The Bishop of Rome; successor of Saint Peter the
Apostle, arrives at Egypt after tomorrow. He insisted on going on his pre-set visit
despite the heinous incidents that took place in Tanta and Alexandria. His Holiness
regarded such incidents as crimes committed against humanity and not only
against Egypt alone. In my opinion, the visit of the Holy See to Egypt awakens
the spirit of giving and sacrifice in us as believers in one God. It also
revives in our conscience the course of faith spirit that our country long
participated to thousands of years ago.
Here in Egypt, we have the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox
Pope of Alexandria, commonly known as the Holy See of Saint Mark; one of the
seventieth apostles or disciples as the Church of Alexandria comes after that
of Rome in the forefront of the five Holy Sees in Jerusalem, Antioch and Constantinople,
if I am not mistaken.
Saint Mark accompanied Saint Peter in Rome then he
came to Cyrenaica in Libya... then from Libya to Alexandria... it was said that he wanted to stitch his sole and so he gave it to an Alexandrian Egyptian cobbler... but the awl jabbed the cobbler's hand... he felt pain and said: Oh, God... then Saint Mark asked him: do you know God here?... after this, the cobbler accompanied Saint Mark in his preaching journey... it is known that the Church of Alexandria has played a very advanced role in the course of Christian theology... as its theology was the decisive one in the famous ecumenical council convened in Nicaea in AD 325 as per an invitation by the Roman Emperor Constantine I.
Moreover, the visit of his Holiness to Egypt adds more
important aspects to the long-in-time historical one… atop of these is what I may
call reinforcing cultural and civilization bulwarks standing against barbarism
of all kinds and levels… starting from the meanest and most malicious; that is
terrorism committed in the name of God; killing, kidnapping, destroying and abolishing
all humane characteristics of the society… to what is barbaric too represented
in ways of dealing with migrants who were compelled to displace by terrorism… it
was what his Holiness; the Bishop of Rome described as “concentration camps”.
It is also known that Al-Azhar ash-Sharif, the
Egyptian popular religiosity and also the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church are the
cohesive sticking-together courses of bricks forming such bulwark…
Thank God we have scholars in Al-Azhar who know the
value of mind and knowledge and who possess an elite human intellect enabling
them to form a balanced Dawaa discourse perceived by any enlightened
human… thank God too that we have a national church strong in its theology,
cohesion and long-in-history loyalty to its country and leadership… thank God
again that our Christian-Islamic Coptic national unyielding alloy is still
unbreakable despite the massive painful hits we receive and endure with
patience only experienced by the Egyptians.
The Christian doctrines diversity in Egypt has become
a phenomenon going through a positive turn in its history after periods of skepticism
in some aspects… regardless of the details and phases, the role of the Egyptian
Catholics and Evangelicals in the national course now is an ever-developing one
in many positive fields connecting to building the human, preserving the society
and forming humane amicable relationships among all the Egyptians.
In such regard, I still remember with all goodness and
affection the role of the congregations of Catholic Sacred Heart of Jesus in
Egypt since they were headed by the kind mother Georgette; the most beloved to
the hearts of all of us… us here means all who felt her kindness, generosity,
tolerance and affection… she along with other revered nuns including “Seer
Bodoor” who represents a continual of the morals and virtues of the late
revered Mary Georgette.
For many years, we used to have an Iftar in
Ramadan in the monastery enjoying the hospitality of its nuns and in the
presence of the revered Patriarchal Bishop Dr. Hanna Qalta… this distinguished
human and national intellectual with such an enlightened mentality and forgiving
soul… we used to hold Maghreb prayers there… we also used to hold rich
seminars in an atmosphere of freedom that knows well the meaning of the word
and ethics of dialogue… tens of intellectuals; men and women, used to attend,
have Iftar and discuss while the whole monastery was cheering with joy
as if it was a feast… not to mention the other activities like the committee of
justice and peace founded by the Catholic Church… of its rising stars were the
dear late friend Eng. George Agaybi, late Dr. Ahmed Abdalla Rozza, late Dr.
Salah Abdel-Meta’al and others who are still alive.
A dear welcome from both our minds and hearts to his
Holiness; the revered Bishop of Rome… despite all our pains our churches and
folks endured, it is God’s will since the first moment of creation that
rightness and goodness shall prevail on falseness and evil… may our civilization
bulwarks get higher and stronger with the meeting of the Bishop of Rome, Pope
of Alexandria and grand Imam of Al-Azhar ash-Sharif.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was published in
Almasry alyoum newspaper on April 26, 2017.
To see the original article,
go to:
#almasry_alyoum
#ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #Rome #catholic_church #Egyptian_church #pope_francis
#alazhar #coptic_orthodoc_church_of_Alexandria #Vatican
No comments:
Post a Comment