros II visited Pope Francis in the Vatican. At the meeting, Francis announced that the names of the 21 murdered Copts would be included in the Roman Martyrology, that is, the Roman Catholic list of martyrs, as a sign of the spiritual link between the two churches. “These martyrs testified with their blood to the unity of all who follow Jesus,” Francis told Tawadros at the general audience in St. Peter's Square. The inclusion of non-Catholic witnesses in the official list of Roman martyrs is extremely rare. In 2001, Pope Saint John Paul II ordered that some Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox martyrs be included in this list.
(Vatican news – gs)