Sunday, March 18, 2012

Coptic Pope Dies

From ahramonline: Don’t say the pope died ... The pope is in heaven!" chanted thousands of Coptic Christians who had gathered at Cairo's Abbassiya Cathedral to pay their final respects to Pope Shenouda III who died on Saturday. His body was placed on St Mark's seat at dawn on Sunday and will be embalmed to preserve the body until the funeral on Tuesday.
It is said that the pope wished to be buried at Anba Bishoy Monastery in Wadi Al-Natroun.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/0/37017/Egypt/0/Ancient-traditions-to-guide-selection-of-new-Copti.aspx
And how do they elect a new Pope?:
Following Shenouda's death, the eldest member of the Holy Synod's archbishops will become acting pope until a new patriarch is seated. If the eldest archbishop, Anba Mikhail of Assiut, who was consecrated in 1946, declines to undertake the role, Archbishop Anba Pachomeus of Beheira, who was consecrated in 1971 and is the second eldest member of the Holy Synod, will become acting patriarch for two months until a new pope is elected.
According to Coptic Orthodox tradition, the pope is elected by a number of processes. Candidates, chosen among monks and archbishops, must be at least 40 years old and have been monks for at least 15 years. Following an election, the names of the three candidates with the most votes are written on pieces of paper and placed in a box to be picked by a child — not more than nine years old — whose eyes are closed.
The candidates are nominated through the Holy Synod (the highest authority in the church, comprising 120 archbishops), the Monks Synod, Melli Council members, dioceses, and members of the Coptic Councils in the People's Assembly and Shura Council.
Once His Holiness was asked in his weekly lecture whether it was possible to skip over these processes in choosing the pope. His Holiness answered "No." A white dove is said to have descended onto Shenouda's desk. The people then understood the great value of tradition.
It's a tough time in Egypt now and with Pope Shenouda dying, this is not going to help. He was a steady force within Egypt and probably has prevented a mass slaughter of Christian Egyptians since the revolution took place a couple of years ago.
It will be interesting to see the process play out with selecting a new pope and how they will pick the child to pull a name out of a box to name the new pope.

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