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Editorial
Sunday
Editor-in-chief
Youssef Sidhom
Managing Editor
Samia Sidhom
12 October 2014
2 Baba (Paope) 1731
18 Thul-Higga 1435
Issue 713
Year 14
Pope Tawadros II’s 33-day pastoral tour in The Netherlands, Switzerland, and Canada
Problems on hold
‘Advice and guidance’
Painkiller, not treatment
Youssef Sidhom
The recent incident of the Gabal al-Teir
Coptic woman who went missing for 25
days and was declared by the security officials to have converted to Islam has raised
several alarming questions. The 40-year-old
mother of five is now back home with her
family and insists she never converted but,
as I wrote last week, this does not mean the
curtain has been drawn on the incident. A
non-biased investigation is needed into the
brutal police response to the wrathful
protest of the Coptic villagers against police
failure—rather, inaction—to find the missing woman and bring her home. The security officials responsible for and involved in
the savage collective punishment inflicted
on the Copts of Gabal al-Teir in Minya,
some 240km south of Cairo, should be
brought to justice.
The second issue raised by the Gabal alTeir incident is that of conversion to Islam.
This brings us to the ‘advice and guidance’
sessions, a practice which has been placed
on hold for some 10 years now. For those
who do not know, the advice and guidance
sessions were informal meetings, held under the auspices of the security authority,
between Christians who wished to convert
and a priest or minister. The sessions were
held only in case of adults who wished to
convert; underage individuals are banned
by law from taking such life-changing decisions. The priest was required to verify
that the would-be convert was changing
faith in full conviction—in which case the
decision was fully respected—not under
pressure or to escape some problem that
could be circumvented by a legal change of
religion.
The advice and guidance sessions have
been known to save the day in many cases
where conversion was merely a manipulation of religion to bypass specific problems,
but had nothing to do with faith. They
spared the individual and the community
unwarranted conflict and pain. Yet they had
been unilaterally revoked by the Interior
Ministry in 2004 in the wake of the notorious Wafaa’ Qostantin case. Qostantin, the
wife of a priest in Beheira west of the Delta, had fled home owing to problems with
her husband, and was rumoured to have
converted. She came back a few days later
and declared before the prosecution and in
presence of Church representatives that she
"had been born Christian, and will live and
die Christian."
The issue of the Gabal al-Teir woman led
many Copts, rights activists, and those concerned with matters of faith to demand a
comeback for the advice and guidance sessions. Had the practice been in place, they
say, the entire community would have been
spared unnecessary pain. In a surprise response, Interior Minister Muhammad Ibrahim declared that resumption of the advice and guidance sessions awaited a
coordinated decision by the Church and alAzhar. I believe the Minister threw the ball
into their court to buy himself time, since it
is a fact that the sessions were halted by the
unilateral decision of a previous Interior
Minister, not by the Church or al-Azhar. It
was typical of the tyranny of the police
State which prevailed at the time and which
Egyptians would never go back to. For his
part, the current Grand Imam of al-Azhar
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyib has stressed that
conversion should be based solely on conviction, and Anba Pola confirmed on behalf
of the Church that anyone who faithfully
wished to convert was free to do so.
Back in 1863, Khedive Ismail issued a decree stipulating that any Christian converting to Islam was not welcome unless
both a priest and a Christian layman confirmed the beyond-doubt earnestness of his
or her wish to convert. That was the origin
behind the advice and guidance sessions. In
1969 – 1970, the security apparatus jumped
on the bandwagon and required any wouldbe convert to apply to the security headquarters to arrange for the session. The
community tolerated the security interference until that same authority gave itself
the right to discontinue it.
Today, if we are to resolve the issue of
conversion, it should be prised out of the
hands of the security authority and go back
to being the business of the Church, alAzhar, and the National Council for Human
Rights. The security apparatus should go
back to enforcing the law not ‘writing’ it.
I need to stress, however, that even with a
comeback of the advice and guidance sessions, and even if this comeback is in a religious-civic form not a religious-police
form, we are circumventing the real problem, resorting to a painkiller instead of
treating the real ailment. The entire situation reeks of non-existent freedom of belief,
even though this freedom is explicitly stipulated in the Constitution. Yet Egyptians
are still categorised as Muslim, Christian,
or Jew; their ID documents cite their religion. Let the advice and guidance sessions
resume, and let the security apparatus get
out of them. What is it that we stand to gain
or to lose if a Christian converts to Islam or
vice versa?
I look to the day where there will be a
new Egypt that knows not who is Muslim,
Christian or Jewish; who belongs to a specific faith or who has none whatsoever. Because then it will be no one’s business to
persuade, dissuade, or terrorise anyone on
account of his or her faith.
"
C onnecting
with the
mother Church
The Copts in Egypt missed him. But Pope Tawadros II insisted he had a responsibility Michael Victor The highlight of the Swiss visit was the 6th century monastery of St Maurice. Accompanied by Anba Luca Bishop General of France and French speaking Switzerland,
towards those of his flock who resided outside the country, so much so that he spent 33
the Pope was received by the abbot, Monseigneur Joseph Roduit. There the Pope prayed
days with them on a pastoral tour. After visits to The Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada, the
at the shrine of St Maurice, and later presided over Holy Mass. Anba Luca handed Pope Tawadros
Pope is back in Cairo, and it’s business as usual. But the 33 days spent outside Egypt carried very
part of the relics of the saint to take back to Cairo. St Maurice was an Egyptian army officer from
special significance to the Coptic congregation—and many surprises too.
Upper Egypt who fought in Europe with the Theban Legion and died there in 305 because he refused to relinquish his Christian faith.
Walking on Water
The Pope always said he held the young in a very special place in his heart. True to his word, his
first stop was at Stads-Canal in Groningen, The Netherlands, where he presided over a conference
for Coptic young people in Europe. Some 800 young men and women participated.
The Pope had arrived in Groningen on Thursday 28 August where he was met by Egypt’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Taher Farahat, the Coptic Orthodox Bishop of the Netherlands Anba
Arsani, and the Bishop of Youth Anba Moussa.
Friday morning, he presided over Holy Mass and gave a sermon on the "life of contentment".
Contentment, he said, came from three sources: a personal life of prayer, praise, and close relationship with God; a steady immersion in Bible study so as to be always receptive to the word of
God; and regular Holy Communion. A fair balance of these three, he said, leads to contentment
and joy.
The theme of the youth conference, which the Pope opened after Mass, was Walking on Water.
According to Pope Tawadros, ‘walking on water’ is characteristic of a Christian life; he summed
it up in four points: Fight for the right, let your target be eternal life in Heaven, keep the commandments faithfully, and flee from evil.
The governor of Groningen met the Pope at the conference where they exchanged gifts. The
young Copts had made an artefact of the Pope’s picture and they presented it to him amid resounding applause.
Largest Coptic church outside Egypt
The warm-hearted Christian family
Busy schedule
From The Netherlands, Pope Tawadros II headed to Switzerland where he met the Coptic congregation at St Michael’s Coptic Orthodox church in Geneva. There, the topic of interest was the
Christian marriage the success of which, the Pope stressed, related primarily to the warm presence
of Christ in the home. "Christian family life," he insisted, "should be based on love, respect of differences, candour, and union between the man and wife on all spiritual, emotional, physical, social, and dialogue levels." The Pope stressed the responsibility of the male head of the family towards his wife and children, a responsibility which should be exercised and reciprocated with
gentleness, tenderness, and warm-hearted gratitude.
While in Geneva, Pope Tawadros visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on the first of
September. He participated with representatives from ecumenical and international organisations
in morning prayers followed by a meeting with staff and a conversation with the WCC general
secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. The Coptic Orthodox Church is a founding member church
of the WCC since 1948.
In his reflections, Pope Tawadros spoke of the historic contributions of the Coptic Orthodox
Church, among them vibrant traditions of spirituality, theological studies and monastic life.
"The Coptic Church is one of the main pillars of Egyptian society," he said. There are also 28
parishes in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, and more than 300 churches and 10
monasteries around the world, served by more than 400 clerics. The Church has also built a hospital in Kenya, and seven schools and seminaries in different places, as well as two cultural centres in the UK and the Netherlands.
Egypt’s St Maurice: Martyred in Switzerland
Pope Tawadros said there is "new hope for Egypt" with the adoption of a new Constitution in
the country. He remembered the June 2013 Revolution in Egypt where, he said, "Christians and
Muslims struggled together to end the dark [Muslim Brotherhood] regime". He affirmed the long
history of peaceful social coexistence between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, despite occasional instances of attacks against Copts.
The Pope expressed concern over migration of Christians from the Middle East. He called it a
"dangerous trend" which he said cannot resolve the problems faced by Christian communities in
the region.
The WCC General Secretary, Rev. Tveit, affirmed the commitment of the WCC in solidarity
with Christians around the world, particularly those in critical situation as in the Middle East.
He added that the WCC is a global fellowship which brings together Churches from the East and
the West in a quest for unity, justice and peace.
If the length of visits goes by size, then the Pope was right to give Canada’s Copts a full 26 days
of his visit. Arriving at Toronto on 4 September, he was received at the airport by Minister for
Multiculturalism Jason Kenney on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and a number of Canadian MPs. Also there to welcome Pope Tawadros were Anba Serapion, Bishop of South California; Anba Macarius, Bishop of Eritrea; Bishop General Anba Botros; Anba Youssef, Bishop of
South America; Anba Youssef, Bishop of Bolivia; Anba David, Bishop of New York; Bishop
General and New Jersey papal deputy Anba Karas; Anba Yulius, Bishop General of Old Cairo;
Anba Maqar, Bishop of Sharqiya; Anba Danial, Bishop and Abbot of Anba Shenouda Monastery
in Sydney; and papal secretary Father Ammonius Adel.
The Pope’s visit coincided with the celebration of the golden jubilee for the first Coptic Church in
Canada; he was guest of honour at a dinner event held in Toronto, during which he met Prime Minster Stephen Harper, Mayor of Markham Frank Scarpitti, and a number of dignitaries and politicians.
The Pope inaugurated and consecrated St Mark’s Cathedral in Markham, Toronto. Built on an
area of 7100sq.m., it is the largest Coptic church outside Egypt, and houses several altars. The
Pope presided over Holy Mass once he had consecrated the altars, icons, and all the sacred utensils with Myron—holy oil.
Through a very busy schedule that took him from Toronto to Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Perth,
Mississauga, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Halifax, Stouffville, Vancouver, Pope Tawadros met congregations, led prayers and presided over Divine Liturgy. He ordained new priests, baptised babies, laid cornerstones for new buildings, blessed land over which churches would be built, and
consecrated altars and icons. He presided over seminars and conventions, and gave talks in which
the main themes were love, joy, and tolerance, prayer and spiritual struggle. The Pope also met
spiritual leaders and public figures.
In Perth, Ontario, Pope Tawadros laid the cornerstone of St Anthony’s monastery, the first Coptic Orthodox monastery in Canada. His Holiness assigned Anba Macarius, Bishop-General of
Minya, to supervise the overall development of the monastery. The Coptic Church had purchased
a 250-acre property that included a ready-to-use building which the Church decided would make a
good start to house the monastery.
St Mark’s Coptic Museum
While in Toronto, Pope Tawadros paid a visit to St Mark’s Coptic Museum where he was guided on a tour of the exhibits which he greatly admired. Even though many other museums boast
Coptic collections, St Mark’s is the only Coptic museum outside Egypt. Open to the public since
2000, it houses a diverse collection of exhibits that run through Egypt’s history since ancient
Egyptian times and on to the Greek, Roman, Coptic, Islamic, and modern times. According to the
museum’s volunteer curator, Helene Moussa, the museum stresses that Coptic art is a living tradition that carries on to this day; the most recent acquisition is Victor Fakhoury’s The Martyrs of
Maspero which commemorates the more than 20 Copts who lost their lives on 9 October 2011,
run down by military tanks in Maspero, Cairo.
The exhibits includes icons dating from the 16th to 20th century; hand woven tapestries from the
20th century Wissa Wassef School in Harraniya, Giza; manuscripts and rare books, coins, stamps,
papyrus fragments, terracotta, metal, and wood works, crosses, and much more. The highlight of
the museum collection are six of the original biblical scenes painted by the pioneering 20th century Egyptian artist Marguerite Nakhla in Coptic folkloric style.
Every one of the items exhibited, Ms Moussa says, is backed with legally signed documents
from the donors or sellers. "The Pope wrote a lovely message in our guest book," she says.
The Pope’s packed schedule, however, did not get in the way of the constant telephone contact
he maintained with his spiritual mentor, the widely loved and respected Anba Pachomeus, Bishop
of Beheira and Pentapolis, who is in London for medical treatment. Pope Tawadros has been happy to learn of the Bishop’s much improved health.
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Watani International
2
12 October 2014
St Mark’s Coptic Church in Toronto
The 50-year-old congregation
Mayor of Scarborough, laying of the foundation stone of St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church
in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto. That was the first time the Copts in Canada collectively possessed land that they could call their own. They no longer felt foreign in a strange
land; they became, in a true sense of the word, Coptic Canadians."
It is a time-honoured truth that Egyptians are no migratory people; they have throughout
their five-millenia-long history been tightly anchored to their land and beloved Nile. Moving
out, even if within the boundaries of their land, constituted a painful uprooting and estrangement which time and again featured in their literature, folk songs, and traditions. As far back
as some two millenia BC, Egyptians told the tale of Sinuhe who left Egypt and lived a brilliantly successful life, but whose soul found its peace only when he could return home, live
his remaining days on Egypt’s soil, and have a proper burial there to prepare him for his afterlife.
But modern times have brought on a lot of changes, not least being a boost in health care
that led to population explosion. The land produce could no longer feed all the additional
mouths, and the main activity of the population turned away from agriculture to industry or
trade. The situation was compounded by the political and socialist policies applied by President Gamal Abdel-Nasser in 1960. The rural community that clung to its land was no more
the same.
Dream come true
There’s a story worth telling about the land itself. For years, resources of St Mark’s in Canada were thinly stretched to cover the Church’s mission in North America. When finally it
was time for the Parish of Toronto to build its own church, land prices had skyrocketed and
all attempts to purchase land failed before the congregation’s inadequate financial resources.
Fr Marcos says: "We were met with nothing but one frustration after the other. But the
Copts’ faith never wavered. At long last, the miracle we awaited did occur and it was far beyond our expectations. Out of the blue—and I use the expression literally to mean ‘from
Above’—a full acre of land was sold to the Church for one dollar. For Bill McClintock, the
vendor, we were strangers and he took us in. We and our children for generations to come
will be indebted to the McClintocks for their benevolence and genuine brotherly love.
"Once we had the land, every member of the congregation, even the children, began doing
something to make the dream of ‘our own church’ come true. The Building Committee met
weekly until past midnight to work on the plans, the architect and I flew to Cairo to study
Coptic Church architecture and meet specialists in this field. The Fund Raising Committee
worked diligently to meet the financial demands of the project, and the Social and Cultural
Activities Committee worked hand in hand with the Ladies Committee to organise bazaars,
fairs, variety shows, outings, trips, movies, lectures and dinners to generate the needed
funds. In less than a year we celebrated the first Divine Liturgy in our new church on Palm
Sunday, 23 April 1978."
Dispersed over a continent
The first wave of Egyptian migration started in the 1960s, with thousands heading to North
America and Australia, destinations that promised unlimited opportunity. Many among them
were Copts, and the uprooting from homeland and mother Church was especially painful.
North America is an extensive continent, and the first Coptic immigrants were dispersed all
over the place. This augmented, spiritually and morally, the feeling of estrangement, and they
reached out to their mother Church in Egypt to send over a priest to cater to their spiritual
needs.
In August 1964, Pope Kyrillos VI ordained Fr Marcos Marcos and commissioned him to
serve the Coptic community in North America. November 1964 saw the establishment of St
Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in North America, headquartered in Toronto which was then
home to 36 Coptic families. They were mostly newcomer first generation immigrants, yet
their strong faith, zeal and determination made it possible for the one priest to cater, on very
limited financial means that came from donations alone, to the needs of Copts in North
America. Regular monthly services were held in Montreal and New York, and less frequent
visits and services were offered for the Copts scattered all over the continent, from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and from New York to California. The infant Church was
able to gather its flocks in large centres and provide them with programmes, books, pamphlets, and other material for regular Bible study classes, spiritual meetings, Sunday Schools,
social gatherings and other activities.
Open full time
It is important to note here that this particular building, St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox church,
has a distinctive cultural value because it is built in authentic Coptic architectural style. It
was the first to be built thus in North America.
The church includes some stunningly beautiful icons written by the father of modern Egyptian iconography Isaac Fanous (1919 - 2007), and others jointly done by Youssef Nassif
(1921 - 2013) and his wife Bedour Latif (1922 - 2012) who together created works of exceptional beauty that boasted, besides the characteristic Coptic art features, undertones of vivid
Egyptian folklore.
In the summer of 1991 the church was further blessed by the reception of the holy relics of
some of its saints, and particularly those of our Patron Saint, St Mark the Apostle and Evangelist. Thus in both a literal and theological sense, the building houses the essence, doctrines,
and dogma of the Coptic Church.
Apart from the active spiritual service of Holy Mass, Sunday School, prayer meetings,
Youth and Family gatherings, St Mark’s has a library, bookstore and audio-visual library and
shop that offer a wide variety of material in both English and Arabic. The bazaars it holds include beautiful antiques, jewellery, handcrafts and collectors' items. Besides, national Egyptian foods, drinks, sweets and different preserves are sold and/or served. Coptic plays, variety shows and musicals are produced and acted by the church’s youthful members. Other
activities include trips, retreats, conferences, and chartered flights to Egypt. The church
holds regular classes to teach the Arabic and Coptic languages to both children and adults.
The church is open every day and every night of the week.
Flying priest
Fr Marcos remembers the early days of the Church in North America. "As I think back
about that period when I used to travel a great deal, I remember the congregations labelled
me ‘the flying priest’, ‘now you see him, now you don’t’.
"All during those formative years," he recalls, "we were trying hard to grow some roots in
this continent, and depended heavily on the greatly needed and highly appreciated assistance
of the clergy of the North American Churches. They most willingly allowed us the use of
their churches, halls and other facilities for our services and different activities. As a matter
of fact, they represent a non-erasable part of our history, proudly remembered and greatly
cherished by the Copts of this generation and the generations to come."
St Mark’s Church in Toronto was keen to establish parishes in the large centres of Canada
and the US, appoint Boards of Deacons and various committees, and build local funds so that
each parish would be able to support its own priest and services. By 1967, the parish of Montreal was financially strong enough to call for its own priest, and the late Father Rafael Nakhla was ordained and assigned to serve there in July 1967. The years 1969 and 1970 saw the
establishment of St Mark’s Coptic Church in Los Angeles, California with the late Fr Bishoy
Kamel as priest, and St Mark’s Coptic Church in Jersey City, New Jersey with the late Fr Gabriel Abdel-Sayed as priest.
Today, the Church which started in Toronto in 1964 has multiplied to some 250 churches in
the US and Canada, a monastery in California, a Papal Residency in Cedar Grove, N.J., and
two Theological Seminaries in Jersey City, N.J. and Los Angeles, California.
Reaching out
A land of their own
According to Fr Marcos, no history of the Church in Canada can be complete without citing
the papal pastoral visits to Coptic Canadians. "The first, in 1977," he says, "marked the first
visit ever by a Coptic Pope to North America and stands indeed among the most significant
landmarks in the life of the Church here. The visit by Pope Shenouda III answered the Coptic
Canadian longing for care by the top spiritual leader; many took time off to accompany His
Holiness wherever he went. At the airport, he was received with Copts carrying welcome
banners, children waving Church banners and the national flags of Canada and Egypt, and a
procession of robed deacons singing hymns. Men and women were overcome with emotion;
tears of joy flowed down their faces.
"The visit culminated with His Holiness Pope Shenouda and His Worship Paul Cosgrove,
Clockwise from above: St Mark’s, Toronto;
Priests’ wives in Canada meet Pope;
Mar-Mina’s , Hamilton; ordination of new
priests; Canada PM Harper and Pope
Tawadros; Coptic Canadian Center
The concern of the Canadian Coptic Church does not stop at its local congregation but extends to the mother Church in Egypt. Among other endeavours, millions of dollars worth of
medical equipment and supplies have been shipped to help furnish benevolent Church hospitals in urban and rural areas throughout Egypt.
In the field of ecumenism, the Church is active with other Churches, denominations and organisations. It is a member of the Canadian Council of Churches, St Albany and St Sergios
Fellowship and the Inter-Church Regional Planning Association, to mention but a few.
"The Coptic Church in Canada," Fr Marcos fondly recalls, "came in very handy to the Canadian Government in 1967 when Haile Selassie I, the late Emperor of Ethiopia, paid an official visit to Canada. Sunday 30 April 1967 was Easter Day according to the Julian calendar, and His Imperial Majesty was scheduled to be at the Military Base in North Bay,
Ontario. The Government knew that, especially on such days, His Majesty liked to attend
church. So, to make it most meaningful for him as a Copt, the Canadian Government called
St Mark’s Coptic Church in Toronto to celebrate a special Coptic Easter Liturgy at the Military Base Chapel for His Majesty and entourage of nineteen cabinet ministers and dignitaries. Before dawn, four deacons and myself were flown in a military airplane to the Base.
After the service, His Imperial Majesty commented that that was the most pleasant surprise
he had in Canada. ‘I never expected,’ he said, ‘in this part of the world, to be treated to an
Easter Liturgy according to my own tradition’."
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