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Leader of Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Egypt Archbishop Ashot Mnatsakanian has spoken about the explosion in the Coptic Christian cathedral complex during the interview conducted by the correspondent of the Hay Dzayn (Armenian Voice) news agency.

“We know that all this is temporary and whatever happened has also been denounced by the Egyptian population. This is comforting for us as we feel that the majority of the country’s population do not share their viewpoint,” the Archbishop noted.

He said the explosion had taken place not in the Coptic Cathedral but in the big church located in another part of the city. “Currently no specific steps have been taken yet. The entire neighborhood is under the control of the security officials who are trying to specify the details of the explosion. Thus the details are changing at any moment. For instance a few hours ago it was announced that the suspect is a woman, later it was stated that the suspect is a 22-year-old boy,” the Archbishop added.

He said that although many details have not been revealed yet accurate information will be provided soon so as the society becomes aware of the incident, as “the incident raises grave concerns.”

“The concerns refer not only to the fact that there is a big community of Copts living in Egypt who have their churches where they frequently hold ceremonies, but also to the efforts directed to maintain the overall stability of the country. This incident destroys the measures taken by the Egyptian government to maintain peace and security in the country,” Archbishop Ashot Mnatsakanian added.

In response to the question whether the Armenian Church held a liturgy during the incident he said the following: “We have our own Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Cairo which is closer to the Coptic Patriarchate. But we also have chapels in the middle of the two cemeteries and we hold six liturgies in each of them annually. The Saint Minas, the church of our old cemetery, is the oldest church of Egypt constructed in 1843. On the day of the incident we organized a pilgrimage to the church celebrating St. Minas’s holiday and during that time we were in the church which is far away both from our cathedral and the Coptic cathedral. However the news spread quite quickly and we immediately gave instructions to avoid unexpected incidents.”