Anba Bishoi, secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, announced the decisions taken by the Synod during the meeting it held on Thursday 23 March, which was attended by the members of the Melli Council and the Coptic Endowments Authority
Anba Bishoi, secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, announced the decisions taken by the Synod during the meeting it held on Thursday 23 March, which was attended by the members of the Melli Council and the Coptic Endowments Authority. He declared that the attendants exceeded the two-thirds quorum stipulated in the 1957 legal code for the election of a patriarch. Anba Pachomeus was selected as acting patriarch until a new one is elected. The Holy Synod decided to abide by the 1957 legal code and its 1971 modification, while maintaining the right of the community and NGOs to submit to the Holy Synod proposals on the interpretation and application of the code.
The code stipulates that nomination for the patriarchy should begin a week after the death of a pope, and run for two months. During the recent Synod meeting, however, the attendants decided to open the door for nominations following the Arabaeen (literally, Forty) Mass of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, which will be on 25 April. The Commemoration of the Arbaeen is an Egyptian tradition that goes back to ancient Egyptian times and was linked to the mummification process. Nomination will be open for 20 days, and the election committee will take a month to check the papers of the nominees. The 18-member election committee will be formed within one month since the Thursday meeting.
Field Marshall Mohamed Hussain Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, signed the authentication of the decisions taken during the meeting.
A Church source affirmed to Watani that no amendments will be made to the code since; until amendments can be discussed, reviewed and validated by the State; it would likely delay the election of a new pope more than two years. “The 1957 code,’ he said, “has, after all, given us two wonderful popes: Pope Kyrillos VI and Pope Shenouda III.”
The code does not disallow the nomination of bishops of parishes, he explained, but the bishops usually do not apply since they consider themselves wed to their parishes. This issue will be tackled and discussed in the meeting next Tuesday.