We, the members of the British Christian Orthodox Association, condemn the person or persons unknown who supplied the information for the article in The Argus, March 27.

Our members are now proud British Citizens who consist of Egyptian and Sudanese people, who fled their homelands because of the persecution against their Christian beliefs.

We have been members of St Mary & St Abraam Coptic Orthodox Church run by father Zakaria for ten years and can confirm that in all of his teachings he has never demonstrated any incitement against other religions.

The chat room mentioned has been on the internet for the past two years.

The members who have visited the site and listened to Father Zakaria heard him quoting from the Koran and providing explanations on various topics, as do other learned people.

Unfortunately, it appears to us that this is being manipulated and used as a tool against him to cloud the real issues within the Church, which are that previous attempts to evict him from his home have failed.

The head of the Coptic Christian Church, Pope Shenouda III, has agreed that Father Zakaria can stay in the Church home and practise his priesthood, as he is doing at this time as an invited guest touring America.

The comments in the article do not reflect the feelings of the majority of the congregation.

It was also stated in the article of April 3 that Roy Isaac is the adviser to the newly-formed church council.

This appointment has not been made official by either the head of the church committee or the Pope.

We do not recognise him in any official capacity and therefore do not consider him to be a spokesman on our behalf or that of the church.

We would also like to point out Dr Wagdi Habib, chairman of the Sudanese Coptic Association does not represent the British Sudanese members within our group as his association is political and does not have any connection with the church.

-Dr Naiem A Hanna, chairman