As I’ve reported here at PJ Media, the Coptic Christian community in Egypt — the largest Christian community in the Middle East — has been under siege. It suffered multiple suicide bombings of churches this year on Palm Sunday, and the massacre of a busload of Coptic pilgrims on their way to a monastery just hours before the beginning of Ramadan.

The random killings of Copts throughout the country, as well as targeted kidnappings, have added fears during the continuing violence. Now comes a report this morning that two Coptic priests have been attacked, with one murdered, earlier today in Cairo:

Hegoumen Samaan Shehata, the priest of St.Julius Al-Akfehasi Church at Al-Fashn, was martyred by a terrorist. May the Lord, repose his soul pic.twitter.com/xUcit4Mktd — Anba Ermia (@Anba_Ermia) October 12, 2017

https://twitter.com/bishop_youssef/status/918449976044408832

Fr Simon had reportedly travelled to Cairo to collect donations for impoverished in the south. A second priest was also injured. #Cairo pic.twitter.com/dx2tHTtVhk — Aus Coptic Movement (@auscma) October 12, 2017

Egypt Independent reports:

A Coptic priest affiliated with a church in Upper Egypt’s governorate of Beni Suef was killed on Thursday due to being stabbed by a man in Cairo’s northeastern suburb of El–Marg, state-run newspaper of Akhbar Al Youm reported. The priest, Samaan Shehta, was in Cairo when a young unemployed man blocked the way in front of the priest’s vehicle and asked him to step down from it. He then hit the priest’s head with cleaver and ran away, a local journalist told Egypt Independent on condition of anonymity. “It is believed that it is a hate crime that has been executed by an extremist affiliated to IS or Salafism,” he explained. The Egyptian Coptic Church released a statement asserting that the death of priest Samaan Shehta occurred near El-salam city while he was with another priest, Benjamin Moftah, who was also assaulted. The statement did not provide further details about the second priest.

Last week, a VBIED was found near a church in Cairo:

Police defused an IED in a car near Al-Masara Church in Rod El-Farag, #Cairo, #Egypt pic.twitter.com/N235NGTL6x — 30 June 🇪🇬 (@30JuneEG) October 5, 2017

The series of attacks targeting the Coptic community over the past year have left more than one hundred victims killed.

In May, I reported on the attack on a busload of Coptic pilgrims headed towards a monastery in Upper Egypt that was stopped by gunmen just hours before the beginning of Ramadan:

On Eve of Ramadan, Islamic Gunmen Kill 28 Coptic Christians on Pilgrimage in Egypt https://t.co/AenrRu6kqE via @pjmedia_com pic.twitter.com/2wyfSR5fdk — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) May 26, 2017

ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack:

Breaking: IS claims responsibility for Friday attack on bus traveling to Coptic Monastery in Minya, says 31 Copts killed, 24 injured. pic.twitter.com/rpKfJMD2N8 — Mada Masr مدى مصر (@MadaMasr) May 27, 2017

In April, two suicide bombers targeted churches on Palm Sunday, including one intending to assassinate Coptic Pope Tawadros. Those two blasts killed 49:

Two Blasts Strike Coptic Churches On Palm Sunday in Egypt, 29 Reported Dead https://t.co/oCNcDzrqMB via @pjmedia_com — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) April 9, 2017

As a result of those suicide bombings, Easter Sunday services were cancelled in Upper Egypt for only the third time in 1,600 years:

Upper #Egypt's Minya Eparchy suspends Easter celebrations after Palm Sunday bombings https://t.co/dl7P5VHam0 pic.twitter.com/L7lsMXVHPi — Ahram Online (@ahramonline) April 11, 2017

Other attacks targeting Coptic churches were thwarted:

Egyptian Authorities Stop Planned Islamic State Terror Attack on Coptic Monastery in Upper Egypt https://t.co/4OkqS82F14 via @pjmedia_com pic.twitter.com/tfLGO1X3CN — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) April 12, 2017

Just days after Easter, I was in Cairo visiting the church struck by a suicide bomber in December:

EXCLUSIVE: My Visit to the Site of the December Coptic Church Suicide Bombing in Cairo https://t.co/EfsTPiJUbD via @pjmedia_com pic.twitter.com/PvjwQv4g3o — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) May 9, 2017

All told, 29 were murdered — all but one were women and girls — in that Advent Sunday bombing, which occurred at a church just yards from the main cathedral of the Coptic Church:

Anba Ermia in his visit to Mrs. Samha Tawfiq Awad who was injured in the boming of Al Botrosia at MAV Korhaz Hospital. pic.twitter.com/loeT8pIRgQ — Anba Ermia (@Anba_Ermia) September 2, 2017

Earlier this year, more than a thousand Copts fled the Sinai Peninsula after a string of sectarian murders and a video threat by ISIS:

Hundreds of Egyptian Coptic Christians Flee Sinai After Series of Islamic State Murders, Video Threat https://t.co/1svJwYCUDc @pjmedia_com — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) February 25, 2017

The attacks on the Coptic community have not just come from ISIS:

Slashing at Coptic Church in Alexandria As Attacks on Christians in Egypt Escalate https://t.co/F0qAbTyw2J via @pjmedia_com — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) July 15, 2017

New Attacks on Coptic Christians in Upper Egypt — But It's Not the Islamic State https://t.co/9i851gdNj2 via @pjmedia_com pic.twitter.com/iw0bWRAtVy — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) April 14, 2017

Egypt: Islamist Murders Christian for Selling Alcohol in Alexandria https://t.co/7B2DorNQAf via @pjmedia_com — Patrick Poole (@pspoole) January 3, 2017

Just a few weeks ago, there were attacks on Copts by Muslims upset over a Facebook post:

Egyptian Christians are still trying to recover from the terror campaign by the Muslim Brotherhood in August 2013 that saw nearly 70 churches and monasteries torched by Brotherhood supporters.

I reported here on my April 2014 trip into Upper Egypt to view the damage inflicted by that Muslim Brotherhood terror campaign:

Revisiting the Muslim Brotherhood's August 2013 'Reign of Terror' Targeting Egypt's Christians https://t.co/Rf31VJzz4z #homelandsecurity — PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) August 14, 2016

The Egyptian Army is still helping to rebuild those churches:

#AMAY| Evangelical community celebrates restoration of Bani Mazar church, thanks Sisi https://t.co/w5le3Uo1Nv — Egypt Independent (@EgyIndependent) October 2, 2017

Just last week it was announced that the bodies of 21 Coptic men who were beheaded by ISIS in Libya in February 2015 had finally been discovered:

Misrata Counter Crime Department (MCCD) uncovers mass grave of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in Sirte in 2015. Photos MCCD pic.twitter.com/LKkgACEUWZ — The Libya Observer (@Lyobserver) October 7, 2017

Remarkably, the Coptic community thrives in response to these attacks. And yet widespread discrimination, harassment, and targeted kidnappings continue:

“If they don’t have a church in their village, why can’t they go to another village & pray?” -Muslim cleric in Egypt https://t.co/uCPZtpRaHG — New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 5, 2016

In post-Arab Spring Egypt, Muslim attacks on Christians are rising https://t.co/N5nlEf7xt0 pic.twitter.com/EPo9KfC1II — Post World (@PostWorld) November 14, 2016

Bishop Damian: Egypt terror 'a declaration of war against Copts' https://t.co/gpUC2p4bub pic.twitter.com/Ad5NzYHCgo — DW News (@dwnews) April 10, 2017

#Egypt Christians "face violence…at the hands of their Muslim neighbors over the issue of building churches." https://t.co/COOJF1PZwG — Eric Trager (@EricTrager18) June 23, 2017

Despite the state of emergency announced by President Sisi after the Palm Sunday bombings and the ongoing efforts to protect the churches, the intensity of attacks is evidence that the suffering and persecution aren’t likely to end any time soon.

But if there’s one thing that the Coptic Church has demonstrated in its long history, it’s the ability to persevere and prosper in the face of persecution.