PRETORIA, South Africa
Three Egyptian Coptic monk have been "brutally killed" inside a monastery in South Africa, the Church has said.
Father Takla Moussa, Father
Minah ava Marcus and Father Youstos ava Marcus were murdered early on Tuesday,
the South African Archdiocese of the Coptic Orthodox Church said in a
statement.
An Egyptian member of the
Church has been arrested as a possible suspect.
The murder has sent shockwaves
throughout the Coptic Orthodox community in South Africa and beyond.
"Our pain and sadness, no amount [of] words can express, but we know that they rejoice in paradise in the bosom of our Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," the Church statement said..
Archbishop Angaelos of the
Coptic Orthodox Church in London described the murders as "saddening and shocking".
They were killed at the Saint
Mark and Saint Samuel the Confessor monastery located in Cullinan, a small town
30 km (18 miles) east of the capital, Pretoria.
All three were discovered with
stab wounds, provincial police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi was quoted
as saying by Reuters news agency.
A survivor told the police he
was hit by an iron rod but managed to escape and hide.
The police are still trying to
determine the motive for the killings, Col Nevhuhulwi said, adding that the
attackers "reportedly left the scene without taking any valuable
item(s)".
Violent crime levels are high
in South Africa and the country has one of the world's highest murder rates.
Monks in the Coptic Orthodox
Church, one of the world's oldest churches, devote their lives to prayer and
spiritual growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment