SW News: Christians around the world will commemorate the seventh anniversary of the martyrdom of the 21 Coptic martyrs on February 15. The 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians and one Ghanaian were beheaded by members of the Islamic State in 2015 on the shores of the Mediterranean in Libya where they were working.
The Coptic community in Samalut in the Province of Minya are observing a 15-day commemoration of the holy martyrs that concludes on their memorial day.

They are commemorating the martyrs with Liturgical ceremonies, prayers at their shrine in the village of Al Awar, conferences and visits to their museum in the same village. On their feast day, special Liturgical celebrations will be held in churches across the country.

The 20 Egyptians and their Ghanaian co-worker were taken to the beach where they were told to abandon their faith in Christ. When they refused, they were beheaded and the gory spectacle was recorded on video. In the video that caused a stir around the world, some of the martyrs could be seen whispering the name of Jesus as they were executed. A week after the news of their killing, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros directed that the 21 names be included in the Synaxarium, which is the book of martyrs of the Church, and ordered that their feast day be celebrated on February 15.

In September 2017, their mortal remains were found in a mass grave near the city of Sirte along the coast. DNA testing helped ascertain the veracity of the relics and they were solemnly repatriated to Egypt. On May 15, 2018, the relics of the 20 Egyptian Copts were interred in the special shrine of the Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland in Al Awar, where most of them hail from. It was on September 29, 2020, that the relics of the Ghanaian martyr were interred in the shrine along with his brothers in faith. The shrine also has a memorial dedicated to the martyrs that features a statue of Jesus with outstretched arms and in front of him the figures of the 21 heroes of faith.

Although COVID curbs prevented a large number of pilgrims from visiting the shrine of martyrs, the flow of believers has never stopped.
On the sixth anniversary of their martyrdom, Pope Francis hailed the martyrs as the Saints of all Christians, adding that on that day of martyrdom, they were all baptized with blood.