http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1090/eg11.htm
22 - 28 March 2012
Issue No. 1090
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875
Egypt's next pope
Nader Habib explains the procedure for choosing a new pope to lead Egypt's
Coptic Church after the passing of Pope Shenouda III
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Click to view caption
Athnasious; Boutros I; Dionius; Anianus; St Mark; Kirollos VI; Yousap;
Macarius;Shenouda III
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After the passing of Pope Shenouda III as leader of Egypt's Coptic Church last
Saturday, attention has now turned to who will succeed him as the spiritual
leader of the country's Christian community, especially at the present critical
time in Egypt's history when the country is going through various political,
social and economic upheavals.
The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church chaired by Bishop Bakhomious, the
senior archbishop, announced on Sunday that the funeral of Pope Shenouda III,
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the Holy See of St Mark, would take place
at the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya in Cairo at 11am on Tuesday.
Bishop Bakhomious was chosen as chair after Bishop Mikhail of Assiut declined
the position despite being the most senior bishop because of his declining
health. Bakhomious is archbishop of Beheira and five western cities. He was
appointed bishop in December 1971 and became an archbishop in 1990.
As soon as the Holy Synod appoints Bakhomious as locum tenens and a decree to
this effect is issued by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the ruling
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), he will become caretaker pope of
the Church according to traditional protocol.
However, there is still some ambiguity about what will happen next, and whether
Pope Shenouda's successor will be chosen according to the Church's 1957 charter
or whether the Holy Synod will amend the charter. Pope Shenouda was once asked
about this, and he reportedly said that such things could be taken care of
"after I am gone," thereby scotching any suspicions that he might have wanted
to choose his own successor.
Ordinarily, the choice of a new pope to lead the Church takes place according
to a charter dating back to November 1957, which states that any monk older
than 40 who has spent 15 years or more in his religious order can put himself
forward as head of the Church. Anyone doing so should hold the rank at least of
bishop and should have responsibility for education, services, scientific
research, youth, or similar. In other words, he should not simply be a diocesan
bishop, since the Church views such bishops as being "married" to their parish
responsibilities and inseparable from them.
Of the more than 100 bishops in the Holy Synod, the Church's supreme
legislative body, there are 20 so-called "public" and non-diocesan bishops who
are eligible for nomination. These include the popular Bishop Moussa, bishop
for youth affairs, born in 1938; Bishop Yoaanas; Bishop Armiya and Bishop
Boutros.
Another well-known bishop both to the general public and in Coptic circles is
Bishop Roweis, who often joined Pope Shenouda at Christmas mass. There is also
Bishop Yohanna, bishop of the churches of Misr Al-Qadima in Old Cairo; Bishop
Daniel, bishop of Maadi and Dar Al-Salam, and Bishop Rafael, the bishop of
central Cairo.
The election of the next pope of the Coptic Church, the 118th since the Church
was founded by St Mark the Evangelist at the beginning of the Christian era,
will be held at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo and will be chaired by the
caretaker pope Bakhomious. The process will begin at 9am and last until 5pm and
will be attended by a representative from the Ministry of Interior.
There is no quorum for the election, and once the votes have been counted the
names of the three top candidates will be announced. The Sunday following the
elections, a procedure will be held at St Mark's Church in Cairo to choose the
next pope from among the three top candidates. Their names will be placed on
the altar, and after mass a blindfolded child will pick one of the names. The
name of the person picked will become the next pope of the Coptic Church.
In addition to the qualifications for candidates for the position, the electors
must also meet certain criteria. The latter are members of the Church's General
Congregation, formed of the Holy Synod and General Lay Council of the Church.
They must be older than 35 years old and have a university degree. Of the
members of the Synod, these include the bishops and archbishops of the Church,
the heads, deputies and secretaries of monasteries, 12 priests from Cairo,
seven from Alexandria, incumbent and former members of the cabinet and any
incumbent Coptic members of parliament.
They also include current members of the Congregation's branch councils, as
well as Coptic judges and other civil servants, doctors, lawyers, newspaper
owners, editors and journalists who are members of the Press Syndicate, and
finally 12 senior parish leaders.
Since the martyrdom of St Mark, the apostle who spread the Christian message in
Egypt, the process of choosing a pope for the Coptic Church has gone through
many social and religious upheavals. St Mark was one of the apostles chosen by
Jesus Christ to spread his message to the world, and he was martyred in 68 CE.
Those responsible for the martyrdom of St Mark engineered his replacement by
Anianus, a cobbler, who was appointed to run the affairs of Egypt's Christian
community. Twelve other priests were also chosen, and these were told that if
the pope should die another must be appointed in his place from among the
council of 12 priests, which should always have that number. The procedure
continued until the Church's 19th pope, Alexandros, banned married priests from
becoming pope and laid down the rule that only a bishop could become pope.
The Church's third pope, Milius (Avilius) (84-96 CE), was chosen because of his
chastity, piety and zeal, and these qualities were then established as the
criteria for choosing subsequent leaders of the Church. The idea of drawing
names emerged under the fourth pope, Kerzonos (Kedronus) (96-106 CE), when the
bishops consulted the Christian congregation in Alexandria, suggesting that
drawing names be used as a way of deciding who should occupy the papal throne.
A further phase began with the election of Amanius (Eumenes) (131-144 CE), also
unmarried, a rule that was sometimes ignored, who was the director of the
Church's main theological seminary. From this period onwards, popes could also
be chosen from among the directors of seminaries, as these were thought to be
the most knowledgeable of Christian theology and the traditions of the Church.
Although it is a general rule that members of the Church choose the pope who is
to lead them, at times God may reveal to the pope before his death who his
successor will be. This happened for the first time during the reign of Pope
Yolyanous (Julian) (178-190 CE), the 11th pope, who was visited by an angel,
who told him that "whoever gives you a grapevine tomorrow is the one who will
sit on the papal seat after you."
The next morning, a humble man of Coptic origin called Demetrius came upon a
grapevine that had ripened early while out trimming the vines and decided to
give it to the dying pope. The leaders of the community had gathered around the
patriarch in order to decide on a successor, and Yolyanous passed on what the
angel had told him. Grapes do not grow in winter, as it then was, and the story
was dismissed. But at that moment, Demetrius came to them with the grapevine
and presented it to the pope.
The pope reminded those present of the angel's words the day before and
commanded them to elect the person God had pointed to as the next pope. They
obeyed, although Demetrius subsequently did not live in Alexandria, but
preferred to spend his time travelling across Egypt on his evangelical mission,
as had St Mark before him.
The 13th pope, Yaroklas (Heraclas) (232-247 CE), was the first to take the
title of pope, meaning "father", with the agreement of the patriarchs of
Alexandria. Yaroklas was responsible for the establishment of many new
parishes, and he appointed 20 new bishops. He was popular both among the people
and the priests, and they began calling him "pope", a title that had not
previously been accorded to any of the Christian patriarchs.
The 14th pope, Dionius (Dionysius) (247-265 CE) was originally pagan,
converting to Christianity after he had read the letters of St Paul. As a
result, he converted to Christianity and joined a seminary, excelling there and
becoming its director. When the pope of the time died, the people and clergy
chose him to sit on the throne of St Mark.
Such stories indicate that the origin of the pope of the Coptic Church, even if
pagan, is unimportant, so long as the holder of the post has distinguished
himself in his Christian mission.
Sometimes, the pope chooses his own successor, as happened under the 17th pope,
Boutros I (Peter I) (300-311 CE), also known as the "Seal of Martyrs" because
he witnessed the greatest persecution that had taken place up until that time
against the Christians. Boutros's reign also saw the introduction of the Coptic
calendar. Before he died, Boutros met with two of his followers, Arshlos
(Achillas) and Alexandros (Alexander), and told them that they would become
popes after him, which is indeed what happened.
Pope Athnasious (Athanasius) (326-373 CE), the Church's 20th pope, was chosen
by Alexandros, even though he tried to evade the responsibilities that come
with this onerous post. Athnasious was eventually persuaded to agree to his
enthronement, and the Christian community of the time brought him to Alexandria
and placed him on the throne of St Mark.
Athnasious was 28 years old at the time, and for the first time 50 bishops laid
hands on him as part of the ritual of enthronement. Athnasious was the first
pope to establish a branch of the Church outside Egypt, namely the Church of
Abyssinia (Ethiopia), and he appointed a bishop to head it in 330 CE. The late
Pope Shenouda III was known as the "Athnasious of the 20th Century" for his
work in spreading the Christian message. At the end of his life, Athnasious,
too, chose his own successor.
With the spread of the monastic movement in Egypt at this time, Pope Temothaos
(Timothy II Aelurus), the 26th pope, (457-477 CE) was chosen from among the
monks at the Al-Qalmun Monastery in Fayoum and was nominated by the bishops.
Pope Yohana II (John II), the 30th pope, (507-517 CE) was the first known to
have spent time in the Al-Ghar Monastery in Al-Sharqiya as a monk before he was
chosen as patriarch.
The popes later continued to be chosen from among monks, and the patriarchs of
the Abi Moqar Monastery in Wadi Al-Natroun were often chosen as popes,
especially since the Byzantine Church at the time had begun to persecute the
Egyptian Coptic Church, wanting to extend its control across Egypt.
At the time of the Arab conquest, history tells us that Pope Binyamin (Benjamin
I), the 38th pope (620-659 CE), was the first to come from outside Alexandria,
being born in Mariut. The Arabs established their capital at Cairo, and
Abdel-Aziz, the new ruler of Egypt, ordered the country's Copts to elect their
new leader in the city of Babylon, later Old Cairo, after the death of Pope
Yohana III (John III), the 40th pope, in 686 CE. This tradition continued until
the 11th century, though the attendant rituals continued to take place in
Alexandria.
In his History of the Coptic Church, Mansi Yohana writes that Pope Simon, the
42nd pope, (689-700 CE) was the first non-Egyptian pope. The ruler of Egypt at
the time, Abdel-Malek ibn Marwan, was asked to confirm Simon's appointment.
When he asked about the latter's nationality, he was told that Simon was
Syriac, and Abdel-Malek ibn Marwan responded by saying that it would be better
if the pope of the Church was a national of Egypt. However, those present
argued that Simon should be given the post nonetheless.
In 776, after the death of the 47th pope, Mina I, the tradition of drawing
names to decide on his successor began. The bishops gathered and waited for
several days until God had called on someone to take up the position. They
decided to write the names of the candidates down on small pieces of paper and
place them on the altar while the bishops, priests and congregation prayed and
sang "kir yalison" (may God forgive). A child was then asked to select one of
the pieces of paper, the person whose name appeared on it being chosen as the
new pope.
The idea of choosing a pope from among the laity re-emerged with the election
of Pope Yohana VI (John VI), the 74th pope, in 1189 CE during the reign of
sultan Salaheddin Al-Ayoubi (Saladin). Yohana was a widowed merchant who did
not wish to take another wife. Although the rules stated that the pope must
have been a bachelor all his life, Aba Al-Magd's extensive knowledge (this was
Yohana's name before he became pope) and his virtue made him an obvious
candidate.
During the French invasion of Egypt at the end of the 18th century, because of
the persecution of the Copts at the time, Pope Morcos VIII (Mark VIII), the
108th pope, decided to move the Cathedral headquarters to Al-Azbakiya and to
the church called Old Batrakhana. Morcos was the first pope to be buried in
this church.
The Church's General Council was created after the death of Pope Demetrius II,
the 111th pope, when Bishop Morcos, archbishop of Alexandria, became
influential in 1862. Morcos felt overwhelmed by his duties and decided to
create a consultative body to assist him in managing the affairs of the Church.
The state later granted official recognition to this Council.
When Pope Kirollos V (Cyril V) became pope, he drew up a charter that required
the Council to be more involved in the affairs of the Church, including
schools, endowments, personal status issues and the ordination of priests. The
terms of this involvement were codified in the 1883 Charter, though at least at
first Council members took little interest in Church affairs, and this first
Council was later dissolved.
There were disputes over the election of the new pope in 1927, when Bishop
Yoaanas, the pope's deputy, asked police to disperse demonstrations against him
at St Mark's Church at Mehatet Al-Raml in Alexandria. The protests were against
the charter issued in the same year, which, the protesters said, would have
served the interests of the Church's Council, mostly secularists and members of
the Wafd Party, by allowing any Copt to nominate himself for the position of
pope without the prerequisite of being a monk.
Eventually the composition of the Council changed, and the clergy became the
majority on it. Bishop Yoaanas, the pope's deputy, won the throne of St Mark by
70 votes to two, the loser being Habib Girgis, the founder of secular Sunday
schools and mentor of Pope Shenouda III.
After Bishop Yoaanas came Bishop Macarius III, archbishop of Assiut and the
Council's candidate. Known as a reformist, Macarius later abdicated because of
clashes over the charter. After Macarius, Bishop Yosap (Joseph II) became pope,
but he enjoyed little collective support. Eventually, Yosap was kidnapped by a
group of secularist young people called the Coptic Nation and held in the Mar
Girgis Convent. He was deposed by Council decision in September, 1955, and
exiled to the Al-Mahraq Monastery.
Popes elected according to this version of the charter did not enjoy the
support that would have guaranteed their survival on the throne. For three
years, the Church was without a patriarch between December 1956, and March
1959, when Pope Kirollos VI (Cyril VI) was elected. Yet another dispute erupted
over the charter, with Council members and young people from the Sunday School
Movement opposing traditionalist clergy.
The minister of supply at the time, Kamal Ramzi Esteno, approached president
Gamal Abdel-Nasser, drafting what he called a "middle-ground charter" that
would combine the demands of the Holy Synod and some of those of the
secularists. Esteno added the stipulation that the pope should be chosen by
drawing a name from the top three candidates in the elections.
This second version of the Church's charter is still in use today. It was under
these rules that Pope Kirollos VI, who came third in the elections with 468
votes, became pope thanks to the choice of Rafiq Bassili El-Tukhi, the child
who selected the piece of paper with his name upon it.
After Pope Kirollos died in 1971, Church affairs came to a head, remembers
writer Maged Attiya, who lived through the events. "There was a need to elect a
new pope quickly, to meet the requests being made by president [Anwar El-]
Sadat, even if through the Holy Synod alone and without elections," Attiya
recalls. "Bishop Shenouda himself objected to such a step and the battle over
the charter came to a head, but because time was short it could not be amended."
Despite differences over the charter, the Council met and Bishop Samuel, bishop
of social services, won 440 votes. Bishop Shenouda won 434 votes, and Father
Timthos Al-Makari won 312. The final decision was made when child Ayman Ghali
drew the name of Bishop Shenouda from the three winning candidates, Shenouda
becoming Patriarch of the See of St Mark on Sunday 31 October 1971, at St
Mark's Church in Klot Bek, Alexandria.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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