Today, H.H. Pope Tawadros II participated in the opening session of the conference of “Coexistence, Tolerance and Acceptance of the Other.. Towards a Better Future”, that was organised by the Coptic Studies Centre at the Conference Centre in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
In the opening speech, H.H. indicated that coexistence is life, tolerance is a way of life and acceptance of others is a quality of life.
About coexistence, H.H. said that we give a great value to the idea of coexistence and that we, as Egyptians, have an expression for the idea of coexistence which says “ bread and salt”, as there will be coexistence between me and the person whom I eat bread and salt with, regardless of any differences that may exist between us.
As for tolerance, H.H. said that a person can tolerate and forgive others when he has peace with himself, peace with God and peace with others, and about coexistence, H.H. said that we reach it through love and having a big heart that loves everyone.
H.H. cited an old Christian tradition which is using a pomegranate fruit as a sign of love to others, as it has many heart-shaped seeds contained in the outer peel and they used to resemble these seeds as the hearts of other people that are contained in the outer peel which is the human’s heart.
A number of academics and Christian and Muslim religious leaders have participated in the opening session.
The conference is held under the auspices of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, in cooperation with the International Federation of Historians, with the participation of the Diocese of El Sharqia and the 10th of Ramadan, and a number of academics from Egypt and other Arab countries.
The conference is held over three days and includes the presentation of a number of researches in history and manuscripts to present forms and models of coexistence, tolerance and acceptance of the others.
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