Now that the five candidates who will be running for the 118th patriarch of the See of St Mark have been named, members of the congregation will have the opportunity to see them on TV and hear them answer questions and speak about their various outlooks
Now that the five candidates who will be running for the 118th patriarch of the See of St Mark have been named, members of the congregation will have the opportunity to see them on TV and hear them answer questions and speak about their various outlooks.
The five contenders include two bishops-general: Anba Raphail of Downtown Cairo, and Anba Tawodros of Beheira; as well as the three monks: Fr Raphail AvaMina, Fr Pachomeus al-Suriani, and Fr Seraphim al-Suriani.
Anba Pola, Bishop of Tanta and spokesman for the Holy Synod, said that interviews with the five candidates will be conducted at the Anba Bishoi Monastery in the Western Desert, and will be broadcast by Christian satellite channels. Anba Pola, who will himself be the interviewer, said other TV channels who wished to broadcast the interviews were most welcome to do so.
The idea, according to Anba Pola, was to familiarise whoever among the congregation was not familiar with the five candidates. The candidates refuse to sit for interviews with the press or to hold debates, since they are not after competing for the post which they see as a service first and foremost.
Starting next Friday, Anba Pola said, the five candidates will be jointly holding Holy Mass at various churches over Egypt.
He commented on the calls on Facebook to vote for one of the monks not one of the bishops, describing such calls as misleading. “The choice should be according to conviction of who would be best for the multi-faceted responsibility ahead,” he said. “If we take our cue from the two last popes of the Coptic Orthodox Church, both of whom we believe were divinely inspired as they led the Church through hard times, we’ll find that Pope Kyrillos VI had been a monk before being pope, whereas Pope Shenouda III had been a bishop.”
The acting patriarch Anba Pachomeus today announced that the elections to choose three of the five candidates will be held on 29 October, and that the altar draw for the winner among the three will be conducted one week after the election results are announced. The new pope will be enthroned near the end of November. Anba Pachomeus explained that the Holy Synod has decided to speed up the papal selection process in order for the Church to be quickly handed to a good shepherd chosen by the Lord.
Anba Pachomeus said that the Coptic voters in the Diaspora will have to come to Cairo to cast their ballots, or grant power of attorney to someone in Cairo to do the job.
Watani International
16 October 2012