A Christmas Reflection
I will never forget Christmas 2018. My wife, Leanne, and I were in the “garbage city” slums of Cairo with a worker from Stephen’s Children, the ministry founded by “Mama Maggie”, the “Mother Teresa of Cairo”. While we were there, the woman shared the Christmas story with young children who work and live in the trash heaps.
Mark and Leanne’s Egypt trip in 2018
“It was in a place like this that Jesus was born,” Mama Maggie’s worker told them.
On the flight back from Egypt to the US, it was clear to me that a story of the remarkably persistent faith of Coptic Christians needed to be told: how they have stayed true to their ancient faith and practices despite the persecution and marginalization that they have faced for two thousand years.
Since returning, we have had the privilege of working with members of the Coptic Orthodox Church, whether located in Egypt, here in the states or elsewhere around the world, to tell one of the community’s most powerful contemporary stories.
We have partnered with Coptic Christians to produce an animated short film about the courageous faith of the 21 Martyrs who were executed by ISIS on a Libyan beach in 2015.
While we were with Mama Maggie and other Coptic Christians over the course of our trip, they reminded us that their country was where Jesus fled to escape the brutal massacre of baby boys by King Herod. They also reminded us that the first church outside of Israel was established by St. Mark in Egypt, who was martyred for his faith.
We have grown to love the beauty and mystery the Coptics embrace, especially as represented in their iconography, which has endured through the centuries.
We all are familiar with the icons on our computer or phone that visually represent a program or process. They "mean" something more than what they are. Religious icons are similar in that they represent something greater than they are. They are windows to heaven, doorways to the sacred. And as you look into them, often at an image of Jesus, the object of the icon is most likely looking back. A saint, looking to you from heaven, inviting you into the mystery that is their presence with God.
It was our desire to follow the lead of Cartoon Saloon, an animation studio out of Ireland which gains inspiration from the aesthetic of a given culture to tell one of that culture’s stories: The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and, most recently, Wolfwalkers. The founder of the studio put us in touch with one of their former creatives, Tod Polson, who agreed to take on the project.
Tom Polson: Image from Google
It was not by chance that Tony Rezk, a leading iconographer whose icon of the 21 Martyrs is the most widely known, turned out to actually live just a few miles from our office! Tony has subsequently been involved with other Coptic iconographers in producing and providing guidance for the project’s concept art.
Our gift to you is a virtual icon by Tony of the Holy Family’s “Flight to Egypt”. We encourage you to visit his blog http://tonyrezk.blogspot.com/ and consider ordering an icon for your home or office.
“Flight into Egypt” by Tony Rezk
You can learn more about our short film at www.21martyrsfilm.com and see some of the art created by the iconographers that we are using in the film. If you would like to be involved with the film project, you can email us or do so through the website. We also invite you to visit three of our partners on the project who serve "the least of these" in Egypt: Stephen's Children (as mentioned above); Coptic Orphans (which serves Coptic children in Egypt); and HANDS (serving children in Upper Egypt, near where may of the martyrs grew up).
We thank you for working with us as we advocate for anyone who has had to flee persecution for their faith, like the Holy Family did over 2000 years ago. We hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas, and that thinking about the garbage city children and their persistent faith will make Christmas special this year and for years to come.