In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God Amen
(Ekhrestos Anesty Alithos Anesty)
(Christ Has Risen, Truly He Has Risen)
“Be kind to one another with a brother’s love, putting others before yourselves in honour”(Romans 10-12)
May the peace of the Lord be with Your Holiness!
We wish, first of all, to give Your Holiness the respectful greetings of our entire country, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Egyptian people. We are following closely and with joy your work, your activities, your extraordinary pastoral visits, as well as your spiritual sermons and inspiring predications, so fully blessed by our Lord Jesus Christ. We are delighted that the name of Jesus Christ is being glorified by Your Holiness.
———————————————————-
His Holiness Pope Francis
Pope of the Vatican and Bishop of Rome
Vatican- Italy
We, the Pope of Alexandria and the Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, are writing to you today for the second time after our visit to the Vatican City last May, when we wished for an ever-increasing reinforcement of the unity of our two Churches, to reaffirm our hope to celebrate May 10th every year as “the day of brotherly love” between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The choice of the date lays in its marking not only the first historical visit by the Pope and Patriarch of the Coptic Church Shenouda III (Triangle of Mercy) to the Vatican and Pope Paul VI in 1973, but also my own visit there last May.
In this regard, we would like to emphasize how profoundly our souls were affected by such excellent occasion. Your sublime courtesy and warm hospitality, and your convinced commitment in supporting and strengthening the bridges of love and friendship between the Catholic and the Coptic Orthodox Church, gladdened and honoured us most intensely.
We would like to thank the Ambassador of the Vatican in Egypt, His Eminence Jean Paul Gobel for his most valuable cooperation in the preparation of our historical visit and the other fruitful meetings that have followed, in a constant atmosphere of friendliness and love.
In the hope that the much longed-for unity of our two Churches could be true before long, we wish that the day will soon come when we can celebrate the Christian festivities together, setting aside historical differences with full respect for theological diversities. Our open-minded and warm-hearted endeavour to unify Christian festivities will generate a mighty example of the concrete unity of the members of our Churches in the body of our only Lord, Jesus Christ, and our only Church, in the East and West.
In the Orient we are a minority in terms of numbers, and live in small communities and scattered groups. It is therefore highly important for us to have a unified Christian voice that could morally support and strengthen us, and also resonate as powerful testimony of our only Lord.
This is the reason why we would invite the competent Committees of both the Catholic and the Coptic Orthodox Church to endeavour for the possible unification of some festivities, so as to finally ensure that all Christians might celebrate them together. One of these festivities, for instance, might be Easter, which happily fell on the same day year, much to the joy of all Christianity, the eastern and the western.
Last June, after our visit to the Vatican City, we went on a pastoral visit to Austria, where we were honoured to meet the Cardinal of Vienna.
Then we visited three European countries last December: Austria, Switzerland and Germany, where we met the Cardinal of Berlin.
As Your Holiness knows, more than a year has passed since my enthronement on the See of St. Mark in November 2012. These months have marked a turning point in the history of our beloved Country, Egypt. Great was the distress that Egyptians in general terms and Christians in particular, went sorrowfully through over this period of time. Sadly, the Copts paid the heaviest toll in terms of churches and properties being vandalized and looted.
More than one hundred churches and social annexes, and over one thousand houses, shops, stores and businesses were set alight, destroyed or vandalized across Egypt.
Yet, we did not give importance to the damage and loss suffered, and we patiently endured every hardship, including the death of innocent brothers, for the sake of our beloved Country and the freedom of its people. We were even more than willing to give all our wealth as divine offer, as incense soaring up to God.
Our Christianity, in fact, is a “living Gospel” resonating of the words of God our Lord, who says: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33).
Being the official representative of the prestigious Institution of the Coptic National Orthodox Church, along with the representative of Al-Azhar, other governmental Institutions, political parties, the Egyptian civil society and the private sector, we had the privilege to contribute to the wording of the July 2013 Egyptian Constitutional Declaration, which put an end to a dark year of oppression and fascism and started a new era according to a road map. Many points contained therein have been already implemented, such as for example the new Egyptian Constitution, a milestone on our path to real democracy, written with the coordinate contribution of our Church, the Catholic Church and the Evangelic Church
We deeply hope that our Lord God Jesus Christ, who opened up this path, will soon complete it, following the verse by Apostle Paul: “And when the ship got into the grip of it, and was not able to make headway into the wind, we gave way, and went before it.” (Acts: 27:15)
However, despite the tragic events occurred over this obscure year, the Coptic Orthodox Church participated in the World Week for Prayer and celebrated the Anniversary of the foundation of the Council of Churches in Egypt.
The Egyptian Church also took part to the Day of Prayer for Egyptian Women, held on March 7th.
Moreover, four monasteries in Egypt, two for nuns and two for monks, were positively established, as well as a monastery for monks in South Africa.
Finally, it may be worth noting that in June 2013 the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church recognized the holiness of Pope Cyril VI (1902-1971) and Archdeacon Habib Girgis (1876-1951). In this respect, on behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod and all the Copts of Egypt worldwide, we would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Your Holiness and the whole Catholic Church for the canonization of St. John XXIII (1881-1963)and St. John Paul II (1920-2005)on April 27th.
In the framework of our work to strengthen the bridges of friendship and brotherly love between all Churches, we were honoured to receive:
– the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches OLAV;
– the Archbishop of Counter Berry;
– the Chairman of the Evangelical Church in Egypt;
– the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Egypt.
It will also be a great honour for us next November to participate in the Golden Jubilee of the “Pro-Oriente Foundation” in Vienna, by whose Representatives we were officially invited during our meeting last year.
We can therefore assure Your Holiness that God’s merciful hand is always with us, despite the difficulty, narrowness and complexity of the circumstances.
We would like to take the opportunity to commend the Embassy of Italy in Cairo for providing one scholarship in favour of archeologists from the Coptic Orthodox Church within the Training Program for the Promotion and Conservation of Cultural Heritage funded by CNR of Rome, along with two more scholarships for Italian courses at the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo, aimed to help students willing to continue their studies in Italian universities and centres for scientific research.
We warmly wish that a scholarship programme could be soon agreed upon between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Vatican as well, possibly focused on disciples related to the ecclesiastical field, such as art, history and cultural heritage.
In fact, we really wish that there will be more prospects for fruitful cooperation between our Churches in the future, to promote and spread Christian peace worldwide, realize our much longed-for unity and guide believers on the right way to reach the port of salvation.
We congratulate Your Holiness on Your first anniversary after the Papal election on the 31st of March 3013 and pray that our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will grant Your Holiness full success and assistance in your holy pastoral mission, and wish to see you soon on a visit to our beloved Country, Egypt, the Country of the immortal Nile, of monasticism and Saints.
We take the opportunity to thank Your Holiness for supporting the Copts of our Coptic Orthodox Church living in Italy.
We also send our warmest greetings and appreciation to the Vatican Council of Cardinals, with our best wishes for their pastoral mission.
We would love to conclude with a verse from the Holy Bible, which is our guidance in our daily life: “Give one another a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send their love to you.” (Romans 16.16).
*Please find herewith enclosed copies of the article published by the official magazine of the Coptic Orthodox Church about my historical visit to the Vatican in May 2013.
Pope Tawadros II
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
Coptic Orthodox Church, Cairo (Egypt)
This page is also available in:
العربية
