Historic visit to AST on February 1, þ2009þþ On Sunday February 1 Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and most of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, visited our Alexandria campus. Our Principal, Revd Emad A. Mikhail, gave a short presentation to the Archbishop and the Primates about the founding of AST as well as its goals (read excerpts from the presentation). Faculty, staff, students and other guests were present for this historic visit. The Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged the rich historical heritage in which we minister. He reminded us that we stand in the tradition of St. Mark who evangelized Egypt in the first century and was martyred in Alexandria. We need to take our stand with him, namely in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mk 1:1). Following the visit, the Archbishop participated in the service led by Presiding Bishop Mouneer Anis Hanna dedicating St. Mark’s Church in Alexandria as a Pro-Cathedral. It is our sincere prayer that our faithfulness to the gospel of Christ and its spread will grow as a result of the events of this day. Master’s of Arts to be offered: An MA in Biblical Studies will be offered here at AST in conjunction with Moore Theological College of Sydney, Australia. Moore faculty will come to Egypt two or three times a year to present courses in intensive modular form. Students will complete readings and papers after each module. The first module will begin late August 2009. More information will be available soon on this site.
___________________________________________________________________ Your grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, your graces the Archbishops of the Provinces of the Anglican Communion, our distinguished guests: I would like to welcome you to Alexandria and to the Alexandria School of Theology (AST). AST was established by the Diocese of Egypt in 2005 as a four-year non-residential theological college. We have a total of 140 students in the two sites, here and in Cairo. Most of our 22 teachers are part-time. Half are Egyptian and the other half are expatriates. Some live in Alexandria, some in Cairo, some outside Egypt . . . We have been privileged to have had one-time guest lecturers including persons such as Thomas Oden (editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture), Richard Pratt the American OT scholar, and Dr. Michael Thompson of Ridley Hall as well as others . . . AST exists for its students. Our goal is to train servants for Christ in the Middle East both for the Anglican churches as well as for other churches. About 20% of our students are Anglican; the rest come from other denominations including the Presbyterian Church and other Protestant denominations. We also have some Catholic and Orthodox students as well as 20 Sudanese students. Like I said earlier we have 140 students: roughly half of them are here and the other half live in Cairo and some of the provinces surrounding it. We have worked hard to encourage unity and mutual acceptance among our very diverse students, staff and faculty and I am very pleased to see a wonderful spirit of love and fellowship in the entire AST family. Our two annual residential conferences have helped foster this sense of unity (one just ended last night!). Our teaching style is communal and interactive. We encourage participation, inquiry, and research …. Our students use our still growing libraries and the internet. They also do field research. Teachers encourage students to integrate knowledge into their own spiritual walk with God as well as into their ministries and overall engagement with society. AST’s ethos is missional….. our dream is to see students, staff and faculty actively involved with their church bodies in the great mission of our Triune God. We praise God that already our AST body has been used to extend the frontiers of the Kingdom. In Cairo one of our Anglican students is leading a new ministry involving hundreds of people in a lower class neighborhood of the city; he is assisted by at least one other student. Here in this building a new congregation was started a year and a half ago which I am privileged to lead. It grew out of the prayers of AST’s faculty and students. Before it started in 2007 there had been no Egyptian congregation worshipping regularly here at St. Mark’s. Other churches testify to growth and blessing as a result of the involvement of AST’s students and faculty. We are also very conscious of the fact that we stand in a great tradition extending back to the ancient catechetical school of Alexandria. We thank God for our ancestors in the faith because they paid a heavy price to defend and spread the Gospel. Our first year students read St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation as part of their studies on the Trinity and the incarnation of our Lord. We take every opportunity to remind students to learn from the great heritage of the church in Alexandria and elsewhere. I personally believe that if the church today returns to the authority of its inspired Scriptures and to the heritage of the early ecumenical church it will be strategically positioned to fulfill its God-given mission in a powerful and united fashion. Our goals for the next few years are:
Our facilities maybe modest but our dreams are big. We have seen God at work in our lives and we hope you keep us in your prayers. . .
|
||||||||||||
|
AST from January to March 2011 Dear friends and supporters of AST: For us, 2011 began with a blast . . . literally. Twenty minutes into the New Year, large explosions in front of a church here in Alexandria killed over twenty people and injured dozens. Thankfully no one from AST was hurt but our staff and students did have friends and relatives among the dead and injured. The explosion sent shock waves throughout Egypt. Many Christians felt very fearful; others demonstrated in the streets in a rare show of anger. On a positive note, the explosions caused countless Muslims to come out with strong condemnations and to express new sentiments of sympathy with Christians. Many Muslims protected churches during worship services a few days after the terrorist attack. Then just three weeks later, on January 25th, unprecedented, large protests broke out all over the country against police brutality and corruption. Though the protesters were peaceful they were met with violence. Hundreds died and were injured. The protests quickly became a revolution that forever changed the history of the country! Some of our AST people joined the protests and the whole event created healthy (and heated!) political discussion. We thank God that the combined effect of the events of January 1 and 25 was to bring Egyptians together across social, economic and religious barriers. Christians protected Muslims as they prayed with armed security personnel surrounding! Christians also held services in the middle of Tahrir Square in Cairo, something that no one would have imagined days earlier. I am cautiously optimistic that this amazing wave of political change throughout the Arab world will lead to more political and religious freedoms. We are very pleased that this movement surprised Islamists (and many others)! Now there are serious reports that the former Minister of Interior was behind the church bombing. The former regime fomented sectarianism as a justification for its brutality and dictatorship. Do pray that this secular movement for freedom and human dignity will reach full fruition without being hijacked by new dictators or religious fanatics. Of course AST had to delay the start of its new term for three weeks. Our residential conference was also rescheduled for late March. This means that our semester will end later in the summer. Pray that this disruption will not have too many negative consequences on our students, staff and faculty. This period has also been eventful in the life of our staff. On February 6th, Sherif Attef’s father passed away after battling cancer. On February 22nd, our teaching assistant George Demian and his wife Mervat had a baby girl delivered several weeks early with serious brain problems. She died the next day. Then just today, March 1, the Rev. Matt Anderson, one of our professors, received word that his older brother was killed in an automobile accident in the US. He travels tomorrow to be with his family. Please pray for Sherif, Matt, George, and their families during their time of grief. We are pleased that Rev. Rick Belser from S. Carolina, along with his wife Anne, joined us in January shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution. Rick will be doing some teaching at AST and helping pastorally at St. Mark’s congregation in Alexandria. Finally, please pray for AST’s financial situation. We continue to operate with only a few months of reserves. If you are able to make a contribution at this point, we will be very appreciative. With deep thankfulness for your prayers and gifts,
Rev. Emad A. Mikhail Dean/President Alexandria School of Theology
March 1, 2011
|
||||||||||||
