HIS BEATITUDE CONGRATULATES THE NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF EGYPT

On June 4, 2014, His Beatitude, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa Theodor II, congratulated the newly elected President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, fervently wishing him a fruitful presidency for the benefit of Egypt and its citizens. It has to be stressed that His Beatitude keeps strong ties of friendship with His Excellency, since the time he was Minister of Defense. The letter sent was as follows:

Protocol Number: 78/2014

To His Excellency Abdel Fattah Said Hussein Khalil el-Sisi, President of Egypt

Your Excellency,

          Through the present Patriarchal Letter, we would like to extend to your most honorable person our heartfelt congratulations on the occasion on the one hand of your historic landslide victory in the presidential elections, and on the other hand of your inauguration as the next President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

          We would like also to express our hope that your presidency is going to constitute a remarkable new beginning for the welfare of the Egyptian people. We invest on your person tangible expectations that you are going to stand as an irreplaceable pillar for the social stability of the country, a vigilant defender of the territorial integrity, and an irrefutable guarantor against any external or internal attempt to derail the national effort towards development. We share your feelings of heavy responsibility as you are now in charge of paving the way for the Egyptian Republic to achieve a peaceful and reconciliatory transition from a turbulent past to a prosperous future of equal opportunities for all the Egyptian citizens indiscriminately.

          We fervently pray to the All Mighty and Most Merciful God to protect and save you from any harm, and grant you, my dear President, with unfaltering health and indefatigable strength so as to guide the Egyptian people to the safe haven of peace in the name of God.

Fervently praying to God,

†THEODOROS II

Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa

Alexandria, June 4, 2014