H.G. Bishop Tawadros, General Auxiliary Bishop, Serves with H.E. Metropolitan Pakhomious in the Diocese of El Beheira
H.G. Bishop Raphael, General Bishop, Serves with H.G. Bishop Moussa in the Downtown Cairo Churches
Heg. Fr. Raphael Ava Mina, Monk Priest from St. Mina’s Monastery, Disciple to the Late Pope Cyril the Sixth
Heg. Fr. Sarafim El-Souriani, Monk Priest from El Souryan Monastary
Heg. Fr. Bakhamious El-Souriani, Monk Priest from El Souryan Monastary
Top Left: H.G. Bishop Rafael Top Right: H.G. Bishop Tawadros Bottom Left: Fr. Rafael Ava Mina Bottom Center: Fr. Sarafim El-Souriani Bottom Right: Fr. Bakhamious El-Souriani
CYC Video – Short Bios on 5 Papal Candidates
CYC Video – H.E. Metropolitan Pachomious speaks about the Papal Election
At a press conference on Saturday (October 13, 2012) afternoon in Wadi El-Natroun, headed by Bishop Pakhomious, our Coptic Orthodox Church announced the short list of 5 candidates in the running to become the next pope to succeed The Late Pope Shenouda III.
Two of the candidates are bishops and three are monks. The candidates are:
Heg. Fr. Bakhamious El-Souriani, Monk Priest from El Souryan Monastary
H.G. Bishop Tawadros, General Auxiliary Bishop, Serves with H.E. Metropolitan Pakhomious in the Diocese of El Beheira
H.G. Bishop Raphael, General Bishop, Serves with H.G. Bishop Moussa in the Downtown Cairo Churches
Heg. Fr. Raphael Ava Mina, Monk Priest from St. Mina’s Monastery, Disciple to the Late Pope Cyril the Sixth
Heg. Fr. Sarafim El-Souriani, Monk Priest from El Souryan Monastary
Top Left: H.G. Bishop Rafael Top Right: H.G. Bishop Tawadros Bottom Left: Fr. Rafael Ava Mina Bottom Center: Fr. Sarafim El-Souriani Bottom Right: Fr. Bakhamious El-SourianiFrom Left to Right, H.G. Bishop Tawadros, H.G. Bishop Raphael, Fr. Bakhamious El-Souriani, Fr. Sarafim El-Souriani, Fr. Rafael Ava Mina
Short Video
Full Video
The timeline of the upcoming events in the papal election process are as follows:
Nov. 19-21 – A three-day fast for the upcoming Papal Election.
Nov. 24 – Papal Election, participants include 2,411 Coptic voters across the world.
Nov. 26-28 – A three-day fast for the upcoming Altar Lot.
Dec. 2 – Liturgical service at the St. Mark’s Cathedral in which the Altar Ballot will take place and the new pope will be chosen.
TBD – Enthronement Ceremony for the newly elected Pope
May God appoint for us a Pope, according to His choosing, to shepherd His people in purity and righteousness. Amen.
On December 7, 2011, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission heard testimony concerning the plight of Egypt’s Copts. The witnesses included Kathy Fitzpatrick (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State); Nina Shea (Director, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute); Dina Guirguis (Member, Egyptian American Rule of Law Association); Adel Guindy (President, Coptic Solidarity International); Cynthia Farahat (Co-Founder, Liberal Egyptian Party); and Raymond Ibrahim (Middle East specialist and Associate fellow, Middle East Forum).
Below is a partial transcript of Farahat’s moving, and disturbing testimony before Congress. Check out the video that follows for the full testimony.
“… In 1971, President Sadat introduced shariah law to the constitution and now I think it’s, qualifies to say that Egypt is a constitutional theocracy and it’s not a modern state. The consequences were that Copts are no longer, according to shariah law, identified or defined as citizen. I have an Egyptian passport, but I’m not a citizen. The concept of citizenship is a Western concept that does not apply to us in Egypt. I‘m a woman and I’m a Copt. I’m a fourth-class citizen in Egypt. A first-class citizen in Egypt is the Sunni male, Muslim male. The second-class is the Sunni female. The third-class is the Coptic male. And fourth-class is the Coptic female.
And that’s why none of the people that committed crimes, none of the criminals that committed crimes against Copts were prosecuted in any way. Because it is against shariah law and that’s a fact. It’s not an opinion. To persecute someone for – a Muslim, for killing, raping, torturing, or vandalizing the property of a non-Muslim or a dhimmi. So this is our legal status. And this has been happening under the Mubarak’s so-called moderate regime, an ally of the West, and it’s now happening now. It was only inevitable that they take their radicalism a step further and start killing Copts in the street in front of TV cameras with live ammunition and running them over with armored military vehicles they probably got from the United States of America. …”
Warning, Farahat’s descriptions of the massacre are graphic:
