Honoring Beloved Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt

By Michael Terheyden
        3/22/2012
        Catholic Online

He was a man of courageous Christian faith in an age which needs many more.

After battling cancer for years, the beloved leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his Holiness Pope Shenouda III, succumbed to his illness. Despite having to balance fierce tensions between his people, especially the youth, the Muslim People, extremist groups, and the Egyptian government, Pope Shenouda was largely seen as charismatic and highly esteemed. He was a man of courageous Christian faith in an age which needs many more.

 KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - After battling cancer for years, on March 17, 2012, the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, his Holiness Pope Shenouda III, succumbed to his illness. He was 88 years old. According to one estimate, well over 100,000 mourners visited his body, which was seated on a ceremonial throne and dressed in gold and red vestments. A gold mitre was placed on his head and a gold-tipped staff placed in his hand. Pope Shenouda III led the Copts for the last 40 years of a 2000 year history that is both rich and tragic.

The Coptic Church is one of the oldest Christian churches in the world. They trace their origins back to the first century and Saint Mark, the writer of the Gospel of Mark, and the reign of the Roman emperor Nero. The Coptic Church has members in many countries throughout the world, though it is centered in Alexandria, Egypt. It is also the largest religious minority in the Middle East.

Many Copts converted to Islam after Muslim armies conquered Egypt in the seventh century because if they did not, they either had to pay excessively high taxes or they were killed. Many Copts were martyred as a result. Those who paid the tax, while they were allowed to remain Christian, lost many of their rights and were forced to live as second-class citizens. Life for the Copts improved somewhat in the 19th century, but it declined in the mid-twentieth century.

In was in this environment that Pope Shenouda served and rose in the ecclesial ranks. He was born Nazeer Gayed Roufail on August 3, 1923, in Assiut, Egypt. Nazeer became a monk at the age of 31. He was a member of the monastery of St. Anthony for six years, but he lived in a cave as a hermit, where he dedicated his time to meditation, prayer and asceticism.

He was later ordained into the diaconate in Christ and then the holy priesthood. In 1962 he was appointed to the bishopric of Christian Education and served as Dean of the Coptic Orthodox Theological Seminary, and he was given the name Shenouda, after the renowned Coptic scholar and writer Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite. Then, on November 14, 1971, he was elected as the 117th head, the Patriarch, the "father" of the Coptic Church.

Pope Shenouda authored many books and gave weekly lecturers. His themes often revolved around peace, dialogue, and forgiveness. He was also known as a staunch advocate of authentic ecumenism, that is, of restoring Christian unity. To this end, he met with Pope Paul VI in 1973 and signed the Joint Declaration of Faith. Then in 2000, he met with Blessed Pope John Paul II in Cairo, Egypt.

His relations with the Egyptian government and Muslim extremists were not so cordial. In 1981, President Anwar Sadat put him under house arrest at a desert monastery because he accused the government of not dealing with Muslim extremists, the same extremists who assassinated Sadat later that year.

After Hosni Mubarak became president, he released Shenouda. Together they managed to walk a fine line. Under Mubarak, the Copts found greater, but tenuous, security. However, they remained second-class citizens. Since the fall of Mubarak a little over one year ago, violence against the Copts has risen. Furthermore, Muslim fundamentalists, the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, were the primary beneficiaries of Egypt's recent elections. This causes much concern among Coptic Christians.

Due largely to the discrimination against the Copts in Egypt, Pope Shenouda presided over an unprecedented worldwide expansion of the Coptic Orthodox Church. In 1971, there were apparently only a handful of Coptic parishes on the North American continent; today there are over 200 parishes in the United States and 23 in Canada. There are also parishes in Mexico, South America, and Australia.

Despite having to balance fierce tensions between his people, especially the youth, the Muslim People, extremist groups, and the Egyptian government, Pope Shenouda was largely seen as charismatic and highly esteemed. An article about Pope Shenouda in Wikipedia lists numerous accolades from people representing a broad array of social, political, and religious backgrounds. Some of them are as follows:

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt acknowledged Shenouda's wish of "preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric." In addition, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the Council leader, decreed three days of mourning for state employed Christians.

Mohamed Morsi, the party chairman for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, referred to Shenouda's life as "a long journey of big contribution in various fields domestically and abroad."

Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri said, "I give my sincere condolences to the Coptic brothers home and abroad. [He was a] national character and a symbol for patriotism and he gained wide respect and appreciation from the Egyptian people." ...


http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=45321


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cWUxrsedjAQ

Three killed, 52 injured as grieving Copts bid farewell to Pope Shenouda III

NewsCore March 19, 2012

Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church, when he led prayers at the Coptic Cathedral. Pic. Ap Source: AP

THREE killed, dozens injured when thousands packed Cairo Cathedral to farewell to Pope Shenouda III.

The trio died of suffocation inside the cathedral, church official Anba Younnes told The (London) Times.

CNN, citing Deputy Health Minister Hisham Sheeha, said overcrowding in the building resulted in a stampede, killing the three mourners and injuring 52 others. Most of the injured suffered from low blood pressure and insufficient oxygen.

Shenouda died Saturday at age 88 after a long illness, setting in motion the process to elect a new patriarch for the Middle East's largest Christian community, AFP reported.

He led the Copts, estimated at 10 percent of Egypt's population of more than 80 million, for a whole generation, during which the country was hit by a wave of Islamist militancy from which he sought to protect his flock.

Tens of thousands of mourners converged on the cathedral in a line that stretched for nearly a mile (1.6km), as military vehicles lined the road outside.

Shenouda's body, dressed in formal robes with a golden crown on his head, was placed upright on the tall ornate papal throne where it will remain sitting in state until the funeral Tuesday.

A bishop knelt to one side pressing his head to the throne, as thousands of worshippers in black hoping for a final blessing from their spiritual leader took pictures of Shenouda on their mobile phones, amid tears and wails of grief.

Copts nationwide mourned Shenouda, and one woman in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, distraught by his passing, was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide, the official MENA news agency reported.

Based on wishes stated in his will, Shenouda will be buried at St. Bishoy monastery of Wadi Natrun in the Nile Delta, where he spent time in exile after a dispute with the late president Anwar Sadat, state media reported.

Bishop Pachomious of the Nile Delta province of Beheira has assumed papal duties for two months until a council of senior clergy meets to choose a new pope, state television said.

The new pope would be chosen according to procedures laid out in 1957 church bylaws.
Shenouda leaves behind a nervous community, a target of frequent sectarian attacks in recent years, with complaints of routine harassment and systematic discrimination and marginalization.

Egypt's Christians are particularly concerned over the rise and increased assertiveness of Islamists, following the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/three-killed-52-injured-as-grieving-copts-bid-farewell-to-pope-shenouda-iii/story-fn6b3v4f-1226304102560

Egypt's Christians bid farewell to pope

HH Pope Shenouda III

From correspondents in Cairo AP March 21, 2012 4:39AM 

TEARFUL and wearing mourning black, tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians have joined a funeral Mass for their patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, at the main cathedral in Cairo.

St Mark's Cathedral was packed with local clerics, visiting clergymen and dignitaries as deacons chanted sombre hymns and bearded, black-clad priests and monks recited prayers and dispensed incense smoke from censers.

Shenouda's body lay in a white casket in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services, complete with an ornate golden crown.

Many in the congregation broke down in tears, while others frantically waved goodbye as the Mass came to a close.

Clerics, deacons and laypeople gathered around the casket, kissing it, standing in silence or bowing in respect.
Shenouda died on Saturday aged 88 after serving for 40 years at the helm of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world's oldest Christian denominations. Most of Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians are Orthodox Copts.

A successor has yet to be named, and it could take months before the complex process is completed.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. The political ascent of Islamists since the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak a year ago has added to their worries.

Tens of thousands followed the Mass outside the cathedral, carrying portraits of Shenouda and crosses. Many wept, wiping tears from their faces as the melancholic tunes of the hymns reached them through loudspeakers.

Scores of military police were deployed to maintain security outside the cathedral. The normally congested traffic of central Cairo was backed up for hours because of the crowds. The cathedral is located on a main downtown artery.

"I know he is now in a better place, but it is difficult now he's gone. We miss you," said a grief-stricken Marianne Saad as she stood in the crowd outside the cathedral.

"After God, he was our only protector," lamented another young woman in the crowd. "We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts," said a young Christian man, Hani Suleiman.

After the Mass, Shenouda's body was ferried to a military airport east of Cairo. From there it was flown to the Saint Bishoy monastery in the desert northwest of the capital, where he was to be buried later today.

Chaotic scenes erupted when a convoy of cars, including an ambulance carrying Shenouda's body, arrived at the monastery shortly before sunset. Military policemen struggled to control thousands of mourners who tried to push their way to the ambulance. Many in the crowd outside the monastery's walls tried to get inside when the convoy arrived but were kept out by the soldiers.

The monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, was a favourite of Shenouda's. He spent more than three years of exile there after he was banished in 1981 by Egypt's then-President Anwar Sadat, who claimed the patriarch was fomenting sectarian strife. Sadat's successor, Mubarak, released the Pope in 1985.

Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, declared a nationwide state of mourning today.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/egypts-christians-bid-farewell-to-pope/story-e6freuyi-1226305781462

Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt’s Coptic Christian church, dies at 88

By Associated Press, Published: March 18

CAIRO, Egypt — Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt’s Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, died Saturday. He was 88.

His death comes as the country’s estimated 10 million Christians are feeling more vulnerable than ever amid the rise of Islamic movements to political power after the toppling a year ago of President Hosni Mubarak. The months since have seen a string of attacks on the community, heightened anti-Christian rhetoric by ultraconservatives known as Salafis and fears that coming goverments will try to impose strict versions of Islamic law.

Tens of thousands of Christians packed into the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo on Saturday evening hoping to see his body. Women in black wept and screamed. Some, unable to get into the overcrowded building, massed outside, raising their hands in prayer.

“He left us in a very hard time. Look at the country and what’s happening now,” said Mahrous Munis, a Christian IT worker in his 30s who was among the crowds. “Copts are in a worse situation than before. God be with us.”

Munis’ friend, Sherif Sabry, interrupted. “He was our rock. God help us find someone who can fill his place.”

An archbishop later announced to the crowd that the funeral would be held in three days, and in the meantime Shenouda’s body would be put on display in the cathedral, sitting in the Mar Morqos — or St. Mark — throne from which the pope in his elaborate regalia traditionally oversaw services.

Shenouda died in his residence at the cathedral, and the state news agency MENA said he had been battling liver and lung problems for several years. Yasser Ghobrial, a physician who treated Shenouda at a Cairo hospital in 2007, said he suffered from prostate cancer that spread to his colon and lungs.

U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute to Shenouda as “an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue.”

“We will remember Pope Shenouda III as a man of deep faith, a leader of a great faith, and an advocate for unity and reconciliation,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. “His commitment to Egypt’s national unity is also a testament to what can be accomplished when people of all religions and creeds work together.”

“Baba Shenouda,” as he was known to his followers, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world. The Coptic Church traces its founding to St. Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st Century.

For Egypt’s Christians, he was a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humor — his smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops — and a deeply conservative religious thinker who resisted calls by liberals for reform.

Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their community living amid a Muslim majority in this country of more than 80 million people. Christians have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens, saying they face discrimination and that police generally fail to prosecute those behind anti-Christian attacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypts-state-news-agency-says-pope-shenouda-iii-head-of-coptic-christian-church-has-died/2012/03/17/gIQAjJApIS_story.html?fb_ref=NetworkNews

Chaos as Coptic Pope laid to rest

    March 21, 2012 4:49AM

 Funeral: Priests officiate at the funeral of Coptic Pope Shenuda III in St Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, as thousands of mourners paid their respects yesterday. 

EGYPT'S Coptic Pope Shenuda has been buried in a desert monastery amid near-hysterical scenes.

Following a funeral service at Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral, Shenuda's body was flown some 100 kilometres by military aircraft to Beheira province in the northwest, where the motorcade took it to St Bishoy monastery in Wadi Natrun.

There, lines of military police at the entrance to the monastery crumbled under the force of thousands of screaming worshippers who rushed the convoy.

One woman hung precariously from the ambulance carrying the patriarch's body, as panicked officers shouted and tried to push back the heaving crowds.

His body was finally taken into the 4th century monastery where Shenuda had asked to be buried, a large cross of flowers placed over his marble resting place. Mourners clambered over each other to snatch flowers and kiss the tomb.

Shenuda died on Saturday aged 88 after a long illness, leaving behind a community increasingly anxious about the rise of Islamism and political uncertainty.

During the funeral service, Shenuda's body, dressed in robes and a gold crown, lay in an open coffin as patriarchs of Orthodox churches said prayers.

Pallbearers struggled to get the white coffin out of the vast cathedral in the capital.
They had to push through a sea of mourners who threw rose petals and waved white lilies amid near-hysterical scenes as people pressed forward to try to touch the coffin, causing it to tilt several times.

Coptic hymns and incense filled the church as clergy, officials and choirboys wept and waved goodbye to their spiritual leader, the head of the Middle East's largest Christian community.

Members of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces attended the service, as did parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and several Egyptian ministers, MPs and other public figures, both Christian and Muslim.

Crowds waited, some all night, for a chance to attend the service, which officials had said would be by invitation only. Those who could not get in massed outside to pay their respects.
At one point, the gate to the cathedral compound was opened, causing a stampede into the courtyard before church officials scrambled to close it again.

Prayers were led by the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Paulos.
"Because he is resting does not mean we have lost him," Abune Paulos said at the emotional service, aired live on television.

Yesterday had been declared a day of national mourning in Egypt. Flags nationwide were flown at half mast, and an unprecedented security plan was put in place in Cairo and in the Nile Delta province of Beheira.

Shenuda's death brought tens of thousands of Copts to the cathedral to bid a final farewell.
Ahead of the funeral, the pope's body, dressed in gold, white and crimson robes, a gilded crown on his head, was placed seated on the ornate papal throne, a carved image of Christ behind him and lions standing guard on either side.

Devastated worshippers thronged to catch a final glimpse of "Baba Shenuda," using mobile phones to take pictures of him.

Three mourners were crushed to death in the crowd on Sunday, and 137 people were injured, prompting church officials to cut short the viewing and close the cathedral to the public.
Shenuda's death set in motion the process to elect a new patriarch, who will lead the community through a critical phase marked by political instability and sectarian tensions.

The new pope will be chosen by a council made up of senior clergy, current and former Coptic public officials, MPs, local councillors and journalists, in a process that could take months.

News of Shenuda's death caused dismay among Egypt's beleaguered Coptic population, many of whom credited him with maintaining a cool head during challenging times and helping to prevent widespread sectarian unrest.

But his critics saw him as being too close to the government, refusing to speak up for the community in the face of sectarian attacks, discrimination and harassment.

Named pope of Alexandria in 1971, Shenuda led the Copts, estimated at 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 80 million, for a generation. During that time, Egypt was hit by a wave of Islamist militancy from which he sought to protect his people.

Copts have been particularly concerned about the political fallout from the Arab spring uprising that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak in February last year.

Islamist parties, including ultra-conservative Salafists who believe Christians should not have a say in ruling the country, won almost three-quarters of the seats in the first parliamentary elections since the revolt.



http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/chaos-as-coptic-pope-laid-to-rest/story-fn6e1m7z-1226305781066

Pope mourns passing of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox leader

Rome, Italy, Mar 19, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic leaders have offered their condolences on the death of Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, who died March 17 at age 88.

The Catholic Church, Pope Benedict said, “shares the grief that afflicts the Orthodox Copts,” and “stands in fervent prayer asking that he, who is the Resurrection and the Life, might welcome his faithful servant. May the God of all mercy receive Pope Shenouda in his joy, his peace and light.”

Born in August of 1923, Nazeer Gayed was honored as the 117th “Pope of Alexandria” by Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt and abroad. Although theological differences separated his church from Catholics and other Orthodox churches, Pope Shenouda himself was known as an ecumenical pioneer.

In his March 18 message to the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Benedict recalled the leader's “commitment to Christian unity,” shown in meetings with Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In 1973, Pope Shenouda and Pope Paul VI issued a declaration affirming key points of theological agreement.

Pope Benedict showed the same ecumenical warmth, as he mourned Pope Shenouda's “departure to God, our common Father,” and offered his “most sincere brotherly compassion” to the Coptic synod of bishops as well as their priests and faithful.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have come to Cairo's Cathedral of St. Mark to honor the late Pope of Alexandria and view his body, which was vested and placed on the episcopal throne he occupied for four decades. He will be buried at a northern Egyptian monastery following a March 20 funeral.

The loss of the Coptic Orthodox leader comes at a difficult time for Egyptian Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population. Concerns about their future have intensified following the country's 2011 revolution, which was billed as non-sectarian but has led to the rise of Islamist political parties.

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, mourned the loss of Pope Shenouda's leadership in his March 18 message.

The Coptic pope, he said, was “not only a religious leader for his church but also for all Christian churches,” particularly those of the Eastern traditions.

Patriarch Twal recalled how Pope Shenouda “continued his Christian mission in a firm confidence and a deep faith in the midst of a whirlwind of events that marked the Arab world.”

“We accompany with our prayers and send our condolences to his church and his beloved children, in recognition of all the great services to his church, his country and for all Christians in the Middle East. Grant him, O Lord, eternal rest, and may thy perpetual light shine on him.”

http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/World.php?id=5097&fb_source=message

Pope Shenouda III funeral: Egypt's Copts mourn their 'protector'

St Mark's Cathedral in central Cairo packed for ceremony after Coptic Christian leader's death on Saturday, aged 88

Hamza Hendawi and Maggie Michael in Cairo 

Tuesday 20 March 2012

 

 Tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians join a funeral 

mass for their pope in Cairo

 Tearful and wearing black, tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians joined a funeral mass for their patriarch, Pope Shenouda III, led by senior clerics at the main cathedral in Cairo.

St Mark's Cathedral was packed with local clerics, visiting clergymen and dignitaries as deacons chanted sombre hymns and bearded, black-clad priests and monks recited prayers and dispensed incense smoke from censers.

Shenouda's body lay in a white casket in the elaborate regalia he traditionally wore to oversee services, complete with an ornate golden crown.

Shenouda died on Saturday aged 88 after 40 years at the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world's oldest Christian denominations. Most of Egypt's estimated 10 million Christians are Orthodox Copts.

Many in the congregation broke down in tears, while others frantically waved goodbye as the mass came to a close.

Clerics, deacons and laypeople gathered around the casket, kissing it, standing in silence or bowing in respect.

Tens of thousands more who could not get in followed the mass outside the cathedral, carrying crosses and portraits of Shenouda. Many wept, wiping tears off their faces as the melancholic tunes of the hymns reached them through loudspeakers.

Scores of military police were deployed to maintain security outside the cathedral, on one of central Cairo's main arteries, with traffic backed up for hours because of the crowds.

"I know he is now in a better place, but it is difficult now he's gone. We miss you," said a grief-stricken Marianne Saad as she stood in the crowd outside the cathedral.

"After God, he was our only protector," lamented another young woman in the crowd. "We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts," said a young Christian man, Hani Suleiman.

After the mass, Shenouda's body was ferried to a military airport east of Cairo, from where it was to be flown later on Tuesday to the desert St Bishoy monastery north-west of the capital, where he will buried.

The monastery, which dates back to the 4th century, was a favourite of Shenouda's.
Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, declared a nationwide state of mourning on Tuesday.

A successor to Pope Shenouda has yet to be found and it could take months before the complex process is completed.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long complained of discrimination by the nation's Muslim majority. The political ascent of Islamists since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak a year ago has added to their worries.

"Words, my beloved, can never do Pope Shenouda justice. He left us an example of leadership that we should all follow," a senior cleric said in an address to the congregation. "It is because of him that we have national unity with our Muslim brothers."

During his 40 years as patriarch, Shenouda strove to ensure his place among the Muslim powerbrokers, pressing demands behind the scenes while keeping Christians' anger over violence and discrimination in check. It was a delicate balancing act.

Shenouda maintained a high media profile, giving interviews, speaking on key domestic and regional developments and never showing anger at times of crisis.

Egyptian authorities deny any discrimination, but Christians say it happens in numerous and subtle ways. Christians, for example, rarely assume leadership jobs on the police force, particularly the security agencies. The Islamist-dominated parliament only has a handful of Christians, and there are never more than one or two Christians among 30-plus cabinet ministers.

As Egypt grew more religiously conservative over the past 40 years, the discrimination became more manifest in everyday life, particularly when Christians came into direct contact with government departments or enrolled their children at state schools, where Islamists often dominate teaching staff.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/20/pope-shenouda-funeral-egypt-coptic-christians?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/mar/20/pope-shenouda-funeral-egyptvideo 

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III dies in Cairo

Posted on: Saturday, 17th March, 2012

 

Pope Shenouda III

A statement has just been received from His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy, General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, announcing the death of His Holiness Pope Shenouda on 17 March 2012

Further announcements will follow shortly.

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III died at 5.15 p.m. He suffered a heart attack, but was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
Copts all over the world are joining the mourning. Abba Seraphim, along with other Coptic clergy are on their way to Cairo to attend an urgent synod.

On Saturday evening, thousands of Copts gathered in the courtyard of Abbasiya Cathedral aiming to pay their last respects to the deceased patriarch. “We are not sure when this will be possible,” said one source. “Perhaps tomorrow.”

Another source indicated that no one would be admitted into the presence of the dead pope until the day of the funeral, “which will be held on Tuesday, three days from now, to make time for followers of the pope to come form across Egypt and from abroad.”

By Saturday evening, most presidential hopefuls, who had by and large made an effort to frequent Coptic mass since the end of the Mubarak regime, were offering their condolences.

“With one or two exceptions we expect all presidential hopefuls to be present in the funeral mass,” added the source, indicating that all state bodies, political parties and groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, had already contacted the church. “Many have been asking how they might pay their respects and participate in the funeral mass.”

Meanwhile, official and church sources said a high level state representation is scheduled for the funeral mass. The head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, is expected to be at the cathedral to offer his condolences, while SCAF’s second in command, Sami Annan, is expected to be present throughout the mass.

Tantawi decreed three days of official mourning for Copts.

Annan and several SCAF members were invited to attend Christmas Mass on 6 January despite the outrage of the Coptic public at the military’s conspicuous involvement in the tragedy that befell Coptic demonstrators on 9 October while they protested a series of attacks on Coptic churches across Egypt.

Diplomats and some foreign dignitaries are expected at the funeral which will probably take place at the Abbassiya Cathedral before the coffin is taken to the monastery in Wadi Al-Natroun for burial.

“We offer our deep condolences to every one of our Christian brothers for the loss of Pople Shenouda,” Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said in a statement. “May God help all our Christian brothers overcome this ordeal and bring a successor who can keep promoting the sense of unity between all citizens,” he added.

An Egyptian army statement said that the Pope was a “rare statesman who worked with all of his energy to promote the wellbeing of the nation.”

Bishop Bakhomious (Pachomious) of Behera will head the Coptic Orthodox church for an interim period of two months. The General Congregation Council, which is part of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, will nominate three bishops, one of which is to succeed Pope Shenouda III.

The names of the three bishops will be written on three papers, and a child will pick one, unseen, from a box. This method is used in order for the “will of God” to play a role in the process.

http://britishorthodox.org/3180/his-holiness-pope-shenouda-iii-dies-in-cairo/ 

Egypt Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda dies: adviser

CAIRO | Sat Mar 17, 2012 6:09pm EDT

(Reuters) - Egyptian Coptic Christian Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of most of Egypt's estimated 12 million Christians, died on Saturday from old age, his political adviser told Reuters.

Bells tolled in Cairo's Abbasiya district, site of Egypt's main Coptic cathedral, as the news spread.

Shenouda, 88, became the 117th Pope of Alexandria in November 1971, and was popular among Egypt's Christians and Muslims alike during his four decades in power.

His successor will play a central role in forging the church's position in the country after the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak last year. Islamist parties have since swept parliamentary elections and will dominate the debate over drawing up the country's new constitution.

"He died from complications in health and from old age," adviser Hany Aziz said. Shenouda had recently returned from abroad where he had been seeking medical treatment.

Shenouda's criticism of the government's handling of an Islamic insurgency in the 1970s, in which Christians were targets, and his rejection of Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel landed him in trouble with then-president Anwar Sadat.

Sadat banished him to the Wadi el Natrun monastery north west of Cairo and stripped him of his temporal powers.

Under more than a quarter century of President Mubarak's rule, relations between the government and the Coptic church were generally smooth, with the Pope portrayed in state media as a symbol of religious harmony, despite occasional outbreaks of sectarian violence.

On Saturday, condolences poured in from Egypt's Muslim leaders and from politicians.

"Egypt has lost one of its rare men at a sensitive moment when it most needs the wisest of its wise - their expertise and their purity of minds," said Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayib, grand imam of Egypt's highest Islamic authority, al-Azhar.

"He held the question of Jerusalem and the Palestinian problem in his conscious," the state Middle East news agency quoted him as saying.

Mohamed Mursi, chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said Pope Shenouda had a long journey of service during the nation's history.

"The Freedom and Justice Party sends its deepest condolences to the Egyptian people and our Christian brothers over the death of Pope Shenouda III," he said in statement on the website of the FJP, which took almost half the seats in Egypt's new parliament.

Father Anglos Ishaq, head of the church on Egypt's north coast, said a temporary replacement would be chosen until a new pope was elected.

"It is too early to know what will happen next, but what is known is that the oldest bishop in the Holy See will be chosen as charge d'affaires until a new pope gets chosen by elections from different church councils in the different provinces."

He said the pope's body was expected to remain in a coffin for three days, provided doctors gave their approval.

"All details about the burial and how long his body will remain for people to come and receive blessings will be decided by doctors," Father Anglos said. "But surely people will get some time to see the body and receive blessings."


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/17/us-egypt-pope-idUSBRE82G0EA20120317

Pope of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church Dies

By AYA BATRAWY Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt March 17, 2012 (AP)

Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, has died. He was 88.

The state news agency MENA said Shenouda died Saturday after battling liver and lung problems for several years. A Coptic Church TV station ran a picture of the pope, with a running feed reading, "The Coptic Church prays to God that he rest in peace between the arms of saints."

The patriarch, known in Arabic as Baba Shenouda, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world, which traced it founding to St. Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st Century during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.

For Egypt's estimated 10 million Coptic Christians, he was a religious thinker and a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humor — his smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops.

Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their minority living amid a majority Muslim population in this country of more than 80 million people.

Shenouda sought to do so by striking a conservative balance. During the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, he gave strong support to his government, while avoiding pressing Coptic demands too vocally in public to prevent a backlash from Muslim conservatives.

After Mubarak's fall a year ago, Christians grew increasingly worried over the rising power of Muslim conservatives. Islamic hard-liners carried out a string of attacks on churches, and their clerics gave increasingly dire warnings that Christians were hoarding weapons and seeking to take over the country. Christian anger over the violence was further stoked when troops harshly put down a Christian protest in Cairo, killing 27 people.

In an unprecedented move aimed at showing unity, leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood along with top generals from the ruling military joined Shenouda for services for Orthodox Christmas in January at Cairo's main cathedral.

"For the first time in the history of the cathedral, it is packed with all types of Islamist leaders in Egypt," Shenouda told the gathering. "They all agree ... on the stability of this country and in loving it, and working for it and to work with the Copts as one hand for the sake of Egypt."

Still, a sector of Christians — particularly among youth who supported the revolution against Mubarak — grew critical of Shenouda, saying his conservative approach was not doing enough to stem what they saw as growing anti-Christian violence and discrimination against their community.

In recent years, the aging patriarch traveled repeatedly to the United States for treatment. Yasser Ghobrial, a physician who worked at a Cairo hospital when the pope was treated there in 2007, said he suffered from prostate cancer that spread to his colon and lungs.

The pope, who rose to his position in 1971, clashed significantly with the government once: In 1981 then-President Anwar Sadat sent him into internal exile in the desert monastery of Wadi Natrun, north of Cairo, after Shenouda accused the government of failing to rein in Muslim extremists. Sadat, who was assassinated later that year by Islamic militants, accused Shenouda of fomenting sectarianism. Mubarak ended Shenouda's exile in 1985, allowing him to return to Cairo.

But the incident illustrated the bind of Egypt's Christians. When they press too hard for more influence, some in the Muslim majority accuse them of causing sectarian splits. Many Copts saw Mubarak as their best protection against Islamic fundamentalists and the Muslim Brotherhood — but at the same time, his government often made concessions to conservative Muslims to keep their support.

During the 1990s, Islamic militants launched a campaign of violence, centered in southern Egypt, targeting foreign tourists, police and Christians until they were put down by a heavy crackdown. Pope Shenouda managed to contain the Coptic community's anger over the killings.

But in the past six years, Muslim-Christian violence has flared repeatedly. On the eve of New Year's 2000, sectarian battles killed 21 Copts and a Muslim in the southern village of el-Kusheh. The northern city of Alexandria twice saw sectarian bloodshed recently — in 2005 when Muslims rioted over an anti-Islamic play put on in a church, and again in early 2006 when Christians rioted over a series of knife attacks at Coptic Christian churches.

Shenouda largely worked to contain anger among Copts. But in one 2004 incident, he stepped aside to allow Coptic protests in an effort to win concessions from the government.

The protests were sparked when Wafa Constantine, the wife of a Coptic priest, fled her home to convert to Islam. Many Christians accused police of encouraging Christians to convert — or even kidnapping them and forcing them to do so.

While Copts protested, Shenouda isolated himself at the Saint Bishoy monastery north of Cairo until the government intervened to ensure Constantine returned home. She was later quoted as saying she converted to Islam because she wanted a divorce from her husband, which is banned by the Coptic Church.

For other Coptic demands, Shenouda has preferred back-channel efforts with the government — but has met limited success. Copts have pressed for a greater representation in government, but their numbers remain small.

At the same time, Christian emigration has increased tremendously, fueled chiefly by the growing influence of conservative Islam in Egyptian society. Coptic immigrants in the United States, Canada, and Australia number an estimated 1.5 million, and the number of Coptic churches abroad has grown from two to more than 100, according to the pope's official Web site.

At home, Shenouda has been challenged by secular Copts who call for reform in the church and reducing the role of clergymen in Christians' life. Many secularists argue that the clergy's dominance over every single aspect of Christians lives has fed their sense of separation from Egypt's Muslims, just as Islamic clerics have on the other side of the divide.

Shenouda has kept a strict line on church doctrine — including the ban on divorce, except in cases of adultery.

The big remaining question is with the absence of the charismatic pope, who will be able to fill the vacuum.

A church insider said that an internal power struggle has been looming over the church, between two of the top archbishops and close assistants to the pope: Archbishops Bishoy and Johannes; both of them are rallying supporters to win more votes in the election of the new Pope.

Shenouda was born Nazeer Gayed on Aug. 3, 1923, in the southern city of Assiut. After entering the priesthood, he became an activist in the Sunday School movement, which was launched to revive Christian religious education. At the age of 31, Gayed became a monk, taking the name Antonious El-Syriani and spending six years in the monastery of St. Anthony. After the death of Pope Cyrilos VI, he was elected to the papacy and took the name Shenouda.

He is an author of many books, and over the past three decades he has kept the custom of giving a Wednesday lecture. Throughout, he insisted on the Copts' place in Egypt, where they lived before the advent of Islam.

"Egypt is not a country we live in but a country that lives within us," he often said.


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