Nader Habib revisits the church that was torched, then rebuilt "Sitting above the Cherubim, today appeared in Jerusalem; riding on a colt with great glory and around the ritual of angels; in the way they spread shirts; and from the trees they cut down branches; shouting Hosanna, O son of David." With these words they chanted at the Two Martyrs St George and St Mina Coptic Orthodox Church in Sol of Atfeeh, Helwan, as they celebrated Palm Sunday, commemorating Christ's entrance into Jerusalem with his disciples, before he was handed over by the Jews to Pontius Pilate to be crucified. Palm Sunday, followed by Easter (Resurrection), the day when Christ arose, was the second holy mass to be held following the torching of the church by opponents of what was believed to be a mixed religion relationship. The first mass was on Wednesday 13 April. The army was tasked to rebuild the church on 12 March. It was restored in 28 days -- its modern Coptic architect style back -- in the same place where it had originally stood, as was promised by the Armed Forces which are currently ruling the country following the stepping down of Hosni Mubarak as president on 11 February. The church was at the centre of ugly sectarian strife in early March after it came under attack by Muslim villagers who torched it. The assailants also terrorised Christian Copts in the area and forced them to evacuate the village. Father Balamon, a pastor at the church, said the assault was triggered by a relationship between Ashraf Iskander, a married 40-year-old Christian and a married Muslim woman. A similar story, according to Balamon, had occurred last year in the same village. This year's affair, he added, apparently caused a heated argument between members of the Muslim girl's family, which resulted in two deaths. A demonstration of Copts in front of the state-run TV building was organised by the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights, headed by Judge Naguib Gabriel, and was attended by a large number of Copts and priests who returned to the village following the decision by Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the military, to rebuild the church. What happened in the village was not necessarily sectarian related, in Balamon's opinion, but a plan to distract people's attention away from the State Security Intelligence apparatus which was broken into by demonstrators and many of its documents shredded or stolen at about the same time as the burning of the Sol church. Balamon said it was not the first time a church had been vandalised and previous incidents were resolved. Father Isaac Labib, deputy of Giza Bishopric, said the church was rebuilt in the presence of army generals, in addition to the elders of Atfeeh. Re-opening the church was a joyous occasion for the villagers. It was visited by several officials, including the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, who congratulated Bishop Seoudosius who in turn thanked Tantawi who took it upon himself to have the church rebuilt. Nader Shokri, a Coptic journalist and activist, wrote on Facebook that despite the completion of the construction, Coptic demonstrations and rallies were being staged from Shubra to the state- run TV building to demand the assailants be interrogated, "since they believe that we live in a state of law". Fathi Saleh, director of the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said that the Sol church was registered as a Coptic monument within the framework of a project to catalogue the Coptic heritage. The centre, according to Saleh, is interested in recording religious historical places such as churches and monasteries, ancient or modern, to collect data and photographs of each site, believing in the need to preserve the cultural heritage of Egypt.
