Bishop Bishoy of Damietta and Kafr el-Sheikh ordered “all ladies and girls above the age of 11 [to] refrain from wearing trousers, blouses or make-up during the sacrament of Holy Communion in the Divine Liturgy, and they should wear modest dress.”

Tens of Egyptian Coptic women protested on Wednesday a decision by a local bishop in a northern governorate to bar females from wearing trousers and make-up in church, Ahram Online reported.

The women started their protest outside of Abbasiya’s Coptic Cathedral in Cairo but they eventually entered the church with their placards, urging Pope Tawadros II, who was speaking at the pulpit at the time, to take action.

Tawadros II called on the women protesters to lower their signs and said he was working to address the issue.

According to Ahram Online, Bishop Bishoy of Damietta and Kafr el-Sheikh governorates last month ordered the placement of signs in churches urging “all ladies and girls above the age of 11 [to] refrain from wearing trousers, blouses or make-up during the sacrament of Holy Communion in the Divine Liturgy, and they should wear modest dress.”

This is not the first time Bishop Bishoy has addressed the issue of women’s clothing. In 2012, he urged Christian women to wear modest clothing.

“Some Christian women might be displeased with me, but the Virgin Mary, Saint Demiana and the nuns wore modest clothes,” the website quoted him as saying at the time.

 
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