Pope Tawadros II flew to the Lebanese capital Beirut on 20 June to participate in the summit of the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
The Oriental Orthodox communion is composed of six autocephalous churches: the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in India.
While in Lebanon, Pope Tawadros will bless the church of the Great Anba Sawiris (St Severus).
Accompanying the Pope are Anba Bishoi, Metropolitan of Dumyat and Kafr al-Sheikh; and Anba Martyros, General Bishop of East-of-the-Railway Churches in Cairo; a number of clerics and papal secretaries; and Girgis Saleh, honorary Secretary-General of the Middle East Council of Churches.