Whereas the whole world looks to Pope Francis’s visit to Cairo tomorrow and his projected meetings with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar as a significant move that would open new vistas in Christian Islamic relations, few focus on the meeting scheduled with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II. Yet this visit represents the epitome of relations based on the love, peace, and mutual respect which Pope Francis has untiringly and vocally called for; a message at the same time propagated and honoured by Pope Tawadros.
Intervention: not what we’re after
For the Orthodox Copts in Egypt, Pope Francis’s visit comes at a time when they are being targeted by Islamists through vicious threats, violent attacks and, recently, suicide bombings inside or at the gates of their churches. The death toll of the suicide bombing at al-Boutrossiya church in Cairo on 11 December marked 29 victims, and the twin suicide bombings on Palm Sunday, 9 April, at the Tanta church of Mar-Girgis and Alexandria’s St Mark’s cathedral claimed a staggering 50 dead. Pope Francis declared his sympathy with the Copts and said he prays for them. Many inside and outside Egypt expect him to broach the topic of Coptic hardship with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. But how do Copts, in the mainstream and on the Church leadership levels, feel about that? Contrary to not-a-few expectations, they do not desire it.
On the official level, Copts recall that back in May 2013 when Pope Tawadros paid a visit to Pope Francis in Rome, the first visit by a Coptic Orthodox patriarch in 40 years, the Pope’s secretary Father Angaelus Ishaq denied that talks between the two popes would broach the hardships and grievances Copts encounter in Egypt. Pope Tawadros, Fr Angaelos said, believes that Coptic affairs are Egyptian internal issues that should be tackled nowhere but in Egypt and with no one but fellow Egyptians. The Coptic Pope has time and again said he can see that the State is sparing no effort to protect Copts against Islamist terrorist attacks but, not in Egypt alone but in the whole world, sporadic operations are bound to escape even the tightest security.
Living by faith
As to the Coptic public who live their faith by the minute, they understand that the Bible never promised them a trouble-free life on earth. In the Gospel of St John 16: 33, Jesus says: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world”. In confirmation of this collective faith, Egypt’s churches did not see one case of diminished attendance in the wake of the Palm Sunday suicide bombings. All churches in Egypt were more than ‘full house’ during Holy Week which directly follows Pam Sunday; in many cases the congregation spilled over outside the church buildings.
Watani sounded young Coptic men and women from Cairo’s underprivileged areas on whether Pope Francis should demand of President Sisi better protection for Copts, or reproach him over the Islamist terrorist attacks that claim so many Coptic lives. “Not at all,” was the unanimous answer. “We realise we’ll be targeted again and again, and that even if some attempts to kill us fail owing to tightened security, some others are sure to succeed. Not much can be done about that; it has been that way throughout all our history. It’s a fact of our faith, and we accept it.”
One young Copt recalled an incident in Egypt’s history during the mid-19th century. At the time a Russian delegate to Egypt met the Coptic Pope Boutros VII (patriarch from 1809 to 1852) and conveyed to him a message that Russia’s Csar was offering protection to Egypt’s Copts. “Will the Csar at some point die?” the Pope asked. “Of course, Your Holiness!” the delegate said, “who won’t?” To which Pope Boutros replied: “So why should I forsake protection by the One Who doesn’t die [Jesus Christ], and take on the offer of one who dies?”
2013: Pope Tawadros visits Rome
So how do Copts view the visit of Pope Francis to Cairo? The question takes us back to 2013 when Pope Tawadros visited Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome.
The epic meeting came exactly 40 years after the one that preceded it, which took place in 1973 between Pope Shenouda III and Pope Paul VI in Rome and was in turn the first such meeting in over 1500 years. Pope Paul VI described that meeting then as “an embrace of peace and fraternity, after centuries of mistrust”. The great rift between the Churches occurred in the wake of the Council of Chalcedon in 451; after that no relations existed between Rome and Alexandria—that is, until 1973.
Eyewitnesses to the 2013 meeting between Pope Francis and Pope Tawadros were struck by its climate of unceremonious love and humbleness, dominant characteristics in both their personalities.
“Today’s visit,” Pope Francis said, “strengthens the bonds of friendship and brotherhood between the See of Peter and the See of Mark…
“Forty years ago the Common Declaration of our predecessors represented a milestone on the ecumenical journey…and prepared the ground for broader dialogue between the Catholic Church and the entire family of Oriental Orthodox Churches, a dialogue that continues to bear fruit to this day.”
Pope Tawadros explained how he had deliberately wished for this visit to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the visit by Pope Shenouda III to Pope Paul VI on 4 -10 May 1973. He proposed that 10 May should be celebrated as the Day of Brotherly Love.
“May this visit,” Pope Tawadros said, “be the first of a long series between our two great Churches.” He expressly cited his mission: “The most important aim for us is to promote ecumenical dialogue to reach the most valued goal: unity.
A memory to cherish
I was lucky and blessed to have had the opportunity to be a first-hand observer of this reunion of love.
As Pope Francis received Pope Tawadros, they greeted each other with a warm, brotherly embrace. I heard a very moved Pope Tawadros tell Pope Francis: “We are extremely blessed and very happy for this reunion. We remember Christ’s wish a few hours before his Crucifixion, ‘let all be one’”.
The encounter emanated with warmth of feeling; the successors of St Peter and St Mark sat there in such a spirit of humbleness that I felt certain we were on the way to unity.
Since Pope Tawadros became patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church in November 2012 we have known him as a figure who exuded love and humbleness. In Rome, I was additionally moved by the warmth, humbleness and sincerity that were clearly written all over Pope Francis. He made our hearts joyous, simply by bestowing on us his peaceful look. At the end of the meting of the two popes exchanged gifts. Among them one given by Pope Tawadros to Pope Francis: a pendant carrying a cross which featured an icon of the Holy Virgin; Pope Francis hung it along his neck and chest right away.
My heart skipped a beat as both popes entered into the church of the Apostolic Palace, to the tune of Coptic hymns. Pope Tawadros said a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer for peace. Pope Francis stood next to him in his legendary modesty listening to the Bible being read.
At the time I wrote: “Dear Pope Tawadros and dear Pope Francis, may God bless you and protect you. We eagerly look forward to the day when the Bishop of Rome visits us in Egypt.”
Journeying towards unity
The Day of Brotherly Love has been marked on 10 May every year since 2013.
In 2016, the day was celebrated at the Logos Centre at Anba Bishoi’s Monastery in the Western Desert; prelates and prominent figures of both the Roman Catholic and Coptic Orthodox Churches attended.
Pope Francis sent Pope Tawadros a letter in which he recalled their historic meeting on 10 May 2013, and reminded of the many steps which had since been taken on the path of dialogue and better mutual understanding. He wrote that he hoped the dialogue conitnues and bears fruit to testify to the bond uniting the two Churches. Orthodox and Catholic all strive for the same end, he stressed, to lead lives of sanctity and dignity, to honour marriage and family, and to respect God’s creation which He entrusted to their care.
Pope Francis wrote that his thoughts and prayers were directed towards the Christians in the Middle East, who live the agony of daily persecution. “May the Lord comfort them and give them peace,” he wrote. “May He grant the international community the inspiration to act with wisdom and justice to confront the unprecedented violence in the region.”
“Though we are still journeying towards the day when we will gather as one at the same Eucharistic Table,” Pope Francis wrote, “we are able even now to make visible the communion uniting us.”
“It is true,” Pope Tawadros said, “that unity between Churches requires extensive theological dialogue but this has to take place basing on brotherly love, otherwise unity can never materialise.”
“That all be One”
The Pope proposed two suggestions for the annual celebration: the first was to honour a figure who had contributed to the Church; if the Orthodox Church hosts the event, the honoree would be a Catholic figure; if the Catholic Church is host, the honoree would be an Orthodox figure. The Pope also suggested an art contest for the best artwork to express unity in Christ, under the theme “That all be One”.
The first to be honoured, at the 2016 event at Anba Bishoi’s, was the Jesuit Father Henri Boulad for his “profound monastic and scholarly history with the Jesuits.”
Less than a year earlier, in October 2015, Pope Francis agreed to a proposal offered by Pope Tawadros to unify the date of Easter so that Churches all over the world would celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on the same date. The proposal had already been accepted by Mar Ignatius Aphrem II Patriarch of Antioch, and Bartholomew I Patriarch of Constantinople. Pope Tawadros’s proposal suggested the second Sunday in April to celebrate Easter.
Watani International