Today marks the beginning of the Advent fasting in the Coptic Church. BLESSED IS EGYPT MY PEOPLE (Isaiah 19:25) The Coptic Church is the Egyptian Church, Copt and aygipt are the same word. The Coptic Church began its history as established by St. Mark the Evangelist in the first century of Christianity. It is now more than nineteen centuries old. We notice that In the Old Testament we have a prophesy concerning the Coptic Church. As it is written in the Book of Isaiah the prophet, Chapter 19, "there will be an altar in the midst of Egypt." Why did our Lord chose Egypt for His altar? That is something special. Egypt was a land of civilization and great history. Its civilization began more than 3,000 years before Christ. The Bible references key people that visited Egypt enriching its civilization. Some of these key figures are: 1) Moses, the prophet, who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. 2) Abraham, the father of fathers; 3) Jacob; 4) Joseph, Jacob’s son; 5) the twelve tribes of Israel; 6) Jeremiah, and others. The crowning point of the sojourns was the visit of the 7) Holy Family at the beginning of Christianity during the childhood of our Lord. Egypt was blessed by the visit of our Lord, and it was the only country in the world, except for His birthland, that our Lord visited. Many miracles took place there during the visit of the Holy Family and many places were blessed. Many churches have been built in the places where the Holy Family lived. These churches are holy places visited by people from all over the world. We implore our Lord, Who completed our salvation by coming down to redeem us from the bondage of sin, to help us to do what is pleasing in His sight during this holy fast and through all the days of our lives.