Despite an abundance of stress and fear that naturally followed the aftermath of the attack on St. Peter and St. Paul church last month, Egyptian Coptic Christians held their Christmas in peace on 7 January.

Creating a heavy security presence, churches were surrounded with police and central security forces. For some main churches, like Mar Girgis, surrounding streets were vacated of cars and cordoned off in order to provide extra security.

However, the surrounding atmosphere blanketed with worries of sectarian strife did not stop or prevent people from attending Christmas mass at midnight.

All photos taken by Mohammed Oamr and Ahmed El-Malky