By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw

In November 1977, one week before Anwar Sadat boarded a plane of peace and flew into Israel, Father Michael Youssef stood in the great man’s presence. The meeting took place in the presidential palace in Cairo.

“I remember it well,” says Father Youssef, an Episcopalian priest now living in Atlanta. “Sadat said ‘No one believes I am going. The Arabs don’t believe it, the Americans don’t believe it, my own people don’t believe it. But I’m going. In one week I’ll be there.’”

“I knew then,” says Youssef, who is Egyptian by birth, “that Sadat would be on every hit list in the Arab world.”

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, one on the Egyptian president’s sworn enemies caught up with him and the world mourned his assassination. However, for the most part, the Arab world rejoiced.

“Sadat, of course, was a Moslem,” says Father Youssef, “but he was very moderate. The Moslem world can be violent. Christians living in the Middle East undergo great hardship. But Sadat was moderate, a nationalist, a great lover of his homeland and his people.”

Anwar Sadat came to power after the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970. “He was very timid under the strongman Nasser,” says the Egyptian priest who now heads the Haggai Institute, an ecumenical organization that trains Christian leaders for Third World nations. “Nasser called him the ‘Dark Donkey’ because he was so quiet and gentle. When Nasser died, it was suspected that he would not last long as the new president.”

But Sadat did survive. He took his case to the Soviets but soon realized that they intended to use Egypt for their own end. “I believe it was Henry Kissinger who weaned him away from the Russians,” says Youssef. “He also tried to preach moderation to the other Arab leaders but they would not listen. The pride in Arab leaders is awesome. Sadat--he was really different. He was a humble man.”

Youssef remembers that Sadat would often say, “I am sick and tired of all those Arabs who want to fight Israel to the last Egyptian.”

Father Michael Youssef was one of eight children born of Coptic Christian parents in Assuit, the third largest city in Egypt. “The Coptic Church was the only Church in Egypt until the 7th century,” says the priest. “Then Islam swept in. Today we are 15 percent of the population, about seven million.”

Most recently, under Sadat, the world watched as Pope Shenouda, leader of the Coptic community, was placed under house arrest and deposed. “There is great suffering imposed on Christianity,” says Michael Youssef. “It is actually illegal to be a Christian. In church they speak the hymns rather than sing them so they can’t be heard in the streets. They turn on air conditioners to kill the sound of their prayers. There is discrimination in business. Christians may be second man on the job, but not number one. They accept this state, it is part of life--a way to preach the Gospel, a way to witness to Christ.”

But the Coptic pope, just a few weeks ago, spoke out. “Yes he did,” says Youssef. “He actually told his people to arm themselves, since the government would no longer give them protection. For this he was deposed and it was ironic, his successor, Bishop Samuel, was on the stand with Sadat and he too was killed.”

And now with Sadat gone is there hope for peace in the Middle East? “The only hope is peace through Jesus Christ,” says the priest. “Right now there is great danger. The Palestinians have enormous wealth. I believe the leadership could be more helpful to the refugees in the camps but they keep them homeless to gain world sympathy. However, Gaza and the West Bank should be given to them as a homeland. But that is not going to happen.”

“There is great need for the humility of President Sadat,” continues Youssef. “The Palestinians are not going to say we recognize Israel. And the State of Israel is not going to say we recognize the Palestinians. It is a stalemate of pride.”

What of the new Egyptian leader? “He says he will follow in Sadat’s footsteps and I think he will, until April anyway. When he gets the Sinai back in April 1982, I believe he will go back to the Arab fold. I don’t mean he will turn his back on the peace treaty. But he will want to make up with other Arab leaders.”

“Of course,” smiles the handsome young father of three children, “I believe Sadat would have mended fences also in April, especially since he planned on retiring in the New Year.”

Michael Youssef left his homeland when Nasser came to power. He set sail for Australia where he met his wife, Elizabeth, and became a parish priest in Sydney. However, he never forgot his homeland and the struggling Christian community. His work with Haggai Institute brings Father Youssef into contact with the missionary Church in the Middle East.

“It continues to be difficult,” says Michael Youssef. “We need prayer for peace, for understanding and for brotherhood in that troubled area of our world.”